Groceteria.com

Whenever I mention Safeway to my dad here in North Carolina, he talks about how he remembers hearing ads for something called "Safeway Suburban" stores on trips to the DC area. I'm wondering if (a) he remembers incorrectly, (b) he may have just heard ads that referenced prices specific to suburban locations, or (c) maybe there was some kind of marketing around this term.

Anyone with any ideas or first hand recollections?

Rings no bells, but could have well been a marketing term.

There's always a little bit of that in ads around DC, especially for beer and wine. Without going into a whole lot of gory detail on the subject and listing all of the exceptions, beer and wine is generally only available in VIrginia stores, not in DC or Maryland.

The DC Safeways I have visited do have beer & wine and do a brisk business on Sundays when liquor stores are closed. There's much more regulation in Maryland.

Thanks for picking your brains on this. Just for clarity, I should probably have mentioned that my dad's recollections probably date from roughly the mid to late 1960s.

Chances are what he heard were actually disclaimers that said something to the effect of "available at Safeway suburban locations" and he erroneously assumed that the actual stores were named "Safeway Suburban". But I was just curious on the offside chance that maybe they did refer to their stores by this name at some point way back when.

Groceteria wrote:Thanks for picking your brains on this. Just for clarity, I should probably have mentioned that my dad's recollections probably date from roughly the mid to late 1960s.

Chances are what he heard were actually disclaimers that said something to the effect of "available at Safeway suburban locations" and he erroneously assumed that the actual stores were named "Safeway Suburban". But I was just curious on the offside chance that maybe they did refer to their stores by this name at some point way back when.

That makes sense since beer (not sure about wine) was definitely available in the Virgina Safeways but for hard liquor one had to go to an 'ABC' store (or cross Key Bridge into Georgetown and shop at either Dixie Liquors, Foxhall, etc. ;) )

Note back in the mid 1970's one only had to be age 18 to buy beer in Virginia but age 21 for wine and booze whereas in DC both beer and wine were age 18, 21 for the hard stuff only. Maryland alcohol laws I don't remember since I doubt I ever bought any in that state.