Good morning, Washington. It’s going to be a mild, albeit cloudy end to the holiday weekend. Enjoy the gentle weather while it lasts -- Tuesday will usher in rain and once it departs temperatures will drop a good 10 degrees, reminding us that winter is just a few short weeks away. more ›

The Safeway grocery at the Watergate complex -- often referred to as the Senior Safeway due to its appeal to older residents who live in the complex -- will close on December 3, reports the Post's Jonathan O'Connell. more ›

As our commentariat pointed out, Mayor Vince Gray will be bagging groceries at the Southwest Waterfront Safeway this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. But as amusing as that may sound, it's actually not the food-related event we're most looking forward to seeing the Mayor participate in this week. more ›

Good morning, Washington. Just as the weekend kicked off, the jobless numbers rolled in, and the District did not fare well. According to a Labor Department report released Friday, unemployment rose in D.C. to 11.1 percent in August. That’s up from 10.8 percent in July. Estimates put the total number of jobs lost in August around 15,000, and about 13,700 were lost in the public sector. more ›

An update to our earlier post about a Safeway employee who called a gay couple "faggots" while they were shopping at the chain's Waterfront store last weekend, then was videotaped offering a half-hearted apology -- the employee has been fired, and the grocer has apologized. more ›

In yesterday's Go Home Already, we noted a story in the Metro Weekly about a gay D.C. couple who were called "faggots" by a cashier at the Waterfront Safeway last weekend. The magazine has since followed up by publishing this video, in which the cashier apologizes for using the slur. more ›

Yesterday, when we wrote about the Waterfront Safeway instituting a receipt-check policy, many commenters argued that the policy was something that would be good for the store, which has apparently been struggling to stop shoplifters. But Jenny Rogers reports today that Safeway spokesperson Craig Muckle said the policy "could be rolled out at all District Safeway stores by the end of the year." more ›

UPDATE: Well, that was fast -- a couple of DCist tipsters let us know that a gauntlet of greeters at the store's main exit are indeed checking receipts today -- and that refusing search is going to be tougher than simply walking away. One Safeway customer tells us that "calmly refusing doesn't appear to be an option," given greeters' "body language" and "them nearly blocking [the] exit." However, based on our tipsters, receipt checkers were apparently only stationed at the main exit and not the secondary one leading to the parking garage. more ›

Jonathan O'Connell reports this morning that Marc Dubick, whose development company Duball LLC partnered with Safeway to build the large CityVista complex in Mount Vernon Square, is currently in talks with the grocer to develop a new project in Petworth. more ›

We received a tip this morning that the Secret Safeway at located at 1800 20th Street NW -- also known as the "Town House" Safeway -- will be closing its doors on August 7. We can now confirm that the store will indeed be shutting its doors on that date, after a manager at the store affirmed the date. The store, tucked away and with minimal signage, was an experiment by the Safeway chain in the 70s to branch into smaller groceries which would appeal to urban apartment dwellers. Of course, there's no shortage of Safeways in the area: the closest one is just down the street at 1701 Corcoran Street NW. But from all accounts, the Secret Safeway, though seemingly pricier than regular Safeways, was a serviceable option for neighborhood residents -- we're sure that there's at least a few of you that will be sorry to see it go. more ›

Safeway Inc. decided to fully embrace the nickname D.C. residents long ago bestowed to its Georgetown store on Wednesday night. The grocery chain threw an elegant, exclusive party to celebrate the reopening of the newly reconstructed "Social Safeway" on Wisconsin Ave. more ›

To follow up on a story DCist reported last month, local non-profit Bread for the City let us know that they were able to successfully pick-up 2,000 donated reusable bags from Safeway on Friday, with a promise that 10,000 more would be on their way soon. more ›

In the run-up to the start of the District's 5-cent disposable bag fee, city leaders put out the word to area grocery stores and other retailers and organizations that they needed donations of free reusable bags. D.C.'s poorest residents would need help getting their hands on bags that they can reuse, which often cost $1 or more to purchase. more ›

As excellent neighborhood chronicler Southwest ... The Little Quadrant That Could reminds us, the Southwest Waterfront Safeway is set to close tonight at 6 p.m. until April 15, when it will reopen in a brand new building adjacent to the old one (1100 4th St. SW). The interim period will find Southwest residents without a nearby grocery option (unless you count the 7-11 on South Capitol Street), but Safeway has arranged for a shuttle to take shoppers to the 14th & Kentucky SE location on Friday, Saturday and Monday (schedule is here). more ›

The Safeway located at 1855 Wisconsin Ave. NW, more commonly known as the "Social Safeway," at last has a reopening date: May 6 will be the big day, as the Washington Business Journal reports. more ›

The Safeway on Rhode Island Ave. NE reopened late Thursday, after a follow-up health department inspection deemed the store in compliance and all issues related to its vermin infestation corrected. The store had been temporarily shuttered on Wednesday evening after a routine inspection discovered evidence of rodents. more ›

View Safeway closed due to vermin in a larger map more ›

The Examiner reports that the "Social" Safeway, located at 1855 Wisconsin Ave NW, will close on Sunday for extensive renovations. While residents in this toney Northwest D.C. neighborhood still have plenty of other grocery shopping options (there's a Whole Foods up the road in Glover Park, and a Giant a little north of there), Safeway is also offering folks who live in ZIP codes surrounding the store free delivery with online orders. There are also plans for a temporary pharmacy to open across from the construction site. DCmud has more on the renovations themselves, which include demolishing the existing store and replacing it with an entirely new facility that will more closely resemble the "Sexy" Safeway in the CityVista building near Mt. Vernon Square. The "Social" Safeway is slated for a reopening in March of 2010. more ›

Dish of the Week: Cachaça-layered cookie tart with red-fruits syrup more ›