The brand-new Beckert’s Park Safeway (415 14th St. SE) is set to open at 6 a.m. Wednesday, August 12. But it won’t close anytime soon –the new Safeway will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Representatives of Safeway and developer Foulger-Pratt broke ground June 27, 2018 on the new store, which occupies a total of 60,236 square feet. It serves as the anchor for the mixed-use project called Beckert’s Park, which includes additional retail space and 325 residential units, 33 of those affordable.
The Store Director will be Matthew Frye, who comes from Safeway’s Southwest Waterfront location to oversee a team of 350 employees.
The development is named for the Beckert family, who purchased the property in the 1850s. They operated the Washington Brewery and an amusement park called Beckert’s Garden on the site until about the 1870s, later operated as the National Capitol Brewery. After DC ed prohibition in 1917, new owner Albert Carry transformed the brewery into an ice cream factory, which remained there until the property was sold to Safeway.
The grocery store has deep roots in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, once operating a smaller store at 228 Seventh St. SE, across from Eastern Market.
As part of the ribbon-cutting celebration, Safeway presented donations to three local organizations: DC Ward 6 Mutual Aid Network hub, Serve Your City DC.
With nine different varieties in the oyster bar, a popcorn counter a liquor ‘store within a store’, the 60,000 sq ft location will offer ‘all the bells and whistles’. The seafood department has a raw oyster bar with a selection of nine local oysters, such as the roaring point, blackberry and Chincoteague, with a variety of flavors and salinity levels. In addition to baked-in-store breakfast and dessert items such as handmade filled croissants in six flavors and served warm from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., the bakery has taken the cake-decorating game to a new level showcased in a confection decorated as the capitol building an surrounded by cupcakes crowned with cherry blossoms.
The Capitol Hill Safeway is the only grocery store in the District of Columbia to carry spirits, in addition to a wide selection of beer and wine. The alcohol department features a separate spirits room, and a glass-enclosed 500-bottle walk-in wine cellar. A wine steward is available to assist customers. Beer, wine, and spirits will be sold from 7 a.m. to Midnight.
Shoppers can access Safeway.com delivery and Drive-up-and-Go services, as well as Instacart RUSH delivery service. The store also offers below-grade parking, with racks provided for bicycles. A Citibike station is located adjacent to the store on D Street, between 14th and 13th Streets SE.
Traditional Safeway features include a pharmacy and a customer service desk. The new store has five manned check stands and 12 self-checkout counters. The store will also offer DC Lottery tickets, money orders, Western Union services, a key maker, a Coinstar machins and a Redbox machine.
Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week; face coverings and social distancing are required. From 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. daily, the store is reserved for senior citizens, expectant mothers and immune-compromised shoppers. The pharmacy is open Mon-Fri, 8 am-8 pm; Sat, 9 am-6 pm, and Sun, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Beer, wine, and spirits are sold from 7 a.m. until Midnight. You can reach the story by calling 202-920-5870 and the pharmacy at 202-920-5875.
