I don’t think anon at 2:54 made it clear but I think s/he was referring to people begging for money IN THE STORE, not outside. It certainly goes on outside (mothers with children in tow), but it’s a bit unsettling to get hit up in the aisles. “Management” knows what’s going on but does nothing about it. Ever seen a manager-type walking around in here?

I’ve actually found the Giant on 8th Street to be improving and the store is well stocked and clean. Sure, there’s security there, but by comparison the SW Safeway should have a small army for what goes on there.

The Giant at Brentwood was a favorite of mine for a while, but they must have hired someone from the SW Safeway, because the store has quickly gone downhill in my opinion. Dirty, neglected and poor stocking.

What amazes me about these stores is that these huge chains have so little control (or concern) about their brands. You will never encounter a Harris Teeter or Whole Foods operated like this.

I’ve found the produce to be pretty good – including some organic fruits/vegetables, and some very good sweet cherries last summer. Sometimes they have nice flowers too. It’s a reliable source for whole wheat pasta (especially the Safeway “O Organics” brand, which is sometimes on sale for 10-for-$10), canned Indian food, big tubs of Kozy Shack rice pudding, a good variety of soymilk, and a decent selection of yogurt. Oh, and the drugstore aisle is really good – good selection of shower gel, moisturizer, hair products, etc.

The downside is the bakery/cheese dept. (I don’t eat meat so I can’t speak to the deli, etc.): no fresh bread and no fresh cheese, just vacuum-packed orange cheeselike substances. And no low-salt/organic-type soups – there is a wall of 100,000,000 cans of Campbell’s Soup, but none of my favorite Health Valley no-salt-added hippy-dippy soups.

There’s sort of an odd character to this Safeway that I’m trying to figure out how to describe. There is an aspect of sketchiness (there is usually a security guard/cop hanging out near the exit) but I have never felt unsafe. It’s more a quirky randomness. For example, this past December, there was a guy near the checkout (not an employee as far as I could tell) performing Christmas carols. Not well. Very off-key. Very loud. Everyone was like, “Whatever.” Nothing seems too unusual in that store.

The one reason you absolutely must go to this store is the singing bagger guy (the guy who bags your groceries at the checkout), who performs hits on his synthesizer on weekend mornings. It is a fabulous experience (though not as nice as going to a grocery store in my own neighborhood….).