Wednesday, June 2, 2021

Rockville Safeway near future Wegmans location considering exit option


"Wegmans Effect" already being felt

The grocery store's first brick hasn't even been laid yet, but the Wegmans effect may already be palpable in Rockville. A real estate source tells me the Safeway store located one block south of the future Wegmans site is actively seeking a tenant to sublease its space at 1800 Rockville Pike. The Safeway store currently has a 20-year lease at the recently-built Galvan at Twinbrook development.

If Safeway were replaced with a new tenant under a sublease, it would be a blow to the community and the Galvan. The grocer is the anchor retail tenant at the development, occupying a 62,753 square foot retail space on the ground floor. As anchor, it's counted on by the other businesses to drive retail traffic to the site. And Twinbrook lost its original Safeway store when this one was planned to replace it.

Contrary to what you would expect from an upscale grocer like Wegmans, their prices are about 14% lower than Safeway's in the D.C. area, Consumers' Checkbook found. Yet Wegmans' products and produce have a reputation for being superior in quality to local competitors.


Aside from the intense competition Wegmans will provide for local shoppers, Safeway may also be suffering from a problem created by both the design of the Galvan, and City of Rockville sign regulations. With a setback from Rockville Pike required by past visions of a parallel service road, and a lack of large, driver-facing signage, it's frankly hard to know which businesses you are passing at the Galvan while facing forward to monitor the road ahead. It's no wonder developer B.F. Saul fought - successfully - to obtain the right to build up to the edge of Rockville Pike for its Twinbrook Quarter development, which will be anchored by the Wegmans.

8 comments:

  1. It's been my observation that most other businesses in the Galvan function quit well independent of Safeway's influence. Those merchants attract their own clientele by providing services unique to this section of the community in Rockville.

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  2. Hate to say it, but Safeway isn't as good as Giant or Wegman's.

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    1. 12:19: A few years ago, they had a few categories in which they were better than Giant, like frozen dinners. But then Safeway got rid of some of the brands they had, as well as some house brand dinners that were good. Around the same time, Giant really improved their frozen dinner section, and the selection in most aisles, and as a result are pretty solidly ahead of Safeway at this point (speaking as a customer at both chains).

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    2. Frozen dinners? Frozen dinners in general are the worst thing in any grocery store.

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  3. This Safeway actually replaced two former Safeway stores. Not just the one on Veirs Mill Road, but also the one in Loehmann's Plaza.

    The chain seems to be in terminal decline. Half a dozen stores nearby have closed just in the past few years.

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    1. Yes, they closed one in downtown Bethesda that was in a very central location.

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  4. I grew up shopping at Giant, mostly in 1980s.Giant was a really good store at that time it was locally owned.

    I like Safeway better now.

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  5. Safeway is cleaner and has a better shopping experience than Giant. It takes forever to get in and out if Giant so I don’t go there anymore

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