“We want to be cooperative, but there is a reason that the covenant is in place to protect our interests,” said Craig Muckle, Safeway’s manager of public affairs and government relations.

At the news conference to announce Wal-Mart’s new plans, Gray said the Wal-Mart stores would help address unemployment — by bringing in about 1,800 jobs — and “food deserts.”

But Muckle said the Ward 7 area where the Wal-Mart is planned may become an oasis that can’t handle two grocers. Such proximity may not be as unusual in the suburbs, where traffic patterns could necessitate and support competing nearby stores, he said.

“In the city, with one possible exception, there is no grocery store directly across the street from another grocery store,” he said. “In a city, basically you’re looking at a store coming in a neighborhood. To have more than one . . . someone may survive; someone may not.”

I was at the Skyland Safeway a couple of weeks ago doing some reporting, and by my observation, the clientele seemed largely middle-class. Shops like the Anacostia Warehouse Supermarket, which was about a mile away and a lot like an overgrown corner store, may actually have more to fear from a coming Walmart. Gray could argue that since, unlike Safeway, Walmart is well known for its appeal to lower-income families, it's more likely that the folks who don't shop at Safeway anyway will be heading to a fresh new Walmart supercenter.

Then again, considering that everyone is trying to make their dollars stretch these days, Safeway may be in trouble, too.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Jason Morgan and his partner Brendan Harrington told Metro Weekly that they'd just put their food on the conveyor belt when they heard their check-out person say something awful: "Oh God, they're faggots."

Understandably, Harrington was taken aback. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear what you said," he replied. The couple says the homophobic employee only got bolder: "You guys are fucking faggots."

Morgan and Harrington left their groceries where they were, went to the store's management, and later filed a complaint with the D.C. Office of Human Rights, Metro Weekly says.

Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells heard about the story and confronted Safeway, eliciting an apology:

We extend our sincerest apologies to Mr. Morgan and Mr. Harrington for the completely unacceptable comments by our employee. Safeway employs and serves people from all backgrounds, and absolutely does not condone discrimination or intolerance of any kind by any staff member.  The company is reviewing the matter and will take appropriate corrective action.

There's a video that purportedly shows the clerk herself apologizing. A slight smile plays on her lips, though that could just be embarrassment. In any event, the mea culpa is a half-assed one, "I'm deeply sorry for if it offended him in any type of way."

Safeway spokesperson Craig Muckle says Safeway has tried to contact Morgan and Harrington to issue a "direct apology" to them, but haven't been able to reach them. As for the employee, she's being investigated, says Muckle. If the couple decides to return to Safeway, they don't have to worry about running into her, Muckle explains. "She's not in the store," he says. The cashier no longer has "contact with customers."

Muckle says he can't clarify whether she's been suspended or fired for legal reasons.

Update: Safeway has informed Wells that the cashier was fired.

Photo by Daquella manera via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0

The Southwest Safeway is part of a test program for quality assurance.

Stop by the Safeway on 4th Street SW, and prepare to show some paper. Employees are now inspecting customers' receipts on the way out of the store—part of a "quality assurance" initiative from Safeway's upper management that's been soundly greeted with distaste.

The blog Southwest...the Little Quadrant That Could reports that at a Monday meeting of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6D, commissioners questioned Safeway representatives and called the move degrading—arguing that it is less about customer service than keeping watch for shoplifting. A nearly unanimous commission then voted to send a letter to Safeway management "expressing their dismay with the new policy," according to the blog; the letter also requests that Safeway institute the initiative at a "non-urban store."

Reached by City Desk, Craig Muckle, a Safeway manager for public affairs and government relations, explains that the Waterfront Station store was chosen for the program—which Muckle stresses is a pilot program—because of its strong management team. Also, the branch has the highest volume of customers in the District. "If it can be done there, it can be done anywhere," Muckle says. Well, not quite anywhere: Muckle says that if the program is successful, Safeway hopes to expand it to other municipalities that have a bag tax. (Which for now, is just D.C. and, if the state passes such a law, Maryland.)

As for the complaints? "We've heard several complains and it's been minimal. I know because we have ways of checking our records," Muckle asserts.

He may be right: It seems not everyone feels disrespected by the receipt checks. One commenter on Southwest...the Little Quadrant That Could writes:

I was one of the original posters who voiced my strong opposition to the receipt check – before I even stepped foot in the store. After a few visits I really don't mind. The receipt checkers are extremely friendly and approachable. Lastly, it's nice to hear "have a blessed day" upon leaving.

Photo by Flickr user Mr T. in D.C., Attribution-No Derivative 2.0 Generic license.

