Safeway closing "Tenleytown" ?

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Safeway closing "Tenleytown" ?

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Re: Safeway closing "Tenleytown" ?

Post by arizonaguy »

It appears Safeway kept the store open longer than originally intended.

This article from August 2014 states that they planned to close the store within 10 months:

http://www.theeagleonline.com/article/2 ... -10-months

It looks like Safeway wanted to redevelop it and then decided against it.
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Re: Safeway closing "Tenleytown" ?

Post by pseudo3d »

Seems like Albertsons didn't bother trying to save this one. The months-old cheese items...that's just crap store management, pure and simple.
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Re: Safeway closing "Tenleytown" ?

Post by architect »

arizonaguy wrote:It appears Safeway kept the store open longer than originally intended.

This article from August 2014 states that they planned to close the store within 10 months:

http://www.theeagleonline.com/article/2 ... -10-months

It looks like Safeway wanted to redevelop it and then decided against it.
From reading the comments in the previous news article, it sounds like a mixed-use development was proposed for the site which would have included a replacement Safeway at ground level. However, local residents loudly complained, and the project never got off the ground. Now, they are losing their local supermarket, of course.

Politics aside, this store is an embarrassment to the Safeway brand. In the long haul, it is better that stores like this get shut down as they are likely causing more damage than they are worth in sales.
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Re: Safeway closing "Tenleytown" ?

Post by architect »

Unless if this was posted elsewhere, we apparently missed two DC-region Safeway closures back in the Spring. According to this article: http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/n ... tting.html, two Safeways in Seat Pleasant and Rockville closed in mid-summer. Honestly, neither of these closing surprise me, as the Seat Pleasant store is located in a very bad area, while the Rockville store was small and located in close proximity to two other Safeways. Based on recent closures, it definitely appears that Albertsons is paring down their DC-area operations to stores in either higher-end or gentrifying areas, which is likely a smart move from a marketing standpoint. Their pricing and presentation (especially after the advent of the Lifestyle format) simply do not fit low-end areas, or small outdated stores well.
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Re: Safeway closing "Tenleytown" ?

Post by BatteryMill »

architect wrote:Unless if this was posted elsewhere, we apparently missed two DC-region Safeway closures back in the Spring. According to this article: http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/n ... tting.html, two Safeways in Seat Pleasant and Rockville closed in mid-summer. Honestly, neither of these closing surprise me, as the Seat Pleasant store is located in a very bad area, while the Rockville store was small and located in close proximity to two other Safeways. Based on recent closures, it definitely appears that Albertsons is paring down their DC-area operations to stores in either higher-end or gentrifying areas, which is likely a smart move from a marketing standpoint. Their pricing and presentation (especially after the advent of the Lifestyle format) simply do not fit low-end areas, or small outdated stores well.
Speaking of which, the Ashburn, VA Safeway closed. Seems as if you can't survive there if you aren't Harris Teeter. Now if only people got their wishes granted, then it would be a Trader Joe's/Wegmans like a 7-Eleven around every corner... :P
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Re: Safeway closing "Tenleytown" ?

Post by storewanderer »

I guess this one had a gas station too... wonder what went wrong here... https://www.yelp.com/biz/safeway-broadlands
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Re: Safeway closing "Tenleytown" ?

Post by klkla »

storewanderer wrote:I guess this one had a gas station too... wonder what went wrong here... https://www.yelp.com/biz/safeway-broadlands
Those are horrible reviews. I don't get this company on so many levels. And most of the worst reviews were written after the merger.
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Re: Safeway closing "Tenleytown" ?

Post by storewanderer »

I noticed the bad reviews are generally from after the merger. This store looks to me like it was given a lifestyle remodel, though... I wonder if it used to do okay or that remodel was just speculative. The gas pumps have a combination of new and old logos so it would appear the store did not open as a lifestyle store. Also that model of gas pump pre-dates lifestyle.

The Google Street view of the store and gas station shows little activity yet if you look around the rest of the shopping center there is a fair bit of activity (nothing crowded by any means but at least stuff looks populated). Hard to know when Google did its street view but the Wendys has cars parked out front and in the drive through and the banks look open... so probably late morning or early afternoon.
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Re: Safeway closing "Tenleytown" ?

Post by mjhale »

pseudo3d wrote:Seems like Albertsons didn't bother trying to save this one. The months-old cheese items...that's just crap store management, pure and simple.
It should be noted that Georgetown Day School purchased the Safeway site in 2013. The purchase was intended to allow GDS to build a single campus instead of having the upper and lower schools at different locations. The fact that the redevelopment of the site and the potential to move Safeway or bring a different grocer into a nearby apartment development put the store in limbo. Unfortunately that seems to have led to Safeway just letting the store ride and putting little or no effort into it. Development in DC can run at a glacial pace especially if the neighborhood puts up a fight. Now that Safeway is closed perhaps the GDS redevelopment will go forth. The area still needs a traditional grocery but it looks like Safeway isn't going to be it.
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