PHOTOS: Sneak Preview of New Safeway Opening Friday

(Editor’s note: See photo gallery below story.)

Safeway executives and employees welcomed Alexandria residents Thursday night to a preview reception to unveil the $28 million renovation of the store the evening before the Friday grand opening.

“We’ve got our Safeway back!” Alexandria Mayor William D. “Bill” Euille told the crowd gathered near the store’s floral department. Euille, Vice-Mayor Allison Silberberg and Councilwoman “Del” Pepper were on hand to help cut a ribbon along with Safeway executives that included Kelly Griffith, executive vice president and chief operating officer, North Region, and store Manager Lori Valenzuela and others.

Safeway presented donations to TC Williams High School as well as several local charities, including ALIVE! and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

The store will employ 150 with Valenzuela back at the helm. She was manager of the original store for 3.5 years and is a 10-year Safeway employee.

Patrons Thursday night toured the store and sampled items from various stations where specialty wines, cheeses, coffees, desserts and more were offered. See grand opening specials here.

After 16 months of construction, Safeway will open its new store at 3526 King St. on Friday at 8 a.m. replacing the store that operated on the same site since 1982. The store will be open around the clock.

Parking for the store is at street level, covered and uncovered. Once you enter the store you have the option of taking stairs, escalator or elevator. (To clarify: There is a “down” cart escalator; customers can use that or the elevator to get to the main level.) In addition to regular check-out aisles the store also offers self-check out.

The store is one of only four in the entire company dedicated to creating fresh guacamole, salsa, hummus, fruit and veggie kabobs made daily, prepared on-site by produce department staff members, Safeway executives pointed out.

Overall, the new store will offer twice as many items as the previous store, including more than 1,200 produce items, 150 cuts of fresh meat daily, 15 varieties of fresh baked bread and 35 types of fish. Many of these products are regionally sourced from Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania so customers can be assured they are getting the freshest foods while supporting local businesses and growers, Safeway noted in a news release.

The store’s deli will offer a variety of expanded prepared food options such as a salad bar, hot bar, soup bar, sandwich bar and olive bar, all of which provide a variety of easy options for customers to pick up and create a meal.

The store offers a cafe with free Wi-Fi where patrons can take their coffee from the in-house Starbucks or purchased items from the deli for a bite to eat. Seating options include tables and booths, where electric sockets are easily accessible; the cafe also includes a flat-screen TV over a faux fireplace. Restrooms are located adjacent to the cafe. The cafe area leads out onto an open-air terrace, where patrons can grab a seat when the weather is nice.

In the meat and seafood department, Safeway will marinate or season any fresh item – free of charge – by asking while being served. The Safeway bakery will offer more than 20 varieties of baked goods made on-site.

The floral department is about three times the size that it was at the old store.

Safeway offers a variety of sugar-free, gluten-free and organic choices. Safeway’s exclusive Open Nature line is dedicated to simplicity with products that contain no artificial ingredients or preservatives, while its O Organics products are grown and prepared to USDA organic standards without the use of synthetic pesticides, genetic modification, growth hormones, or antibiotics.

Patrons Thursday night left with “goody bags” filled with Safeway products.

During the first few weeks of its opening, the “Taste of Safeway” will be staged, treating shoppers to samples of selected items from the company’s extensive and exclusive line of Safeway Consumer Brands products.

The new store was designed to be a community gathering place featuring a dedicated community room, located on the first floor, where local non-profits or community-based organizations can hold meetings or other activities.

Safeway’s Eastern Division employs more than 11,000 people and currently operates 124 stores, including 65 Safeway stores in Maryland, 41 in Virginia, 14 in the District of Columbia and four in Delaware.