And another point of consensus: The M Street Safeway is better than no grocery at all, which is what Southwesterners are bracing for this spring. During about two weeks in April, the company plans to close down the existing store while it puts the finishing touches on a brand new Safeway, set to open April 16 as part of a redevelopment of the same parcel.

A two-week closure might not be a big deal in neighborhoods with abundant shopping options, but it’s going to be a hardship for waterfront residents, says David C. Sobelsohn, secretary of the 6D Advisory Neighborhood Commission.

“This Safeway is not only the largest retailer in Southwest; it’s our only source of food. For many people without cars, there is really no other option,” Sobelsohn says. “We are looking for assurances that Safeway will do what it takes to make sure people in this neighborhood have access to food.”

The old store is slated to close on April 4. The new one will open on April 16, according to Craig M. Muckle, spokesman for Safeway’s Eastern Division.

Among those concerned is Tserha Gebreamlak, 41, who moved into the neighborhood a decade ago, partly because of the supermarket a few blocks from her apartment. She suffers from a chronic syndrome that often leaves her exhausted, so she tends to shop two or three times a week to cut down on number of items she has to lug at any one time.

“I moved here depending on Safeway,” she says. “Now I may have to take a train to Harris Teeter,” on Capitol Hill, near the Potomac Ave. Metro station.

Safeway also has another store near Kentucky Avenue SE. But both of those supermarkets are located on the other side of the Southeast Freeway, more than a mile away. That leaves a 7-Eleven, a few variety stores, and not much else by way of shopping options.

Sobelsohn and other residents would like the store to remain open and wonder whether Safeway executives are just trying to save a few bucks with the temporary shutdown.

But Muckle says the company needs the time to move existing equipment into the new store located directly behind the old store and demolish the old building. Besides, Muckle says, Safeway has already gone out of its way to keep its doors open during construction.

“This isn’t about creating a hardship. We want to do what’s right for the community,” says Muckle, pointing out that things could be much worse: Safeway’s Georgetown store has been closed for renovations for about a year now.

But those two neighborhoods make for a lopsided comparison. For starters, Georgetown is one of the city’s wealthier neighborhoods, while the area around the Safeway is still one of the District’s poorer sections despite new construction in recent years. Not only is there a Whole Foods Market a few blocks from the closed Safeway on Wisconsin Avenue NW, Georgetown residents are more mobile. According to 2000 Census figures, the most recent available, 83 percent of households in the Georgetown, Burleith, Hilldale area of the city owned cars, compared to 60 percent of households in the Southwest-Waterfront section of Ward 6.

“Southwest is an older, established neighborhood. It’s mostly seniors and may don’t drive,” says Clarence Brown, executive director of the District’s Office on Aging, who also happens to live next door to the Safeway. “Ten days, I can live with that. I go to Harris Teeter,” he says, “but it will be a concern for a lot of people.” (Safeway originally estimated a 10-day closure but revised that yesterday to12 days.)

“I’m still driving,” says Sandra Butler-Truesdale, 70, the secretary of the residents’ association of St. James Mutual coop building, on O Street SW. “I’m just concerned to know what those seniors will do and what plans are being made” to help them get to the supermarket during the closure.

Neighborhood residents have been pushing Safeway officials to discuss their plans to make sure no one goes hungry during to the 12-day closure. Shuttle bus service to another grocery store, moving a small retail operation into a temporary trailer on the property, or offering free delivery service are among the ideas buzzing around the neighborhood.

Muckle says Safeway officials are working on alternative "shopping opportunities” but declined to go into detail about what they might be.

“We are working on those and will have something in place by the ANC meeting in March,” Muckle says.

That’s not much comfort for Gebreamlak, who says she could probably cope for a couple of weeks but “it would be nice if I knew in advance, so I can make a plan.”

Anger over the closure just adds to resentment Southwest residents feel about the way they say the store has been run over the years, concerns that prompted the ANC to launch a special task force to work with store management to improve cleanliness, security and a litany of other issues.

“Items advertised on sale are so often out of stock that I have begun to think ‘on sale’ is a euphemism for ‘out of stock’ at that store,” Sobelsohn says.

Anger boiled last September at a community meeting to discuss Safeway’s application to sell beer and wine at the new store. Hundreds of residents packed the meeting and bombarded Safeway district managers with complaints, recalls Robert Sockwell, chair of the SW Safeway Taskforce. [CLARIFICATION:  Sockwell emailed to say the meeting was called to discuss the problems at the store but the liquor license was also discussed.]

