Tag Archives: safeway

The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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SW Safeway cashier in epithet fracas

Photo courtesy of
‘FEWFOO’
courtesy of ‘christaki’

DC magazine Metroweekly reported late yesterday an incident that occured between two local men and a cashier at the new Safeway store in Southwest DC.  The new location on 4th Street has been a real boon to the neighborhood, but apparently the staff hasn’t undergone any kind of real customer service training.  The two men, purchasing groceries last weekend, were subject to harassment from the cashier.

It’s hard for me to imagine why this cashier still has their job five days later, even with a weaksauce apology. Then again, given our recent trips to the Starburst Safeway (famous for selling unrefrigerated expired ground turkey), attention to the needs and wants of their customer base isn’t exactly priority one over there, is it?

The Daily Feed
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Free Food Alert! Dunkin’ Turbo Visits DC

Photo courtesy of
‘Dunkin Donuts Medium Coffee’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

I don’t know about you, but I’m always in the mood for free stuff these days.  That being said, this weekend, good ole’ Dunkin’ Donuts will be on hand at Safeway’s National Capital Barbecue Battle XVIII.  Located on Pennsylvania between 9th and 14th Street, there will be a giant RV filled with free coffee samples and other goodies for you to enjoy.

The District is just one stop on the Dunkin’ Turbo Big Taste Tour, which is introducing the public to the new Dunkin’ Turbo packaged coffee.  So if you’re in the area and have a craving for some coffee, make sure you stop by!  Saturday the RV will be open from 11am-9pm, and on Sunday from 11am-7:30pm.  You can check out all of the tour stops at the website.

Food and Drink, Life in the Capital, News, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Social Safeway: The Supermarket Superstar

Photo courtesy of
‘Shopping – Race to the Checkout’
courtesy of ‘David Blackwell.’

Great googlie mooglie!  With all the interwebz chatter about the grand reopening of the Social Safeway at 1855 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, one would think this was the greatest development in DC since sliced bread, and as one of those local residents, who has been supermarket less for almost a year, and therefore semi-breadless, it is indeed a long awaited event! And no, Whole Paycheck (aka Whole Foods) does not count as a supermarket, even though I do love their produce and two-for-one pizza Tuesdays.

This Safeway is going to be, quite frankly, TheBomb.com. Not only will it be  Safeway’s most state-of-the-art, greenest, opened 24 hours, full-service grocery store to date, but it will also feature: a wine cellar complete with a wine steward, a specialty cheese department with certain varieties flown in fresh daily from Europe; a sit-down sushi bar; brick-oven pizza; Italian-style gelato bar; an upgraded Starbucks coffee bar; indoor/outdoor seating area featuring a fireplace, HD televisions, complimentary WiFi, and open balcony overlooking Wisconsin Avenue; a SunTrust Bank; a Bergmann’s Dry Cleaners; and wait for it……..A NUTBAR!!!!! offering a wide selection of warm, ready-to-eat nuts that can be flavored or ground on site to create spreads and butter. OMG!!!!

Social Safeway 2.0 is set to open its brand spanking new, glorious, long awaited doors May 6th.  From the looks of the construction site’s live webcams, there’s a fair amount of fixing up to do in the next month and a half month. Giddy up Safeway! Giddy Up!

The Daily Feed
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Haven’t Gone Shopping Yet? You’re Kinda Screwed.


This is a mad house!
Originally uploaded by carlweaver

This was the scene last night in the produce department at the Safeway on Lee Hwy. Lots of thing were still available, but probably not the things you would care to eat if you had a choice. Beets, radishes, papayas and kale were still there. On the shelves were pig knuckles, potted meat, mustard, clam juice and laxatives. That was about it.

Since the snow has been delayed a bit from its predicted early morning start, what last-minute items are you heading out for?

The Daily Feed
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Area Stores Help You Avoid the Bag Tax

Photo courtesy of
‘If Poop Grew On Trees’
courtesy of ‘maxedaperture’

The bag tax is going into effect on Friday, and you’ll be paying 5 cents for every disposable bag you use. But to take the sting out of the tax while still getting shoppers to use reusable bags (which is the point of all this anyway), several stores are partnering with the city government to make reusable bags freely available for a limited time to their customers.

At DC Giant locations, baggers will be putting customers’ purchases into reusable bags for free this Friday for a week starting this Friday, up to a quarter million bags (thanks for the correction from Giant’s PR people!). Harris Teeter locations will be giving away bags to VIC card users who spend at least $20. Safeway will be giving away reusable bags through local non-profits, while CVS will be giving them away at their locations (though Wells’ office doesn’t specify for how long). Target, on the other hand, will be providing a 5 cent discount (in addition to the 5 cent bag tax you avoid paying) for every reusable bag you provide.

Personally, I’m not a great rememberer-of-reusable-bags, but when I use them, I always ask myself why I haven’t developed better habits about it. Aside from any environmental or cost concerns, I can fit a lot more groceries in my one Kiva foldable bag (hell yeah that’s an affiliate link), and the sturdy straps on a reusable bag make it a lot easier to carry a heavy order home.

Business and Money, Life in the Capital, News, The Daily Feed, The District
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Safeway Gets Web Savvy

Photo courtesy of
‘New Social Safeway Coming Soon to Burleith’
courtesy of ‘TreyDanger’

The Social Safeway has gone all social media on us, and got themselves a website.  Yes, we’re still only about half way through the nine month long renovation, but now we can track progress and developments.

The site offers a real time WEBCAM with time lapse, split screen and overlay functions, schematics of the supermarket and commercial area, and photos detailing the new and improved department offerings.

As a regular user of the former Social Safeway, I am pumped for the new grocery store and the additional offerings it will bring to an already vibrant and awesome DC neighborhood.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Simple as Banana Cream Pie. Or French Bread.


French bread or banana cream pie?
Originally uploaded by carlweaver

The local Safeway near my house (yes, the same one with the occasional rotten produce) is screwing with me, setting up logical impossibilities that make my brain hurt. Banana cream pie is French bread. Is this store run by idiots or freaks? Come on, folks. It’s labeling, not rocket science. I know today is hump day and all, but go get a free coffee, buck up and let’s fix some stuff this afternoon.

Thrifty District
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Thrifty District: Salad Bar Shopping

Photo courtesy of Me

IMG_0374
courtesy of Me

When the Murky Coffee Kerfuffle erupted last year one of the funniest comments I saw was over on Metafilter and wasn’t so much about the conflict as it was terminology. The writer took issue with the term “ghetto latte,” where a customer buys a cheaper espresso-only drink and dumps in the no-charge milk at the condiment bar.  “‘Latte arbitrage’ is a much better description, since if their pricing was consistent this type of operation would not be profitable.” You’ve got to be a little bit of a finance geek to be amused by this use of the word arbitrage, but I’ve spent enough time listening to Marketplace to be tickled by the statement.

The salad bar at your local grocery is another place where you can practice some consumer arbitrage, though there’s also advantage to be had in not buying things that spoil before you use them all. There’s also some things there that are pure and simple sucker items which you shouldn’t be buying in any quantity if you own a can opener. Continue reading →

Essential DC, Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed
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Social Safeway Gutted

Photo courtesy of
‘The Choice is Yours’
courtesy of ‘Zabowski’

I’ve had a report that the Social Safeway at 1855 Wisconsin Avenue, NW has been throughly gutted of groceries.  My friend went there this past Sunday to purchase some Yellowtail, and found the wine/beer aisle completely ransacked.  She did mention there were heavy discounts on the remaining items, which boiled down to a sparse produce section.  Continue reading →