Safeway

This store is in a good location for me because of work. I used to go there for lunch and get steamed seafood until I went one day and the steamer was broke. I don’t know if its fixed or not. Anyway, I went early yesterday looking for balloons, cake and flowers. No one was in the balloon section so I went to the customer service desk (because the sign directed me there) I asked a lady could she help me, she said to the guy next to her, help her out. He said when I clock in, I’ll help her. OK. I asked another lady, she said: I thought somebody was already helping you? Then walked away and went to her cash register. 15 minutes after running thru the store trying to get someone to help me, I asked for a manager. Never saw one. BUT this wonderful man named PAUL stopped what he was doing and went to the balloon section and spent his time looking thru drawers and boxes of balloons to meet my need for a balloon that said retirement or miss you! He was later joined by GERALD. They both spend time finding the right balloons for me.!! Later I learned Gerald was getting off work and had been there all night! THANK YOU GERALD AND PAUL!!!

Get toe. God awful they won’t turn the self check out lines on because they are afraid people will steal.

Quite possibly THE worst Safeway in the city! Long lines, dirty checkouts, lack of variety, CONSTANTLY out of meats, filthy outside grounds, panhandlers at the front door. CLEAN IT UP OR SHUT IT DOWN!

I absolutely hate this place! I’ve tried coming here several times without not wanting to lose my cool but I can’t.
The fruit/​veggies are ALWAYS rotten with gnats flying around them. The lines are ALWAYS long. They don’t even have a self check line. I came in yesterday just to get an aluminum pan and the lines were ridiculous.
Stay away

In what world does it make sense to close ¾ non-​express lines at one time (just after 5:00, when many people are just getting off from work) because «their shifts are over»?? We don’t stagger shifts anymore?

The location of this store is a double-​edged sword. It is close in proximity to my place, but it is also right in the hood. As such, there are ALWAYS, without fail, a ton of dudes (and girls, sometimes) standing around outside creating a sometimes imposing and threatening sort of presence that, if you aren’t accustomed to being in the hood or navigating «hood territory», might make you fearful for your safety. I don’t have a problem shopping there, have never had one, and don’t anticipate having one, but I have gone into the store with friends visiting and they’re always looking around as if the area is sketchy, which it is. The Safeway needs to be there — people in the area need easy and quick access to food just as in any other area — but an increased police or security presence at the store would be helpful. This is JUST the outside.
To the inside:
The store is just tragic. I’m sorry, but I don’t know how else to say it. I’ve been to other Safeways in other neighborhoods that were less economically impoverished (read: more Caucasion/​less ethnic) and the experience at these locations couldn’t be more different. The smell AS SOON as you walk into this particular location is very off-​putting. It doesn’t STINK, per se, but it certainly doesn’t smell clean or inviting. Even a neutral scent, nothing at all, would be prefered to this… stale, for lack of a better word, smell.
It is dirty walking in, cluttered, and just not visually appealing. Sagging balloons that are losing their helium at the front of the store when you walk in, cluttered sales bins, a poorly organized flower caddy, etc. I could go on.
The vegetables and produce selection is one of the poorest I’ve seen. I just have to be honest. I frequently go into there looking for FRESH produce and find not only a poor VARIETY, but also SEVERELY lacking quality. On several occasions, I’ve purchased avocados from this particular Safeway only to cut them open and find them spoilt, spotted black, and fuzzy with mold. DISGUSTING. I’ve seen plenty of other fruits with bruises from sitting on the disgusting display cases (that appear to have not been cleaned since the opening of the store) for far too long — meaning they aren’t being switched out. A new batch of fruit comes in and they just dump that on top of what’s already been sitting there. The vegetables are always a stuggle to find some in acceptable condition — I frequently find myself playing the «lesser of the evils» game with my produce. The fresh herbs and spices are sometimes rarely fresh — I’ve found bruised and wilted basil many times. And there is frequently discounted lettuce that has ALREADY turned brown and looks unfit for consumption on the shelves.
I could really go on and on about the dismal state of the Safeway, but for some reason, I don’t imagine that this is new news to anyone. It IS in the hood after all, so it’s okay, yes?
I find it sad, insulting, and VULGAR, in fact, to have to go to another Safeway halfway across town (Southwest Waterfront) to have a pleasant shopping experience. Oh, and lest I forget… my Safeway’s deli doesn’t even BEGIN to compare to the one at Waterfront. It looks poorly maintained, dingy, unappetizing, and quite frankly, UNSANITARY. I was prepared to purchase some roasted turkey breast one evening, and the young man assisting me grabbed the turkey and unwrapped it wearing the same pair of plastic gloves that he was wearing that he was using to wipe off the counter (with a grimy rag from a dingy and probably cold bucket of water). I politely told him I changed my mind — to which he responded VERY POLITELY, however, I must say, «No worries. Is there anything else I can help you with?». Again, I politely declined and went on to find another meat option. As I was walking away, he turned back to his task of cleaning and picked up the dirty washcloth and started wiping the slicer down. I was disgusted.
This Safeway needs to get it together. It has potential. A LOT of it. But until they fix things, I have no problem taking my money over to the Harris Teeter on Pennsylvania Ave. I don’t mind paying a little bit more if it means that I can shop in a nicer environment with a nicer selection of foods.
Oh, and I will be posting this review on Unilocal!and Google’s review site, as well. I’ve complained about the horrible conditions before to no avail. This last time was just the last straw.

Much improved rearranged the aisles and cleaner. Staff still needs work on customer service. Prices are fairly decent, today there are good sales.

I’ll give this grocery store 5 stars once this place is condemned. There’s always long lines, everything is over priced nasty attitude employees, the employees are rude, no one greets you or ask if you need help nothing is in stock. Funny thing is its always security in there. For what? !!! Who in their right mind would even come to this Safeway !!! Yet alone steal something. Long story short it’s horrible don’t spend your money here.

By far the worse grocery store to ever shop at it needs a lot of improvement in all areas

The worst in the area. Slow service. Filthy store. Always understaffed and under stocked.

I’m only giving this Safeway 1 star because I can’t give it ZERO.
It says something when you go out of your way to avoid your local grocery store… and avoid it I do. But every now and then I don’t feel like driving across the bridge to the Safeway on Kentucky Ave, or the Harris Teeter on Penn or the Wegman’s in Landover and so I go to my neighborhood grocer.
As is always the case with this location, I am always met at the door with LOITERS! Men who just seem to hang around the front of a grocery store are usually enough to make me want to turn AWAY. Then you walk in and the store REEKS, because the majority of the produce is on it’s way to dead-​ville. Today I had the wonderful idea of picking up asparagus… NOT. The stems were already soft and rubbery. The floors where filthy and I’m still confused why the alcohol (which also includes chips!?!) is always blocked off!?!
Luckily this time the lines weren’t long, which is usually par for the course for this location, as well.
The cashier was thankfully friendly, which I guess can be the 1 star since I’ve only ever met with friendly personnel here.
And OF course leaving out the door, I am AGAIN met with the damn shiftless loiters who were standing there running their damn mouths when I first went in,
The cherry on this crap cake… I was met with the smell of WEED while walking to my car, because 2 of the loiters decided to spark up the marijuana in the parking lot!
I HATE THIS SAFEWAY!

This Safeway needs to be Shut Down!!!

I mean its the worst service in the world. I been going here for years and everytime I go its no better.

Shopped at this safeway for 18 years, it was recently renovated and throughout the years the floorplans have changed quite a bit. Not the best safeway in the world but its not terrible neither.