QFC is no longer open 24 hours. QFC served as the late night/early morning hub for the neighborhood. It was sad day on the 9th when I arrived to a closed sign.
Later that morning, I stopped back in and the overnight cashier said it had been a long time coming. The cashier cited too many thefts, too many interruptions, and too many drugs taken by the late night clientele.
University Village QFC is now the closest grocery for that middle of the night grocery run for the unexpected crises.
It is a passing of an era of very narrow consequence.
I noticed the sign yesterday. Very sad passing of an era. In same vein, I remember when I could acess my PO box 24 hours a day and on Sundays. Now the PO is locked nights and Sundays; people were coming in and sleeping there at night, leaving messes.( Post may be removed or changed is insults etc happen…etc.)
What about that giant Safeway on Market and 15th NW? What hours?( Same info re post.)
Listed as 24h on Google
I stopped in the Safeway at 75th and Roosevelt today, and the sign on their door said they were open 24 hours. Might be more convenient than U Village for people in the northern part of Wallingford.
NOOOOOOO
“the late night clientele.”
you meant “predatory thieves”, right?
this is yet another impact of allowing vagrants and junkies to do what they want, when they want, without any consequence – that isn’t compassion, its being complicit.
Be sure to thank Rob Johnson for his part in this enhancement to his district!
This is why the Greenwood Safeway and Aurora Albertsons didn’t just decrease their hours, but closed. Grocery stores have tight profit margins, and with all the shoplifting, car prowls, and vagrants shhoting up in restrooms and scaring away customers, it doesn’t pencil out. Employees aren’t even allowed to do anything to stop them anymore, and they don’t waste their time calling the cops anymore. And the vagrants, of course, know this.
Is it November 2019 yet?
It is pretty frustrating. Employees will tell you that they are not allowed to stop shop lifters or thieves!!! how does a grocery store then not become a free food site?( Same comment re potential deletion etc of comment. I have reported the perpretator & made decisions.)
Both Greenwood Safeway and Aurora Albertons are close to newer and better competitors. They are not closing for the reasons you stated. The grocer right next to Aurora Albertsons, the Asian Food Center has been doing better and better. The one across the street from it, the Grocery Outlet, is a also doing OK.
They closed because of not having enough business and some developer is paying $16m for the land.
Actually the bigger issue for Albertsons and Safeway in Seattle in general is that they are considered lower tier stores. Seattle in general is turning into a PCC/New Seasons/Wholefoods city overall with the Albertsons/Safeway client base being pushed out of the city. And then on the other end you have the Grocery Outlet.
I have friends who used to shop at those stores, and that’s what some of the clerks had told them. Furthermore, another friend knows someone who works the development company that bought the Safeway site, and they’ve given her the same reason. Just don’t expect corporate to go on the record and tell you that, because they wouldn’t want to hurt any delicate sensitivities with the truth. But don’t take my word for it. Maybe you should check out the parking lot of the Albertsons in particular, and see who’s hanging out there these days.
The owner of the Lake City Grocery Outlet, on the other hand, has no such qualms about telling it like it is:
https://komonews.com/news/local/seattle-business-owners-fed-up-with-homeless-woman-pooping-on-their-property
BTW, where are the poor going to do their grocery shopping once the rest of the lower tier grocery stores decide they’ve had enough of it and move on?
Yeah, don’t expect corporate to go on the record and tell you the real reason, so don’t trust the excuses made by their management to the clerks. The fact is that Albertsons has been their when Aurora was way seedier than now, and the grocery stores next to that Albertsons have been thriving. I actually personally shop the next door one often, and the parking lot has been overflowing these days. The answer to “who’s hanging out there” these days is “Asians”.
For that Safeway, I think it should be obvious why people prefer the Fred Meyers a few blocks away.
And didn’t you just tell me not to listen to what the corporate said in one paragraph, and then tell me to listen to the corporate in the next? And isn’t that Grocery Outlet still open? Do you know the Safeway in the U-District has been suffering for these kind of issues for decades now and is still open?
Businesses close when it’s not making business sense. Owners would love to have the city shoulder more burden so they spend less resource on dealing with this kind of issues, but they will close only because the business isn’t good enough.
I used to live near that U-District Safeway and shopped there all the time. I still remember that old and super polite Real Change vendor who died a few years ago. The people hanging out front are decidedly less friendly these days. That store’s still there because people expect that environment and are used to it there.
