Groceteria.com

this is one old Marina style Safeway that I know very little about, other than it opened in the 1960s and did not operate very long, the site was unprofitable. Interested in stories and background about the former Safeway. Bernie and Boys were the last tenants and have vacated the site and it is currently for lease. The building and parking lot are in poor condition.

I checked the Seattle Times database and found that it opened Nov. 30, 1960 and lasted until March 1981. In June of that year, it became an independent store called Ron's Food World.

tkaye wrote:I checked the Seattle Times database and found that it opened Nov. 30, 1960 and lasted until March 1981. In June of that year, it became an independent store called Ron's Food World.

I live in the area and have for most of my life. I do not remember it being Ron's Food World. That does not mean that it had not been named that. Or it is possible that was the corporate name. But I remember it being a grocer called, "The Food Merchant". I could be wrong, but I thought I heard that there was also another Food Merchant in Mountlake Terrace. But to me what makes this store unique is that it is one of the few former Safeways that became another grocery store. It seems to me that Safeway now almost always puts a clause in the sale of their building where they prohibit another grocer moving in. In my opinion that clause is what kind of ruined the White Center business district when they moved out of White Center proper and took over the old Fred Meyer Marketplace store on Roxbury. Now the former White Center Safeway is a Department of Social and Health Services building. Last thing since I am on this tangent, I had talked to someone at Albertsons back when that move was going to take place and Albertsons actually wanted the old White Center Safeway building, but couldn't have it because of that clause.

A couple of years ago, another grocer (a small independent called Your Local Market) took over the former Safeway in Downtown Bellevue, although I think in that case ownership of the property may have been transferred to Kemper Freeman even before the Safeway moved out. Either way, the new store lasted less than a year, and is now empty again. There's a small furniture shop in the Bartell Drugs space next door, but Kemper Freeman is actively moving forward on the next phase of Lincoln Square, so its days are numbered at this point.

I think in Bellevue, as a condition of approval for the new Safeway, the city made them allow another grocer to take over their existing store. I may be wrong, but thought I read that somewhere.

update on the old Burien (Top Hat) Safeway location, the Marina style building was torn down and a new development is underway. The old store had been neglected for many years and was in poor condition. Interestingly an old Albertsons, was a Haggen's for a time, down the road was opened back up last year as a Safeway (12725 1st Ave South, Burien) as the Safeway format performs better than Albertsons