Fredericksburg, Virginia

Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

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rich
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Re: Fredericksburg, Virginia

Post by rich »

Fredericksburg was the northernmost location of Winn-Dixie on the East Coast. they opened there about 10 years ago and closed the store in their first round of store closings before the eventual bankruptcy.
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Re: Fredericksburg, Virginia

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Actually Safeway has been gone from Fredericksburg since the 90s. The nearest Safeways are in Culpeper and Woodbridge.

Since the sale of Ukrops, the Fredericksburg store was closed (on 1/31) because it was not part of the sale. This store was rumored to be closing for some time but I think the Giant at Harrison Crossing really hurt its sales.
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Re: Fredericksburg, Virginia

Post by Groceteria »

I'm guessing this is the store you're thinking of:

Google Maps Link

If so, I'm pretty sure it wasn't a Kroger, although it was likely some flavor of supermarket. The design seems to be a function of the center rather than any specific chain. It actually looks something like a Food Lion to me.
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Re: Fredericksburg, Virginia

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By 1985 the A&P had been converted to Super Fresh, it lasted until 1987-88 before closing. At the other end of the center was the K-Mart, it closed about the same time and moved west on Route 3 to a new center anchored by a new Giant.

Across the street in the Westwood Center was a late 70s/early 80s Safeway. This store was closed when they consolidated the Richmond Division into the Washington DC Division in the early 90s. There is a brick frame on the front of the Staples where the mosaic "S" was displayed.
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Re: Fredericksburg, Virginia

Post by NoVa Grocery Buff »

I was in Fredericksburg the other day and noticed one of the old Safeway locations along Route 1.
It looks like an old Marina style store. It looks very similar in age to the one in Orange, VA.

Google Street View:
https://goo.gl/maps/MLqCqXUbgWs
Due to the street layout, you can get just over a 180-degree look at the building. It hasn't changed much from 2009-2018 surprisingly.

News article showing it was still open as of 1986
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=w ... %2C4369374

Attached is a photo I took of the interior.


Another Safeway mentioned that is out of my knowledge and is hard to tell if it indeed was a Safeway was 1406 Princess Anne St.
Streetview: https://goo.gl/maps/LagcyzgLzdq
News article: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid= ... 99,1077227
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IMG_0027.2 2.jpg
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Groceteria
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Re: Fredericksburg, Virginia

Post by Groceteria »

NoVa Grocery Buff wrote: 12 Oct 2018 16:50Another Safeway mentioned that is out of my knowledge and is hard to tell if it indeed was a Safeway was 1406 Princess Anne St.
It looks like it could very easily have been a 1940s-era store. I would expect it to have closed way before 1979, though, and probably to have had subsequent tenants. I find it very intriguing that the article still refers to it as "the former Safeway."
rich
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Re: Fredericksburg, Virginia

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At least in DC proper, some 40s stores made it into the 80s. They seem to have had waves of store closings in the mid-80s and early 90s. I saw the 90s closings--marinas and pylons. Some of the 80s closures were identified as such and were being considered for redevelopment--two were near stops soon to open on the Green/Yellow line in Shaw and Columbia Heights.
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Re: Fredericksburg, Virginia

Post by BillyGr »

rich wrote: 06 Nov 2018 11:55 At least in DC proper, some 40s stores made it into the 80s. They seem to have had waves of store closings in the mid-80s and early 90s. I saw the 90s closings--marinas and pylons. Some of the 80s closures were identified as such and were being considered for redevelopment--two were near stops soon to open on the Green/Yellow line in Shaw and Columbia Heights.
Probably not as surprising in the more populated areas of cities, since many times even if the store/chain wanted to replace or enlarge a store there may just not be any spot where they can do so.

Therefore, they have to work with what they have and find ways to fit in things (higher shelving, smaller aisles) or eliminate items (like areas where people are walking to the store or using transit, and where apartments are on the small side there may not be as much demand for large packages of items, so removing those from their standard setup would help with overcrowded shelving, or not carrying as many different varieties of a particular item).
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Re: Fredericksburg, Virginia

Post by Groceteria »

rich wrote: 06 Nov 2018 11:55At least in DC proper, some 40s stores made it into the 80s.
Actually, there's still one operating in DC at 4865 MacArthur Blvd in the Foxhall/Palisades area, though it has been expanded a bit. I think it's probably one of the oldest stores in the chain still operating under the Safeway name. But that sort of longevity is definitely more common in large, dense cities than in places like Fredericksburg, where there's plenty of room to expand.
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Re: Fredericksburg, Virginia

Post by rich »

The Palisades store has been targeted for replacement for sometime but has run into local opposition. I suspect the Chevy Chase store may be similar in vintage along with one in Adams Morgan on Columbia Road which obviously has been built-out several times. The most obvious 40s store is the "Soviet Safeway" at 17th & Corcoran, which recently had an update. This is a much more walking area than Palisades or Chevy Chase and, although the store now has more competition, it was rumored to have the highest sales/square foot of any store in the chain back in the 90s.

There are several Safeways from the 20s that operate as independents, including one on Columbia Road near Kalorama which has operated as an independent for decades, but now is for lease.

As for Fredricksburg, if it had decent volumes, a long-term affordable lease and decent volumes, a Safeway chain willing to keep older stores open in DC probably was willing to do it in small markets. I can think of examples of where Kroger kept stores from the 40s or, at most very early 50s until the super store era in small towns, and Kroger always seemed willing to kill off stores that were 10 years old or even younger in those days.
Last edited by rich on 18 Nov 2018 19:56, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Fredericksburg, Virginia

Post by Groceteria »

rich wrote: 08 Nov 2018 10:41The most obvious 40s store is the "Soviet Safeway" at 17th & Corcoran, which recently had an update.
You see, I had always assumed that was an older store too, but it apparently just dates from the late 1960s. Per my research, until sometime between 1965 and 1970, Safeway was in a former Acme across the street, which is now McDonald's. This is from city directory records, but I'm almost certain I have either an article or an assessor listing that confirms this as well.

http://www.groceteria.com/place/washing ... 1925-1975/

The current Chevy Chase store on Connecticut Avenue dates from the early 1960s. It replaced a store about a block away that is now Magruder's.
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