Regarding Albertsons, another friend of mine just informed me that the former manager complained about the constant theft there and how that’s why they closed the self check out lanes. And btw, it’s the parking lot area in front of the Albertsons that’s been taken over by derelict RV’s and not the the area in front of the Asian Food Center.
Of course businesses close when it’s not making business sense. And when grocery stores start losing too many customers who’d rather not deal with aggressive vagrants, and car prowls, and decide that shoplifting and liability concerns no longer make business sense, they will close too.
So what’s the difference between that Albertsons and the Asian Food Center next door? I am sure it’s not the issue of homeless people and derelict RVs, since they are in the same plaza. That “former manager” was just trying to blame it on easier targets and ignoring the fact that both the shop doesn’t fit the city anymore, and he’s doing a horrible job. If you want to talk about derelict, the KMart that used to be at the location of the Asian Food Center was pretty derelict.
Another example of drug use and theft will not close stores is the Broadway QFC. It had drug and theft problems for decades. It’s still there not because they solved the problem. It’s still there because they made enough money despite the problems. That store did stop being 24 hours after some late night shootings.
A local blogger shoplifted wine there once…or got caught once, we’ll put it that way. I’m trying to place the name.
Heh, first name starts with the letter “E?”
I know the lower Broadway QFC closed off their side entrance a year because of these issues.
Again, what you say is not a surprise. Just like with the U-district Safeway, the Broadway QFC’s are largely patronized by students and “woke” hipsters who chalk it up to being a part of city culture they they think tbe rest of us should embrace. But good luck getting young families and seniors to accept it and as part of the new normal.
What do you mean by young families and seniors? This kind of thing is not divided by age or family style, but by ideology. The most significant factor of the US having worse safety net than other advanced countries is that in the US wealth segregation is the most severe. The Broadway and University District stores are hardly the most dangerous or the most depressing, just ones that at least close enough to us that many of us would at least know. In the US, the norm is that people with some money can find their own nice communities and be away for the poor. And by never seeing the poor, they would never even think about how the society is unjust and has to find ways to help the less fortunate.
You’ve been mostly advocating segregation and keep Wallingford a nice upper middle class place with no poor. This is not about “hipster” or “woke”. It’s a pretty ancient class warfare that the poor has been losing horrible in the US but not other advanced countries. It’s not necessarily because Americans are colder, but because in most countries the poor and the middle class live next each other and know the situation of each other well. In the US they are in parallel worlds and never really know each other.
That’s why I sometimes say people are spoiled. They definitely don’t think so within the limited world they live in. They are only spoiled in a way they can’t sense.
Most poor people don’t steal, TJ. Stop thinking of them that way.
Drug addicts who victimize others for their daily fix, on the other hand? They gave up their sense of dignity and shame a long time ago.
Poorer people are more likely to fall victim to addiction. Not that they are more prone to addiction, but they lack means to prevent it from happening and to get out of the problem. The US having more drug addicts than most other countries shows you it’s a society issue not an individual issue. The US also leads the world in overdose deaths. Do you think it’s not your problem? I think it’s a problem that we all own.
Not kind to refer to someone you don’t know as spoiled. Not fair to do that without taking responsibility by stating your real name..like I have. Wanna come to my 84th birthday party? It’s just 3 months from now.
For someone with weird work hours like me it’s an inconvenience. I noticed in Las Vegas, all the Walgreen’s and CVSs on the Strip are open 24/7. Their way of dealing with all the drugged out vagrants and overly drunk people who wander in is to have a security guard inside near the entrance. Granted, 45th is not the Strip but such situations are not limited to between 1:00am and 5:00am so tacking that tack is a good idea at any hour.
I am pretty sure they know that, since many grocery stores in Seattle area also have security guards. They don’t do it because they don’t think it’s worth it, not because they don’t have a way to deal with it.
Did QFC management or corporate give a reason for changing the hours?
If not, it could be any combination of
* increased theft,
* increased competition from not-traditional grocers,
* increasing employee wages,
* changing neighborhood demographics,
* changing company strategies,
* something else.
The article is four short paragraphs. About 10 seconds of your time should give you the answer.
The article says noting about QFC managment or corporate giving a reason.
The article is three short paragraphs.
