Showing posts with label Safeway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Safeway. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Purse snatching at Rockville grocery store


Rockville City police responded to a report of a purse snatching at the Fallsgrove Village Center late yesterday morning. A purse was snatched at the Safeway grocery store at 14939 Shady Grove Road at 11:45 AM, according to crime data. The thief also shoplifted merchandise from the store as a bonus.

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.

Friday, February 1, 2019

Rockville bank robbery suspect photos released in search

Montgomery County police have identified a suspect in the January 27, 2019 SunTrust Bank robbery inside the Shady Grove Road Safeway store around 4:05 PM that afternoon. Detectives have released surveillance camera photos of the suspect, and are seeking your help in identifying and locating him.

Anyone with information about the suspect or this bank robbery is asked to contact the Montgomery County Department of Police – Major Crimes Division at 240-773-5100.  To be eligible for a reward, tipsters may call Crime Solvers of Montgomery County toll-free at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).  Crime Solvers will pay a cash reward of up to $10,000 for information provided to them that leads to the arrest and/or indictment of this suspect.  Tipsters will remain anonymous.

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Assault at Twinbrook Safeway

Montgomery County police detectives have released photos of a man they accuse of shoplifting and assault of an employee at the Twinbrook Safeway store, located at 1800 Rockville Pike, on October 17 around 1:00 PM. Detectives say the suspect stuffed merchandise from the Safeway's shelves into a bookbag, and then attempted to walk out of the store without paying for any of it.

Confronted by a "loss prevention employee" as he left, the suspect allegedly then pulled a knife out of his back pocket, and pointed it at the chest of the employee. The suspect was able to then flee the store, and was last seen boarding a Metro train at the Twinbrook Metro station nearby.

Anyone with information about this theft and first-degree assault and/or the suspect involved is asked to call the 1st District Investigative Section at 240-773-6084.  Those who wish to remain anonymous may call Crime Solvers of Montgomery County toll-free at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). Crime Solvers will pay a cash reward of up to $10,000 for information provided to them that leads to an arrest in this case.
The alleged thief making his getaway
at the Twinbrook Metro station

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Abandoned Twinbrook Safeway (Photos)

The vacant former Safeway store at the Twinbrook Shopping Center may have been stripped of exterior signage, but inside it still very much looks like a grocery store. Just without any groceries on the shelves.

Interestingly, the lights are still on inside. This was not the classic Safeway store design like that found in Damascus, which ended up being demolished. All contents were auctioned off prior to demolition.

This situation looks more like that at the old Magruder's in College Plaza. That store was put up for lease, and the new tenant utilized the leftover checkouts and even shopping carts when it opened. Other than a potential redevelopment of the shopping center, the question here is, will it be a new grocery store chain or an ethnic grocery store?







Friday, February 27, 2015

" WORLD'S BEST CASHIER " REINSTATED AT TWINBROOK SAFEWAY

Howard, the Twinbrook Safeway cashier dubbed the "World's Best Cashier" by his regular customers and fans, is back on the job. Those customers rallied behind him after he was mysteriously let go by the store for no apparent reason recently. Letters, emails, a union grievance hearing and hundreds of petition signatures later, Howard Abrams is now back behind his checkout register at the grocery chain's Twinbrook location.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

PETITION TO REINSTATE HOWARD AT TWINBROOK SAFEWAY NEARING SIGNATURE GOAL

462 customers of the Twinbrook Safeway on Veirs Mill Road have signed the Reinstate Howard Abrams' Employment Status at Safeway petition online, nearing the goal of 500 signatures. You can still add your signature to the list.

Abrams was apparently terminated while on his annual vacation, and unjustly so in the view of his loyal customers and the grocery employees' union, which is contesting the move. Many customers have threatened to shop elsewhere if the "World's Best Cashier" isn't reinstated soon.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

ROCKVILLE RESIDENTS MISSING HOWARD, " THE WORLD'S BEST CASHIER " AT TWINBROOK SAFEWAY (VIDEO)

Shoppers at the Twinbrook Safeway are wondering why their favorite cashier was apparently let go by the store. Howard, an energetic and affable employee who brought game show enthusiasm to the checkout line, has been named "The World's Best Cashier" by one fan. You can see him in action in this video.

One shopper has written to the company asking for Howard to be rehired, and expressing concern about the decline of the store. "Many of us still shop there ONLY because the cashiers are wonderful people whom we appreciate and like, Howard and Ophelia especially," she wrote.

Given the preponderance of glitchy self-checkout machines and unmanned (and un(wo)manned) checkout lines in grocery stores these days, you'd think stores would want to hold on to popular and energetic employees.