Safeway Food & Drug

This Safeway is always crowded and there are seldom enough checkers. The staff is either rude (Roger) or flagrantly butt-​kissing (the guy who thinks he speaks twelve languages and laughs stupidly after everything he says). I can’t stand to shop here and either go to Giant or to the Safeway on Anderson Road when I need groceries and am in McLean.

This is a perfectly respectable grocery store. The selection is solid and it’s a relatively easy location to get to if you are coming from the west part of falls church. Their parking isn’t a total disaster like 99% of the stores in this area. They are also open 24 hours.
I suppose they have recently renovated from the look of the store and comments as this is quite a bit more modern than other Safeways I have seen. There’s a large prepared food section although I haven’t tried anything from there. They have a reasonable beer and wine section as well although the organic /​natural /​vegan food selection could use some improvement… then again it might not be worth their time given the nearby competition.
I go here to buy toiletries and just in general food items that aren’t sold at an affordable price at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. Minus two stars because their prices are awful on anything that’s not part one of their club sales and their club alcohol prices are also far worse than TJ’s.

Wow, talk about going down hill.
Before my favorite Safeway was completely demolished and rebuilt, this location used to be called «the» Safeway of the McLean area. I hadn’t had the need to visit this location after my Safeway reopened.
But the other day fate called as the Blockbuster Express kiosk had a movie that my monkeys wanted to watch. So what better excuse to make the trek across town than for a kid friendly movie that would make this ordinary father into a HERO!!!
**cue in cool ass dramatic heroic music from some late 70’s movie**
Ahem…
Yes, so i had a reason to visit this Safeway after a long long absence. First of all, the parking lot is dangerous and I’m probably gonna get flamed for saying this but… it’s filled with some of our most appreciated citizens over the age of 70. I feared for my life as one little lady swung her big car in a big crazy arch around a corner narrowly lurching to a halt just prior to hitting my beautifully tanned Latino legs.
True story…
Ahem…
After narrowly escaping certain harm, I entered the Safeway and was surprised at how dark this place seemed. Then I noticed the only natural light filling this store was from the glass entrance and exiting doors. The rest of the store was dimly lit with artificially pale and flickering Fluorescent lamps. I thought, «Well I’m here, I may as well pick up some bananas for the monkeys (har har har) and some brews for myself.»
I scooted around a few elderly folks as I headed towards the produce area.
Walking to the produce area, the fruit and veggie selection seemed unimpressive and paltry especially after visiting any one of the local Korean-​Mart markets.
Heading over to the booze area, the wine area was quite large but not knowing about vino, I searched for some tasty brew. Nothing. In fact, Trader Joes had a better selection of beers than this Safeway. I considered hitting the Total Wine just down the street for some specialty beer, but went back to the task at hand: movie!
I headed to the front to the movie kiosk. I picked up the movie for my kids and quickly headed back into the natural sunlight. There was something sad and depressing about this Safeway, almost as if the energy had been sucked out. For the local McLean citizens, I really wish they’d knock down this location and rebuild it into something more modern and bright. It’s definitely in need for a good remodeling.