Safeway Food and Drug

I used to really enjoy shopping at the Safeway — it had good service and relatively short waits at checkout. It has turned into the worst supermarket in the area. Terrible self-​check out and often only two cashiers even during busy times. Long lines, nonexistent management. Such a shame because many of the cashiers have been here a long time and have always been great. Now they have new employees who are clueless and completely non-​service oriented. I won’t shop here any more unless I have to – sad, because it used to be enjoyable to come here. And if you find a manager, don’t bother complaining, they are completely disinterested (except for one guy who actually went to staff a register when he saw there were problems). And don’t bother writing to Safeway (I did) — they send back a canned response (i.e. keep spending your money here and we won’t do a thing). Harris Teeter is 10 miles away but like a different world (great customer service); even Giant in Burtonsville is better.

Very slow slines, understaffed each time I go during peak shopping times in the evening after work and on the weekends.

Always slow. No self check out. And Never enough lines open. I have been coming here for 2 years, and I have never once had a pleasant check-​out. Never. Avoid if at all possible. I come here because it’s close to my house, and I hate it.

Maybe I don’t have high expectations of grocery stores but I like this one. We had an amazing customer service experience with the Floral Department and they have this fresh baked bread that melts in your mouth.

The weakest Safeway. They never have cashiers in this store. I live around the corner and always travel out further to the shoppers to avoid it. I bet I still get back before finishing with them

Totally understaffed. Lines are always horrendous and there is no one to ask for assistance. Dark, gloomy lighting. Bought a pork loin roast there yesterday and it reeked upon opening. there was no one at customer service because the manager on duty, Demetrius, who was working checkout stand. He told me to go to the end of the line and he’d give me a refund. I refused and stood at his check stand until he refunded me – told him I’d already been in a long line to buy the spoiled meat!

Well, like most Safeways, they have a very decent selections of baked goods, esp. when compared to local Giant and Shoppers’ stores. So, that’s a plus. Fairly good selection of international/​ethnic foods. Now, as for their produce? Every time I’ve gone to this store, the produce, esp. greens of any kind, always looks as if it’s been sitting for days. And that water that’s constantly sprayed on the stuff doesn’t help. Customer service is fair. All in all, if I’m in the area and need to pick up a few things, I’ll stop in, but won’t make a special trip to this location.

Consistently the slowest checkout service anywhere. Managers never open another cashier aisle no matter how busy. Convenient location, adequate selection but crowded aisles and slightly unkempt and dirty. And, if you leave even one of your tires over a line while using a parking space here, you will be towed. Aggressive towing policy.

Only in Maryland for 6 weeks, but clearly I need to shop for groceries or else I’ll starve or burn a huge hole in my already empty pocket. I was incredibly happy that this grocery store was really close to the place I was staying at. That’s probably the only positive I can say about it.
Five minutes into my first visit, I noticed a salad dressing I really wanted was expired. All of the salad dressing in that flavor and brand were expired. I made sure to be more aware with the expiration dates as I shopped, but normally I don’t notice them. I noticed a couple more items past their expiration date or expiring in only a few days while I was shopping.
The next day when I opened my turkey bacon to cook breakfast, I noticed it looked kind of funky. I checked the expiration date and sure enough it said «use by or freeze by 1÷12» — two days prior to my visit. When I went to return the item, the cashier told me that he was sure it was still fine because the freeze by date was only a few days ago *roll eyes* Clearly I wanna use this turkey bacon now and not freeze it. Instead of telling me that this bacon is still good (which it wasn’t), he should’ve apologized for not having a well-​maintained grocery store that has non-​expired food.
Seriously, make sure to check the expiration date of every item you buy at this grocery store.

The checkout lanes are always long. There’s a total of 8 lanes but only three are opened. So what’s the point of having 8 lanes?

No stars! Having husband return deli meat that was still in the shelf 1 month after the use by date. This is not the first time. If you must go, be prepared to wait in long lines and most importantly, check the dates for freshness! Unfortunately, Unilocal requires a star in its rating. This is the only reason I’m giving 1.

This is one of the older stores, before they started doing huge big boxes. Nevertheless, they have a pretty good selection, very pretty veggies including some exotics, service deli and fish counters. The staff is helpful when you need it. Do check the weekly sale flyer, as regular prices are not cheap. And bring your Unilocal bag, this store is in MoCo.

This store is horrible… I left and went to CVS and just decided to pay more for my items. The manager sat in the office with her hand on her chin while the two lines reached the freeze section. The cashier text on her phone and was barely attentive to the elderly lady trying to check out. The customer service counter is closed at all times throughout the day. This store is poorly ran and operated. The Shoppers in college park is tens times better, self check out, great friendly service and No bag fee if I forget my bags. I have brought bad ground turkey and when I return to the store with the 6 packs I was greeted with an angry Indian woman who wanted me to go get the portion of the meat I cooked. Worst store I have ever been too. No longer going to Safeway at all. There are too many stores to allow them to provide paying customers with this kind of service.

I agree with the other viewers that this location is very, very slow, and would probably recommend avoiding if at all possible. But I wanted to mention a few bright spots to be sure it’s a clear picture.
This is a full service Safeway, and in my experience it has been fully stocked just like any other Safeway. This is in contrast to the University Blvd location, which is much worse than this location in cleanliness and stock. I’ve always found what I’ve been looking for, even if it has taken forever.
It seems that Safeway is positioning itself very downmarket in this area – that is, it is not investing much in the shopping experience. That’s fine, but given you have that strategy, shouldn’t you also have the lowest prices? I find that Safeway is often rather expensive as well as poorly maintained, which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.
In any case, avoid.

If I could give this store minus a billion stars I would.
Today is the 4^th of July and after 10 minutes of waiting no one answered the phone there.
Oh let me correct that, someone answered after 5 minutes and then hung up.
Not that I even wanted to visit this awful, third world quality store ever again.
So I usually save myself the angst and head to the Safeway near Whole Foods in downtown Silver Spring.

This place is a show. The store is old and run down. Their selection of food seems limited. It simply feels cheap inside. The workers seem tired. (Some of the employees have been around 10 – 15 years.) The bathroom is absolutely disgusting. The lines can be long since they rarely have more than 3 lanes open. They have no self-​checkout. There is nothing really favorable about this place, except it is convenient when I get off beltway and need to pick up something and don’t feel like driving to Giant in White Oak. The Giant in White Oak is MUCH better than this place…

Horrible customer service. After a product recall for formula came out, My husband went to get our daughter formula not realizing that he picked up a recalled product. I went to safeway to return the formula. The manager accused me of lying and said she took all the defective formula off the shelf. The only thing she was willing to do was exchange the product. When I went to the baby section to look for a replacement, I found 2 cans of recalled formula on the shelf. I brought it to her attention and she still wouldn’t give me my money back only a store credit. This is my baby’s health we are talking about here! Her attitude was absolutely unacceptable!

It seems like every time I think I can just get in here quickly and find something I need I am always disappointed. Everything is misplaced, or put somewhere where you wouldn’t expect it so you have to ask the staff for help. They can either be friendly, or totally impartial and a big hassle. Most of the time they have to admit they don’t carry what your looking for. I’m not talking about exotic stuff. Common items.
I was severely disappointed by overpriced yuca — i took it home and peeled it — unusable. They don’t have a worker to field the moneyorder/​cigarette/​film counter on sundays. So I stood there like a chump until someone told me that. They didn’t even put up any visual cue to indicate that that section was closed.
Never again. I just drive the extra two minutes twelve seconds to the shoppers on cherry hill.