There isn’t a trend, gimmick or innovation that Chevy Chase Supermarket hasn’t tried. The family-owned store at 8531 Connecticut Ave. is constantly reinventing itself, and its latest six-week project is no exception: By mid-November, there will be 2,500 new products on the shelves.
“We like to tell everybody that for a little independent store, we try to remain current, remain with the times,” says Kevin Kirsch, who co-owns the store with his brother Jason. Their father Walter Kirsch, a fixture in the community for years, passed away last year.
Remaining current means stocking more organic items; gluten-free products; K-Cup coffees and machines; locally-made salad dressings, condiments and wines; energy bars; new brands of yogurt, and popular cookbooks. The store will also be selling Cheesecake Factory cheesecakes and Bundles of Cookies cookies, and has rearranged several of the aisles—for example, peanut butter and jellies are next to the bread now, energy bars are adjacent to the Gatorade.
Are the sibling owners sampling the new products? “My brother and I, we never try an item when it comes in the store,” says Kevin Kirsch. “What does it matter if I like it or don’t like it? We’re looking for products that people are talking about.”
