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Bradlee Giant Closed, Fresh Market Moving In


lperry

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I believe Fresh Market opened in Congressional Plaza, after Whole Foods vacated to move down the pike. I've only been there once and was not wowed enough to make it a destination. I can see it being nice for the folks in condos/apts in the nearby surrounding area.

Yup, just verified on google-opened Jan 2012.

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We would bypass that and head over to the one on Duke Street because the Bradlee Giant was amongst the worst grocery stores that I have ever visited, it will not be missed - the nearby Safeway is only marginally better and that will soon close for a much needed renovation. I have been to the one in Vienna and liked it, but not enough to make a trip just to shop there. I am really looking forward to another option in the neighborhood.

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We would bypass that and head over to the one on Duke Street because the Bradlee Giant was amongst the worst grocery stores that I have ever visited, it will not be missed - the nearby Safeway is only marginally better and that will soon close for a much needed renovation. <snip>

I agree with this assessment, and would add that the parking lot at Bradlee is insane, in large part due to the prevalence of enormous SUVs being driven with one hand whilst the other holds an active cell phone. I rarely went into the Giant there, but had been in a few times when I was at Unwined or Potomac Paint and needed something basic. Mr. lperry had his groceries stolen from the cart there one time when he turned his back for a moment. Considering s/he got a box of kosher salt and some jerky, I suppose the thief had to wait to steal some bottled beverages from someone else.

The Safeway is another store I went into just a few times. We'll see if they can fix the poor service during the renovation.

Edited to add a more positive comment, which is that I really do hope we get a nice store that offers this area a little more selection of interesting food. Bradlee is maybe three miles from us, the closed HT on US 1 about a mile, the nicer, newer Giant on Glebe about a mile, and we can walk to Mom's on Mount Vernon. What's it going to take to get Rodman's to come to Virginia? ;)

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We would bypass that and head over to the one on Duke Street because the Bradlee Giant was amongst the worst grocery stores that I have ever visited, it will not be missed - the nearby Safeway is only marginally better and that will soon close for a much needed renovation. I have been to the one in Vienna and liked it, but not enough to make a trip just to shop there. I am really looking forward to another option in the neighborhood.

The Safeway will be closing on July 13. The Mark Center Giant closed the same day as the Bradlee store. There's a real dearth of grocery stores in that part of Alexandria at the moment.

Based on my visits to Fresh Market in Hilton Head, it's a nice store but definitely a higher priced and less 'complete' shopping option than (most) Giant or Safeway stores. Hopefully the Route 1 Harris Teeter will actually reopen in "Fall 2013", as the current signage promises. Maybe the new Old Town HT will be open before that (wishful thinking, no doubt).

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The Safeway is another store I went into just a few times. We'll see if they can fix the poor service during the renovation.

Other than one or two painfully slow cashiers, I have never had an issue with the service there, some of the cashiers can even be friendly (being an admitted misanthrope I do not care for this but my wife enjoys it).
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...Hopefully the Route 1 Harris Teeter will actually reopen in "Fall 2013", as the current signage promises. Maybe the new Old Town HT will be open before that (wishful thinking, no doubt).

Last year around Thanksgiving we were in the Shirlington HT and spoke to a cashier who had come from the Route 1 store. At that time, the company had promised the workers (who were all given jobs at different stores - nice to know) they would be back in January of this year. They are clearly off schedule, but I'm sympathetic simply because I have no idea what it takes to clean up a store after the Arlington sewage treatment plant backs up into it. I imagine it has not been easy.

Other than one or two painfully slow cashiers, I have never had an issue with the service there, some of the cashiers can even be friendly (being an admitted misanthrope I do not care for this but my wife enjoys it).

Aha! Clearly, the staff has been trained to do exactly what drives each particular customer nuts. I've been given the wrong change and an argument, even when the receipt agreed with me, and I had several episodes of staff people walking directly in front of me and proceeding to begin some lengthy task when I was trying to navigate the store with a shopping cart.

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Last year around Thanksgiving we were in the Shirlington HT and spoke to a cashier who had come from the Route 1 store. At that time, the company had promised the workers (who were all given jobs at different stores - nice to know) they would be back in January of this year. They are clearly off schedule, but I'm sympathetic simply because I have no idea what it takes to clean up a store after the Arlington sewage treatment plant backs up into it. I imagine it has not been easy.

It was not the cleanup that took so long, it was fighting with the county to make sure that they put safeguards in place to make sure that it never happens again. According to an Arlington Now article (which I really have no energy to even look for at the moment) the biggest issue was that the county only cleaned one of its main drains annually and this was what got clogged. They are now cleaning it quarterly. From that article it was clear that H/T was ready to just walk away from the site if the county did not cooperate.

Edited to add that it was actually several articles at Arlington Now that explained the whole goat rodeo (just search on Harris Teeter at arlnow.com and you will find the articles)

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If you are a fan of freshly-ground peanut or almond butter, Fresh Market has machines, and has even filled one with honey roasted peanuts for those times when you need a dessert peanut butter.  It reminds me of being a kid in the 70s, held hostage shopping with Mom at the Organic Granola Barn or somesuch, but Mr. lperry is in peanut butter heaven. 

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