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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Neighborhoods My Safeway is Closing. So Sad, So Sad.

Posted by Sarah Mirk on Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 12:48 PM

Week by week, the Safeway at SE 27th and Hawthorne has emptied out. When products disappear, they're not replaced, creating a bizarre and inconvenient supermarket that no longer stocks random items such as chili powder, peppercorns, or red cabbage. They're also selling off the least popular items one by one at discount rates. Last week, off-brand poison ivy cream and plus-size nude leggings shared discount shelf space at the front of the store with DVDs of Tom Hanks' The Terminal. This week, what seems to be all the Jewish food in the store is tagged half-off for quick sale.

All this because my Safeway, arguably the ugliest and worst-laid-out Safeway in the city, will soon be burned to the ground. From its ashes will rise a new, bolder Safeway! A shiny $20 million Safeway with 20,000 more square feet of shopping space, an underground parking lot, and what seems to be a bland, vaguely Spanish Mission-inspired facade.

Safeway-Elevation1.jpg

The store itself will be closed for a year, leaving me and the rest of the neighborhood to find a new place to buy our discount gefilte fish.

 

Comments (28) RSS

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1
Peoples Co-op, Duh!
Posted by buggybison on March 23, 2011 at 12:55 PM · Report
2
It's exciting that Safeway views the area as being worth this level of redevelopment.
Posted by Graham on March 23, 2011 at 1:10 PM · Report
3
Why is that the only Safeway with its own security guard, and what will he do for the next year?
Posted by tk. on March 23, 2011 at 1:12 PM · Report
4
Ugly! When I first saw the story I hoped they were going away for good. People's doesn't carry gefilte fish but New Seasons at 20th and Division probably does. Fred Meyer at 39th and Hawthorne certainly does. Does anyone really want something that looks this much like a strip mall right in Hawthorne?
Mission revival architecture is so tacky when it's used as an "aesthetic" facade for what's essentially an ugly big-box superstore. And tearing something down and building it all over again is really awful in terms of environmental impact. Look at the way People's handled their expansion several years back. That's what we should be supporting.
Posted by geyser on March 23, 2011 at 1:17 PM · Report
5
My Safeway on MLK/Ainsworth also has a security guard, but is only getting a remodel.
Posted by Howard Wood on March 23, 2011 at 1:18 PM · Report
6
Oh, great. Now the awesome parking lot at 39th/Hawthorne will be even more packed. (Except for the employee carpool spots, which are nearly always vacant.)
Posted by Dave J. on March 23, 2011 at 1:25 PM · Report
7
One of the worst grocery store chains of all time.
Posted by Never Alone on March 23, 2011 at 1:37 PM · Report
8
"ugliest and worst laid out": clearly you've never been to the Safeway on 82nd!
Posted by theta444 on March 23, 2011 at 1:43 PM · Report
9
I was getting this Safeway confused with the one at SE 39th & Powell, so I hit Google Maps. Turns out the Google Street View car must have driven right though the Hawthorne Safeway's parking lot. The view runs along the street and you click northward along Hawthorne, then, suddenly, you're in the parking lot and you can see people putting groceries away and looking at the weird car driving through. I wonder if the Street View driver took a lunch break right about then?

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=…
Posted by BrianM on March 23, 2011 at 1:46 PM · Report
10
@T.K. - The one downtown on Jefferson has security guards, too. Might be others, but that one I know for sure.
Posted by Reymont on March 23, 2011 at 1:48 PM · Report
11
@Rey: Ah, true, I forgot! I stop there so rarely.
Posted by tk. on March 23, 2011 at 1:53 PM · Report
12
I only find myself shopping there when I'm walking home from a happy hour on Hawthorne.

Kruger Farm stand down the street has better produce.
Posted by jd on March 23, 2011 at 2:41 PM · Report
13
Ugliest? Careful there, Mirk. Some people, like me, LIKE classic old "marina style" Safeways. Here's some pictures of them in their prime: http://www.agilitynut.com/modarch/food2.ht…

The part I dislike about those old buildings is that they're so far back from the street that they ruin the streetscape. Unfortunately, their new plan does the same thing...but with a much uglier building.

Oh, but they ARE offering quite a commitment to sustainability: "It's LIKELY that we MIGHT aim for SOME level of LEED certification." Couldn't get any less committal.
Posted by Carl on March 23, 2011 at 3:07 PM · Report
14
oh good. there's a starbucks going in, too. just what we need.
Posted by hollie on March 23, 2011 at 3:16 PM · Report
15
oooh! I hope there's room for a Chili's Grill & Bar!

