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History of Safeway in King George, VA

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 00:51
by Ephrata1966
Does anyone know when this Safeway opened/closed? It's now a True Value Hardware. It still has a diamond-shaped pylon sign which gave away its history. This is near the "Horne's" rest stop which broke off from Stuckey's.

Re: History of Safeway in King George, VA

Posted: 06 May 2012 11:45
by xsafeway
I don't know the exact dates but the store number (#355 in the Richmond Division) and the colonial exterior styling are from the early 1970s. There are other examples of this style store in Northern Virginia (Telegraph Road and Beacon Mall in Alexandria) and Paterson Avenue in Richmond. All three of these stores retain their original appearance but have been closed for some time.

The store in King George was open until the late 80s early 90s when the division was consolidated with Washington DC. Since then there has been at least two furniture stores in the building. Note: Down in Kilmarnock, VA there is a former Safeway from the same era still operating as an independent. The exterior is different (not as ornate) but it is about the same size.

Re: History of Safeway in King George, VA

Posted: 16 May 2012 14:34
by Dave
I don't recall if the store in King George was still being operated by Safeway when the Richmond locations were sold, or even when the Richmond Division was consolidated into Washington, but Safeway pulled out of Richmond on December 12, 1993.

The only Safeway on my list on Patterson Avenue in Richmond was at 10618 Patterson, first shown in the city directory in 1970 and gone by 1983. There's a picture of it here: http://mysite.verizon.net/d.mcgrann/id15.html

As far as the Horne's down the road in Port Royal, I don't believe it was a Stuckey's - but there was a Stuckey's very close to the Safeway.

Re: History of Safeway in King George, VA

Posted: 27 May 2012 16:47
by xsafeway
You are right, when Safeway pulled out of Richmond in '93 the only stores left were in the actual metro area and Fredericksburg. That said, in the late '80s Safeway closed or sold all the remaining out laying stores in the Richmond Division, closed the warehouse, and administratively combined the remainder with Washington DC to form the Eastern Division. It was during this consolidation that they closed King George along with the remaining valley stores, Tidewater, and what we called "country stores (West Point, Glen Allen, Kilmarnock, etc.).

The Paterson Avenue store is the one I was talking about, architecturely these stores are similar, i.e. the colonial style appearance of the exterior. The Paterson store closed when the new store at Gaton Crossing (the intersection of Gaton and Gaskins Roads) opened in 1983 (and is still open as a Kroger).

Re: History of Safeway in King George, VA

Posted: 31 May 2012 21:08
by Dave
xsafeway wrote:... It was during this consolidation that they closed King George along with the remaining valley stores, Tidewater, and what we called "country stores (West Point, Glen Allen, Kilmarnock, etc.)...
Ironic that Glen Allen would have been considered a "country" store, considering what Glen Allen is today. I remember the West Point store well - I believe it's a hardware store now. Just went by it this past weekend, but didn't look too close, as I got my first speeding ticket in WP and tend to watch my speedometer when I go through town, rather than enjoy the scenery.

Perhaps you know something about the Nags Head, NC Safeway store that was in the Outer Beaches Mall. It was a Seamark for many years and is vacant now. Was that run out of Richmond? Seems that it was still there at least up until 1983 or 1984.

Re: History of Safeway in King George, VA

Posted: 01 Jun 2012 18:04
by maynesG
Hi, It is funny how people in the grocery business get around. I worked with a non foods manager that worked in that Safeway. 15 Years latter she could not get over that they closed that store. ( We both were department heads with Acme on the Eastern Shore) The store did a million dollars per week in season when it was closed. Yes it was part of the Richmond district and it was felt that since it was a summer store that it would be to expensive to run the entire year. ( I guess there weren!t any brave souls that would have suggested running it by purchasing groceries from a wholesaler, then trying to ship from a far away warehouse}.
Heck . Acme closed the last store they had in Baltimore City, that averasged a million Dollars per week and sold it to Giant, b ecause they had closed the division and did not want to hall from Philadelphia or pay The Suns rates for advertising for one unit. But kept a store 6 miles wqay that did only 200,000 and only closed it last year.

Re: History of Safeway in King George, VA

Posted: 02 Jun 2012 21:09
by Dave
maynesG wrote:Hi, It is funny how people in the grocery business get around. I worked with a non foods manager that worked in that Safeway. 15 Years latter she could not get over that they closed that store.... The store did a million dollars per week in season when it was closed. Yes it was part of the Richmond district and it was felt that since it was a summer store that it would be to expensive to run the entire year...
With all due respect to our host, since I'm veering off topic a bit, The Outer Beaches Mall has been essentially "demalled" and turned into a strip center. Now, the ex-Safeway is vacant or something like a Tuesday Morning or something not really attractive to me when I go down to the OBX for a little R&R. But, there is a Food Dawg (Lion) down in a newer portion of the strip, which is 10x better than the old Safeway ever was.

Now, back in the day, I went to Hatteras Island each and every year for a week. You brought groceries in, and maybe planned one day out of your vacation to drive from Avon or wherever up to Nags Head to replenish your supplies at Safeway, around 40 miles each way. You essentially lost a day of your vacation at the beach. There were very small markets down on the island, which were great for cheap beef (no one wants to buy London Broil on Hatteras Island - you want seafood - and the London Broil was cheaper than the fish). Besides, Avon, Rodanthe, Waves, Salvo and Frisco were dry. You could buy beer at jacked-up prices in Buxton or Hatteras Village only, and there was a Dare County ABC store in Buxton. Liquor by the drink? It is to laugh. North Carolina, "First in Freedom, Last in Liquor."

Then, first the liquor laws changed and Food Lion built in Avon. By that time, Safeway had bugged out of OB Mall and left Seamark to run things. Food Dawg slayed Seamark. Harris-Teeter built a couple of stores, and that didn't help. But, I can't really miss Safeway/Seamark. Food Dawg does a good job down there, as does H-T. In fact, I don't patronize Food Lion at home, only in places where I'm on vacation. They seem to do a much better job in "vacation" places than they do in places where they're the "everyday" low-price leader. Don't know why, but going to a Dawg here is a PITA. Going to one in someplace like Nags Head or, say, Mathews, VA is all right.