“The meeting probably never would have ended if we hadn’t cut off the questions,” says Sockwell, who also chaired the September meeting.

Susan Henriques-Payne has lived across the street from the store for 31 years but, like Brown, hasn’t shopped there in ages. only shops there on "an as needed basis." Instead, she makes road trips to Virginia to buy her groceries. She’s looking forward to the prospect of shopping closer to home once the new store opens, but her expectations are low.

“It’s a culture of mediocrity,” she says. “They really aren’t customer focused.”

“I know we have to regain some credibility with the community,” Muckle says. “But this is in no way an attempt to place some hardship on them. We see the new store as an opportunity to turn the page completely.”

The Issue: Edgewood neighborhood residents will rally at 11 a.m. Monday at Safeway at 514 Rhode Island Ave. NE to prevent the grocer from moving out March 6. The “rally is geared toward stopping Safeway from moving out so quickly,” says local Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) commissioner Debbie Smith [UPDATE: Smith is a former ANC commissioner. City Desk regrets the error]. The D.C. Department of Health briefly shut the store last month after an inspection found health violations–rodent droppings and dried blood, among them. Safeway has not made an official announcement, but word of the closing spread from employees, Smith says; the store apparently is no longer viable financially. Safeway’s departure leaves residents without a nearby grocery store.

Mosey On Out: “Safeway sucks–IMHO,” writes neighborhood resident Jason Hawke in a listserv. “We don’t need to rally to save them; we need to rally to demand respect from corporate stores." The parent Safeway hasn't provided the local store—which Smith says suffers from a slew of sanitation issues and bad produce and foods—with the necessary upgrades to effectively serve the community. Some residents would rather see a Wegmans or Trader Joe's move in, says resident Jacqueline Young.

Not So Fast!: Safeway’s immediate departure has other local residents up in arms—notably the large senior population. Many have been shopping at the Safeway for years—and change is difficult, Smith says. Safeway’s Edgewood closing “would cause a devastating blow to our already underserved community,” wrote Michael Clark, Sr., president of the Edgewood Civic Association in an ECA Resolution Letter to Safeway.

What’s Next: Wegmans moving in? (The excitement is insurmountable). If Safeway does go, the community plans to bring in “a grocery store that is nice, friendly, clean, well-lit, well-stocked and provides an array of foods. And Wegmans has been a hot item on the listserv,” Smith says. Good riddance to rodent droppings–seems like Safeway's doing the neighborhood a favor.

The District's Department of Health ordered an immediate closure of the store after a routine inspection showed critical (and noncritical) health violations—including a mouse tail sticking out from a storage rack and dried blood on the meat refrigerator.

City Desk obtained the "Food Establishment Inspection Report," available for viewing here. Some highlights:

"Bag of rice cakes has been eaten into with rodent droppings next to bag."

"Seafood salad and crab dip held at improper temperature."

"Rodent droppings observed in the bakery in a corner next to the walk-in refrigerator. Also droppings observed next to the Carvel freezer, throughout the produce walk-in refrigerator and along the walls in the rear storage area floor."

"A strong odor of mouse or rat urine detected in the rear storage area along the floor."

"Tail of mouse was protruding from under one of the racks."

"Dried blood on meat refrigerator (open display) shelves."

"The thermometer in the cheese refrigerator reads 58F while it was measured at 37F (by me) and the meat walk-in thermometer reads -8F and no items are frozen. I measured the temperature at 41F."

The inspector also found "food and trash on floors in rear storage area," "holes in the wall along floor in walk-in refrigerator where rodent droppings were observed," and "unclean handwashing sinks."

Safeway spokesperson Craig Muckle could not immediately be reached.

Safeway, Alexandria, VA 12/18.

Downtown DC, 12/18.

Park View, NW DC.

Petworth, NW DC 12/20.

I am biased against the Safeway on Columbia Road NW. I respectfully disagree with my former colleague Jule Banville, who wrote a stirring defense of this store; I have never forgiven the store for only de-grubbing itself once Harris Teeter moved in nearby. Because the Safeway near me, in Alexandria? It's delightful! But the one on Columbia Road NW, it's like it was punishing people for shopping there. One time I had to dig an onion out of the little recess in the produce stand where they used to keep the twist ties. And God forbid you should need a sandwich; the counter folks always seemed surprised anyone would take Safeway up on its offer to make them. And the prices sucked, too!

These are problems you fix because you want your store to be good, not because a nicer store moves in nearby. So ANYWAY today I needed fruit and pretzels, and I decided to throw caution to the wind and turn left instead of right when I left the office. Here is my report.