*rolls eyes*
Posted by McAngryPants on March 23, 2011 at 3:22 PM · Report
16
@hollie, there already was a Starbucks inside that Safeway.
Posted by dmitrir on March 23, 2011 at 3:43 PM · Report
17
I dig this Safeway if only for the anti-snob factor, ample partking and the tranny check-out person who calls me "Baby Girl". Erika better not lose her job!
Posted by Suz on March 23, 2011 at 3:45 PM · Report
18
I run some high-grade G-Fish on the side out of my SE business, Sarah. Shit's primo. Seriously, you'll plotz.
Posted by TSW on March 23, 2011 at 3:53 PM · Report
19
tk & Reymont--My Safeway on MLK at Ainsworth has a security gurad too. I thought my 'hood was the only one...
Posted by Sisya on March 23, 2011 at 4:09 PM · Report
20
"ugliest and worst laid out" clearly you've never been to the one on MLK and Ainsworth.

"Have a blessed day"
Posted by S_Fredrickson on March 23, 2011 at 4:38 PM · Report
21
I'm hoping they do something like this to the one on Barbur. The "burn to the ground" part I mean. There isn't even a full deli in that thing.
Posted by artnchicken on March 23, 2011 at 7:15 PM · Report
22
I've always hated that Safeway, even though it's the closest supermarket to the Mecklem Bungalow ("The Meckalow"?). Looking forward to the new store. Does that make me a snob?

So is that little building behind the mortuary, across from the southwest corner of the Safeway, a mini-crematorium? Does anyone know?

Meanwhile, I have to get over there and stock up on off-brand poison ivy cream and plus-size nude leggings.
Posted by Todd Mecklem on March 23, 2011 at 7:21 PM · Report
23
The Safeway architecture can't be 1/100th as bad as the ugly-as-sin Rivermark Credit Union building or the Expensive Condos With the Cold Stone Creamery on the ground floor.

(I hate much of the architecture favored by condo builders, especially unfinished aluminum window frames...)
Posted by LawyerPepper on March 23, 2011 at 9:33 PM · Report
24
As in interesting historical sidenote, over the years this particular Safeway has shared both Sarah Mirk and Kyle Brewster as regular patrons. Somehow I doubt Mr. Brewster went there for the gefilte fish.
Posted by eastside on March 24, 2011 at 9:47 AM · Report
25
Shopping at Safeway equates giving as much of your money as you can to the Wall Street scam. Why do that?
Posted by misterladybug on March 25, 2011 at 2:43 PM · Report
26
That's my regular grocery store, too. I was bummed when I heard about this a month or two ago, but now I wish it would just close down already so that I don't have to keep finding random things missing from the shelves. The next closest, Fred Meyer, is about twice as far from my house, but c'est la vie. I went to Haggen's in Beaverton for its closeout a couple weeks ago and that was kind of awesome/surreal, seeing aisles upon aisles of empty shelves, waiting for a tumbleweed to blow by. As for the remodel, I don't think it's necessary and the facade reminds me of the horrible Woodburn outlets. Yuck. But it will be nice to see an actual customer service desk in there, at the very least. And I'm sure the recent remodel of Freddy's had something to do with this update.

A note to the haters: what's the big problem with Safeway? It's just a fucking grocery store. It doesn't even qualify as a "big-box superstore" and if you've ever been in there you should know that. People sure do love to complain.
Posted by Ginny on March 25, 2011 at 4:43 PM · Report
27
What's really bad is that there is going to be twice as much parking and it is going to be underground. There are 2 entrances - one on 27th and one on Hawthorne. But there is only ONE EXIT from the garage onto 27th Ave! That is going to be a nightmare traffic jam getting out of there. People will be forced to drive down the narrow neighborhood streets behind Safeway to get back onto Hawthorne or over to 30th Ave. Very bad planning! I feel sorry for all the neighbors that live behind that huge monstrosity. There is going to be a continuous flow of traffic going through there streets. Plus they will have to put up with the trucks loading at the back of the store now! I'm sickened by having this phoney looking Safeway on Hawthorne. Put it in the suburbs!
Posted by Bob Green on March 31, 2011 at 11:57 AM · Report
28
The worst part of this new Safeway (actually a Wal Mart in disguise) is that there is only one exit from the underground parking structure. All those cars will exit behind Safeway onto the corner of 27th and Clay St! Yep, twice as much traffic will be channeled into the narrow street neighborhood behind it. I feel bad for all those people that live behind Safeway. Get ready for a lot of traffic, noise and pollution! You might want to get out before your property values plummet!
Posted by Bob Greenstreet on March 31, 2011 at 1:58 PM · Report

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