Bethesda Safeway Bites the Dust, Temporarily

The Safeway on Arlington Road in Bethesda closed on July 17, and I’m sure I’m not the only one happy to see it go. It was probably state of the art when it was built in 1956, but it had gotten pretty dated. I always seemed to have an “episode” whenever I dropped in there—I bought spoiled chicken twice, and often saw items on shelves beyond their sell-by dates. The store will be razed in late August to make way for a bigger and better Safeway that even meets the criteria of the U.S. Green Building Council. It’ll be nearly twice the size, with two levels of underground parking, plus an outdoor patio. Scheduled opening is late summer 2011.