[Groceteria]

The remnants of the Safeway store can still be seen in the back wall of the Gregg County Jail that occupies the building now.

Wow. I have seen a lot of Safeway conversions. This is definitely my first jail.

[rich]

Also, I forgot to mention the Town House Food Store concept. As quoted in Safeway's 1980 Annual Report:

"Our small Town House Stores, serving office workers and high-rise apartment and condominium dwellers in the Washington, D.C. metro area, feature a wide assortment of international foods, fine wines and premium-quality meat, produce and deli items."

Arguably, the west coast incarnation of this was the "Bon Appetit" store in downtown San Francisco (referenced here) which opened in an existing very small Safeway that was part of an upscale urban renewal apartment complex in the 1960s. It has since been expanded and converted back into a still pretty small Safeway.

They kept the Town House name on and off (swapping it for Safeway) for a number of small stores in condo or office complexes for many years--one on K Street near to GWU & Foggy Bottom and one at 20th & S in the Dupont neighborhood near to the Washington Hilton. These were tiny stores---the K Street location closed in the early 90s. The one on 20th lasted into the early 2000s. They weren't exactly high end stores by then but they were more expensive than conventional Safeways. They had other condo locations: the Watergate, one in downtown Bethesda and another in Rosslyn (Arlington). The Rosslyn store is still open--I don't know if these were ever Town Houses--they were larger than the K or 20th Street stores.

They also had an upscale Safeway International format with a lot of imported foods. One was downtown on 12th Street (now an office building with ground floor retail) and the other was in either Alexandria or Arlington some place. This was in the 60s and early 70s.

[xsafeway]

The International at 12th and F Streets only lasted 8 years, it was replaced by a new store in McLean Virginia in 1976. The traditional Safeway that faced 12th Street (the upper level of the International) lasted until 1981. The McLean International retained its specialty designation until the 1990s when the store was expanded. The Wegman's in Tysons Corner doomed this store and it closed in 2021.

[jleyerle]

I vaguely remember in about 1983/4 a feature in Progressive Grocer on a Safeway SuperStore in Broken Arrow, OK (Tulsa suburb). It had a diamond pattern of aisles---just happened to stick in my mind (I was taking a class or two in my minor for Food Systems Economics and Management at Michigan State U).

[retail_person_247]

Here's a commercial for Safeway Superstores from 1978 that has a couple of inside shots, including a "Smoke Shop" seen in the background:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=hx-brL169-Q