Grocery delivery companies are hiring new shoppers by the tens of thousands to meet the explosion in demand.

The Lyft Grocery Access Program will provide families with $2.50 rides to grocery stores and markets in Wards 7 and 8.

The store will begin its kickoff with a bread-breaking ceremony at 8:45 a.m. that Wednesday morning.

The District’s newest Whole Foods — located in Foggy Bottom at
2201 I Street NW — is now open.

We learned last year that Foggy Bottom would be the home of the fourth Whole Foods Market in the District proper, but news comes today that the grocery will officially open next month.

Several District officials, including Mayor Vince Gray, were on hand yesterday as the developers of 360º H Street, the 290,000-square-foot mixed use development along H Street NE which will house hundreds of luxury apartments and a new Giant grocery store, broke ground.

You know it’s a big deal when Mayor Vince Gray breaks out the TelePrompTer — this morning, Gray talked up the specifics on the retail portion of the new Yards development along the Capitol Riverfront, which will include a new Harris Teeter, several restaurants and a craft brewery from Neighborhood Restaurant Group.

Sure, it might have been rodent-infested, but the old Safeway on Rhode Island Avenue NE was still the grocery of choice for many Brookland residents before it closed in March 2010. And even though a Yes! Organic Market on 12th Street NE is a fine option for some, the residential neighborhood could certainly support a supermarket. How about Harris Teeter?

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.”

Developers of CityMarket at O — the long-awaited, multi-million dollar development project that will rise at the intersection of 8th and O Streets in Shaw — released some renderings on the project’s blog yesterday afternoon.