ITEM: Bananas. 39 cents a pound with the Club Card. That's a good deal. But they were all pretty unripe! I got two more-yellow-than-green ones, and one was mushy when I ate it.

ITEM: Apples. Why are farmers markets cheaper than grocery stores when it comes to apples? Twin Springs Fruit Farm at the Arlington Farmers Market is still knocking my socks off with winesaps and mutsus for $1.99/lb. They are never mushy. Today I got a Michigan gala for the same price for $1.50/lb (Club Card price) and I will be surprised if it rises above "adequate." This situation would be the same at Harris Teeter. I don't like to buy apples at grocery stores.

ITEM: Pretzels. The Columbia Road NW Safeway is small and cannot devote an aisle to snacks, which is fair enough, but I could not find my favorite pretzels, which are Rold Gold Honey Wheat Braided Twists. These are perpetually on sale at Harris Teeter for $2.50 a bag. In a way, I guess, Safeway saved me money on this one.

ITEM: Self-checkout. An off-duty employee blew past me in line to use the self-checkout a friend was finishing up on. This has happened to me before at the Teet.

CONCLUSION: I think I will keep walking to Harris Teeter, even though it's more of a hike.

The District of Columbia is about a month away from having to pay five cents a pop for its plastic bags, and some details are yet to be worked out.

Such as: What about the self-checkout facilities increasingly populating city supermarkets—how are they going to work with the bag fee? After all, there's no human to control the bagging process there. Who's to stop some earth-hating customer from triple bagging his junk and absconding with 45 cents worth of free polyethylene?

Human oversight? Defeats the point of self-checkout. Honor system? Would certainly be dishonored. Complicated technological contraption? That would be complicated.

City Desk phoned the two largest operators of self-checkout facilities in the District—Safeway and Giant. Neither, according to their respective spokespersons, have yet figured out how to implement the bag fee at self-checkouts.

Safeway spokesperson Craig Muckle describes a behind-the-scenes Manhattan Project-like effort at his employer. Corporate executives have had several meetings on the matter, he says, and are close to working out a solution.

Though Muckle says he's been in on the talks, he declines any of the possibilities in detail—though he does mention that a solution icould pontentially involve human employees who are currently tasked with overseeing the self-checkout stands at Safeway stores.

Same goes for Giant. That dominant local grocer is also undecided on a solution to the self-checkout quandary, spokesperson Kim Brown says: "We are working on a couple of different options, but we'll definitely have a system in place."

Brown, too, declines to details what those options might be. But she gives some parameters: "We're hoping that it's going to be simple for customers to use and easy for us to track."

Read: They have no idea! PANIC!

Frozen Tropics believes that H Street/Trinidad just might be safer than Columbia Heights and Adams Morgan:

"I feel safer living here than in Columbia Heights. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like I know too many people who have been robbed in Columbia Heights. And when I say robbed, I mean pistol whipped, punched, or hit in the head with a brick. None of these people were resisting. By contrast, I only know (personally) one guy who was ever violently attacked during a robbery in this area. That was when he resisted (rightly, because the bastards tried to force him into an alley, and you should resist at that point)...."

JDLand has a review (with photos) of the new beer garden (called I believe the "Bullpen"). She is very kind. That place feels like walking through something Clear Channel barfed: bad cover band, dudes, and the smell of stale beer all in a fenced-in slab of asphalt. On second thought, it's not something that Clear Channel barfed. It feels like a prison yard sponsored by Clear Channel. Awesome redevelopment!

Anyway, JDLand writes: "When I arrived around 6 pm, there was a healthy crowd, and the spirits (emotional and liquid) seemed to be flowing well." How....polite.

And Now, Anacostia profiles a historic piece of Good Hope Road property that's set to be auctioned off on Wednesday.

Penn Quarter Living wonders if work has been completed at 901 E Street NW.

In addition to the new Safeway coming to Georgetown, the go-to D.C. grocery chain is planning similar overhauls at the Southwest Waterfront and Petworth.

At the Waterfront, preliminary work is under way for the new store, which will go up behind the current building near the Metro. When completed in 2011, the old store will be demolished. And, much to the delight of the lunch-starved masses, it will have an enhanced deli with sandwiches made to order.

Petworth's store on Georgia Avenue NW will follow a model similar to what's going on in Georgetown—a new, expanded store will go up where the existing store stands. That means the old store will close at some point. Also, parking will be moved below ground. The space occupied by the current parking lot will be added to the footprint of the new store, taking it from about 20,000 square feet to about 55,000 square feet. Safeway spokesman Craig Muckle says Petworth's plans are not as far along as the Waterfront's and hesitated to give a projected completion date. "I don't have a good sense right now, but I'd say ballpark will be sometime in 2011. It won't be next year, I can tell you that," he says.

