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Remembering Magruder's

Posted: August 21st, 2021, 11:24 am
by Bradford011
Short-time lurker, first new thread.

I though I would start posts on older chains in the northern VA area that are either gone or mostly gone and feel Magruder's was a good place to start.

The flagship store was in Vienna; other stores were in Washington DC, Gaithersburg, Rockville and Alexandria.

Most of these stores were too far away from me to shop even infrequently, I stopped there only if I happened to be in the area for some reason. I went to the Gaithersburg store a few times as well as the one in Alexandria (on Route 1 south of the Beltway, that store got replaced with a Shoppers Food Warehouse some 30 years ago. Interestingly enough this SFW is one of the few left in northern VA.). I do remember going to their flagship store in Vienna once or twice. There was a store in the Bradlick Shopping Center (corner of Braddock Road and Backlick Road), it was replaced by a Giant long ago. There was also a store in Fairfax City that closed, I remember the building sitting empty for decades.

The DC store was sold but continues to operate under the Magruder's name. The other stores all closed, I don't know what replaced them.

Anyone with further information on the chain is encouraged to post it here.

Re: Remembering Magruder's

Posted: August 21st, 2021, 5:53 pm
by BatteryMill
There was one in Falls Church, ex-Acme. Still an international grocer to this day.

Re: Remembering Magruder's

Posted: August 22nd, 2021, 4:58 am
by Bradford011
Never knew there was one in Falls Church, that comes as an interesting surprise.

It's nice when you can learn new things from sites like this...

Re: Remembering Magruder's

Posted: August 22nd, 2021, 6:05 am
by buckguy
They had a long running store in Chevy Chase DC known for its liquor selection and a shortlived one in Cleveland Park at the historic Park & Shop center. The Cleveland Park store was probably too small to turn a profit and competed with the more complete Brookville Market (still there) nearby. The Chevy Chase store was sold but the new owners were able to keep the name.

They had a couple different locations in Rockville. One was in an old A&P at Congressional Plaza. The other was in Rockville's old downtown area in a strip.

They usually went into old chain supermarket locations and were known for their produce, an area where Giant and Safeway never really tried to compete. With the entry of Whole Foods, Wegmans and the organic chains (MOMS and Yes!), they lost their niche.

Re: Remembering Magruder's

Posted: August 22nd, 2021, 9:38 am
by mjhale
The 9/5/2002 Wayback Machine snapshot has a list of the Magruders store locations at the time:
  • 4641 Duke Street, Alexandria (Foxchase Shopping Center): Originally Grand Union. Demolished for a new build Harris Teeter.
  • 7010 Columbia Pike, Annandale: Originally a Centennial A&P. Then Food Lion and Bloom. Now Aldi.
  • 6810 Racetrack Road, Bowie
  • 5626 Connecticut Ave, DC: The produce market and liquor store mentioned by buckguy. Still operating as Magruders under new ownership.
  • 3527 Connecticut Ave, DC
  • 2800 Graham Road, Falls Church: Originally an A-Frame Acme as mentioned by BatteryMill. Has been a long running international market since Magruders closed.
  • 602A Quince Orchard Blvd, Gaithersburg (Quince Orchard Shopping Center): Originally Dart Drug. Subdivided for Magruders and Circuit City. This is the only new build Magruders I know of - not a takeover of a previous grocery.
  • 12389 Georgia Ave, Glenmont/Wheaton: Now a Staples. Not sure what it was originally.
  • 205 N. Washington Street, Rockville: I believe I recall from the old dcgrocery.com site that this was originally a Kroger and then a Consumers Co-Op location before Magruders. Demolished for redevelopment.
  • 6936 Braddock Road, Springfield/Annandale (Bradlick Shopping Center): Originally Grand Union. Demolished for a new build Giant in the early 2000s.
  • 180 Maple Avenue, Vienna: In researching I found a couple of old phone books showing this address as a Kroger in the early 1960s. As Bradford011 said this was a long running Magruders location.
I knew of the store in Rockville at Congressional Plaza (old A&P Centennial) that buckguy mentioned. That was the store that several of my neighbors growing up in upper Montgomery County religiously shopped at even though it was a good drive from where I lived. It was the produce they raved about. My parents preferred more modern Giant locations over the old grocery buildings that Magruders took over.

I too would be interested in any Magruders locations beyond these and others mentioned in this thread. I never shopped at Magruders much unless there was a really good sale.

Re: Remembering Magruder's

Posted: August 22nd, 2021, 11:17 am
by Bradford011
That was very interesting, I'd never heard of most of these. Also didn't know that the Giant at the Bradlick Shopping Center was new-build.

I notice the Fairfax City location wasn't mentioned. I don't know when it closed, just that the building and parking lot sat empty for a VERY long time...

Re: Remembering Magruder's

Posted: August 22nd, 2021, 12:47 pm
by submariner
HI there @Bradford011, welcome to the site!

RetailWatchers primarily focuses on current retail, give or take a decade or so. Something this far back could be better suited to our "sister site", Groceteria, which is focused on retail history. There might be some additional folks there who also remember this former chain.

Re: Remembering Magruder's

Posted: August 22nd, 2021, 2:32 pm
by Bradford011
submariner wrote: August 22nd, 2021, 12:47 pm HI there @Bradford011, welcome to the site!

RetailWatchers primarily focuses on current retail, give or take a decade or so. Something this far back could be better suited to our "sister site", Groceteria, which is focused on retail history. There might be some additional folks there who also remember this former chain.
I just ran across that site and have applied for membership. Thank you.

Re: Remembering Magruder's

Posted: August 23rd, 2021, 5:16 pm
by Bradford011
Being that Magruder's finally disappeared about eight years ago would continuing this thread here be ok?

I do want to discuss Weis but that discussion will be better off on the other site.

Re: Remembering Magruder's

Posted: August 29th, 2021, 9:51 am
by submariner
Bradford011 wrote: August 23rd, 2021, 5:16 pm Being that Magruder's finally disappeared about eight years ago would continuing this thread here be ok?

I do want to discuss Weis but that discussion will be better off on the other site.
It's borderline, but I'll allow it for now.