On my phone, the photo of the sign turns it into four paragraphs. But thanks for keeping me in line.
A long time ago there was a Safeway on the corner of 40th and Stoneway. It was a nice little store, had most of what you needed, was convenient and the staff was friendly and helpful. The property was owned by QFC/Kroger and when the lease expired, they kicked Safeway out. The store sat empty for several years, growing evermore dilapidated; at one point they put a big, ugly fence around it. Curiously, QFC/Kroger claimed to not know who owned the property; perhaps because it was such a festering, open wound – though everyone knew who it was theirs.
Then QFC/Kroger announced their grand plan – grocery store at ground level, apartments or condos above and parking in the basement. The crumbling store was removed and an enormous, deep hole dug. The immediate neighborhood was rightly concerned about this plan and at several community meetings, QFC/Kroger or their hired spin merchants said, ‘we have the land, we have the permits and we have the money and we don’t give a ‘crap’ what you people think’. Fascinating to watch this operation in action; let’s see how we can piss off everyone!
Once the hole was dug and the neighborhood plotting their revenge, the apartment/condo developer got cold feet and walked away – don’t recall the reason. And the ginormous gaping hole sat for several more years, collecting debris and stormwater. And then QFC/Kroger walked away as well. And the ginormous gaping hole sat there for several more years, until the current apartment building was started.
QFC/Kroger has never apologized for the mess they made or the way they treated this community. Many of us who actually lived here then, including many who have wisely left the city completely since, vowed to never set foot in any QFC ever again. And we have not.
Should the 45th Street store go dark tomorrow, us long-timers would have a little party in the vacant parking lot but otherwise life will go on; the space would no doubt be quickly occupied with another tattoo parlor, pot store and nail salon. Or all three.
To the ‘where are we going to shop??????’ question, there are many stores nearby – there will soon be 7 grocery stores in Frelard alone (there are six now) – several of which I recall are open all night; I have not been up at 3AM for decades.
And, anything you can find at QFC, you can get at Fred Meyer for less – they are the same company, behind the curtain.
We’ve really been enjoying New Seasons. I’ve never met friendlier people, and they aren’t oddballs like some of the people at Wallingford QFC.
I think one of them was very obviously oddball in the good way. I chatted with him.
Some of them were nice, some odd nice and some just plain odd.
I remember that whole episode. I remember the store. I shopped there. I remember the fence an dthen the hole. I did forget that QFC/Kroger was behind all that. Thank you fo rthe reminder of how long I have been a resident in the neighborhood. ( Post under suspension/deletion if retorted to by xx or insults etc.)
If QFC owned the site Safeway was located on, that would have been some pretty bizarre business. I wouldn’t trust them to tell the truth about that, but in this case their denial is quite plausible. That Safeway was shabby and poorly managed, the way I remember it, and I suppose Safeway gave it up as a loser, and QFC bought it afterwards. Someone enlisted me into the QFC boycott over a Red Apple store they bought out, though, so it’s all the same.
Well, Donn – you would be wrong.
QFC/Krogers ownership of that property was common knowledge, at least to many of us (and the safeway employees). And Safeway did not ‘give it up’ – store was profitable according to the manager, who was generally available when a customer had a question. Many in the neighborhood thought it was just fine. And it sat vacant for years and years after that.
The local owners of Ken’s Market and Marketime tried to buy the store on 45th but Kroger ran them over, just like they did when many thought the Fred Meyer in Frelard was a poor use of that land (was and could still be used for light industry – actually making things).
Kroger came to one of the Freddy meetings and stated clearly to the opposition, ‘we have the money, political muscle, lawyers and pr people to grind on you till you give up; we don’t lose’; interesting – I was there. Losing would set a bad precedent.
Kroger is an enormous outfit, with about 3000 stores, operating under many local names.
When the Safeway store closed it had a terrible produce section. That was a local problem. The Ballard store was much better. The bottomless pit existed for far too long. In the end the building which resulted was a great improvement. The old building was ugly and had two grant empty parking lots that resulted in a wasteland, and that was when the store was open. Now we have great bagels, a not ugly building (not beautiful, way better), a street corner with lots of people coming and going, and some very nice new residents.
I heard from a young (at the time) woman that the produce guy there liked to hit on the customers, too.
Would he wave a zucchini like the guy in Animal House?
The zucchini were always limp.
There’s an app for that!