Meanwhile, demo is slightly behind schedule at the Social Safeway, which closed last Sunday and will remain closed for nine or 10 months. Knock-down will happen "in the next couple of weeks," says Muckle, who had previously stated it was going to happen right after the store closed. "I'm not going to call anybody out," he says, on why it's taking longer than planned, but added Safeway is going forward with an "aggressive" plan to open the new store by March 2010.

Renovations are also coming to Columbia Road. Adams Morgan's Safeway will stay open during its facelift. Despite the empty storefronts adjacent to the cramped store, there are no plans to expand. "We weren't able to work anything out," says Muckle.

The American Enterprise Institute's financial woes, Campus Progress' smear campaign, and creationists at the Smithsonian below the jump.

• The Washington Indepenent's Dave Weigel has a bang-up story out today about the belt-tightening at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). The think tank most famous for providing George W. Bush with intellectual justification in the lead-up to the Iraq War has lost funding from General Motors and the Carnegie Foundation, let go of several scholars, and killed the print version of its political magazine, The American.
• Ross Douthat of The Atlantic will be taking Bill Kristol's spot at the New York Times. As one twitterer said, it's hard to find someone in the political sphere who doesn't think this is a good idea. Douthat bleeds red wine and wafers, sure, but he's brilliant, curious, and upstanding. Which is more than anyone could say for his predecessor or the trouble-makers at Campus Progress, who have dug up Douthat's college journalism clips and excerpted the most offensive bits in hopes of...Well, I haven't figured out what they hope to achieve besides showing Douthat's stellar journalistic development over the last eight years.
• If this lede doesn't prime you for a laugh, I don't know what will: "Every winter, David DeWitt takes his biology class to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, but for a purpose far different from that of other professors. DeWitt brings his Advanced Creation Studies class (CRST 390, Origins) up from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., hoping to strengthen his students' belief in a biblical view of natural history, even in the lion's den of evolution. Whole thing here, courtesy of WaPo's Steve Hendrix.
• Also, Wayne Garcia of Tampa's Creative Loafing has a great update from yesterday's CL bankruptcy case, in which someone–can't say who–tells a fib or two about the state of company morale.

Alright, folks. I'll catch you later.

Penn Quarter Living reports on another inauguration-themed store opening downtown. Ugh. More inauguration crap!

Life In Mount Vernon Square has troubles with the new Safeway. The complaints concern the lack of circulars and the feeling that they've been overcharged:

"The store hasn't had circulars one time that I went in during the past 5-6 weeks.  Annoying yes, but it wouldn't be such a big issue if the store actually labeled the sale items correctly.  I've been caught at the register overcharged, but unable to reference the flyer.  This past week, they didn't even have circulars at the register and the one check out lady who had a flyer indicated that she had to buy the newspaper to get it (she kept it safely tucked in her back pocket).  When I've brought this up to Customer Service, they've given nothing but attitude or acted like they just ran out that morning.  That excuse doesn't work for weeks on end."

New Columbia Heights spots the craziest staircase at 13th and Otis NW.

And Now, Anacostia analyzes the situation at 1918 13th Street SE. The building's zoning has been changed to allow the residential property to be turned into office space. The blogger wonders whether this is a good idea considering the low-density neighborhood. It also sparks a more intense discussion of 13th Street.

The Georgetown Metropolitan notes that the D.C. Police Department has dropped its daily crime summaries from at least one listserv: "Members of the MPD2d listserv may have noticed that they haven’t received a daily summary of crimes for the last two weeks. For those not receiving this listserv, the daily update of crimes provides a listing and description of each crime that occurred in the Second District separated into each PSA (Georgetown’s is 206)." Actually it's for all listservs. The blog quotes a statement from Asst. Chief Diane Groomes as to why the summaries have stopped:

"In the past citizens did receive information via the listserv that was posted by a sworn member of the Department but we have found that the information was not uniform in nature and that some of the information revealed facts that were not for public information and jeopardized our investigatory process."

Maybe this new policy has something to do with a certain officer named Delgado and the incident involving the alleged teenage robber.

Upset the Setup has some brand new DJ Eurok exclusive jams. We really dig "Arizona Cream" for bringing back a classic Public Enemy hook.  And "Crooklyn Klemer" deserves heavy rotation in every U Street club!

*photo courtesy of 7194KK found in our Neighborhood Flickr Pool.