The 15th/John Safeway (Image: Google Maps)
The companies behind Capitol Hill’s grocery stores will be watching as the city considers a complaint against a Seattle Safeway over the practice of closing off second entrances as the big chains try to deter shoplifters and thieves.
A “Notice of Violation” over city code was issued first in January to the 8340 15th Ave NW Safeway over a complaint about the grocery’s shutdown of one of its two entrances.
“Safeway is operating in violation of condition #4 established for the permanent life of the project for permit #673693,” the city’s record of the complaint reads. “Maintain the two main entries adjacent to the sidewalk, and ensure that both doors are open during normal daytime business hours, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on all working days.”
Lawyers for the chain have requested a review and maintain that the closed Crown Hill entryway is legal and can still be opened. The city has asked for all information for the review to be submitted by March 18th before a decision can be reached.
The chain could face penalties of up to $500 a day if it is found to be in violation and doesn’t remedy the situation.
KOMO was first to report on the situation here.
The semi-permanent closure of entryways to restrict customers to one entry and exit has been a popular tactic for grocery chains hoping to deter crime. CHS first reported on the issue in 2018 as QFC was sealing off its secondary entrances. The 15th and John Safeway also sealed off its eastern entrance in recent years.
Permits show that the Crown Hill Safeway has undergone several recent updates to reduce theft. Similar efforts have also played out inside Capitol Hill’s grocery stores including indignities like this plexiglass maze installed in the Broadway Market QFC in 2022.
A check of Capitol Hill’s grocery store addresses show no similar complaints, yet, over the closed entryways.
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Maybe the dopes as city hall can actually address the real problem at stores and that’s shoplifting. There are no consequences and then prices go up for everyone else.
I mean, I’m far left and agree this is too much. Absolute waste of tax dollars and energy that could be better directed.
More like fart left …..so it’s people like you that ruin society. Good to know, have a nice day short bus rider
Easy there champ! Save some for your “ “protest”
“short bus rider”???
c’mon man. that’s really mailing it in. if you are gonna chirp? do better than that.
weak sauce bud
Name checks out
Yeah and when someone dies in a fire cause they had the doors locked you will be screaming bloody murder that the people responsible should be prosecuted and that the city should have addressed it years ago. I thought after the shirtwaist fire locking fire exits was a thing of the past. Guess peoples safety isnt as important as bums stealing food. Also how is this remotely a waste of “tax dollars” when it will generate revenue through the fines? Do you people not think anything through?
For example, stop throwing money we don’t have at SPD when they refuse to do their jobs. End the silent strike or fire all of them and hire replacements.
They are actually working again. We got bonus hoppers now all over mercah. New hires will do 2-3 years and move on to get another bonus.
You are SO right on!! Sad, isn’t it?
lol if you think Shoplifting is the cause and not the effect.
Enabling people in crisis and addicted to drugs who then camp out and shoplift is the effect. Progressive policies that refuse to enforce existing laws is the cause. We weren’t always this way. We could not be this way again. But it would take a sea change in how the typical Hill resident views law enforcement and views expectations of what is allowed by the Social Contract. We’ve modified that significantly in the past 10-15 years.
Me when I generalize the ever living shit out of people
So just lock up all the homeless so you dont have to look at them huh? And how are you going to free up that much space in jails? Let out all the violent offenders and sex offenders?
I think this particular store has a lot of problems that are impacting its bottom line. A huge one is likely the 24/7 gang of active drug users at the corner of John and 15. They are there constantly, shooting up, smoking, leaving trash everywhere, and often trying to intimidate passersby.
They do not intimidate people. They’d be arrested.
There’s a person or two with angry outbursts. They get a cop to see them from what I’ve seen lately.
They are pulling people over now. THAT is brand new. They did it for about 4-5 weeks in a row. Same time the vendors got checked for licenses.
Someone somewhere…I suspect the Mayor. Decided to really do work up here on the Hill. The weekends have mellowed out big time.
One wee lil’ issue. Being killed.
Is your life worth a backpack full of candy? Or is it that someone else’s life is worth that?
Is one backpack full of candy x 5-10 a day x almost every day equals store closes equals food desert for all the law abiding residents nearby equals you allowed the social contract to be destroyed over a backpack of candy.
gimme a break…Seriously? Look Chicken Little.
1: This place will NEVER EVER EVER be a “food desert”.
2: I’ve allowed nothing. Especial a social contract.
Covid is over…You can’t just go steal now w/o consequences.
“The social contract” was torn to shreds long ago.
People steal from the Capitol Hill grocery stores without consequences to themselves every day. I’ve seen it, dozens of other residents of around here have seen it. So far the stores have gotten by on raising prices to cover the losses.
At the Fillmore Safeway in San Francisco last month, a similar scenario played out: a long term neighborhood anchor store closed, citing shoplifting and crime as why. The neighborhood erupted in sadness and protest, “it’s racist!” or “food desert” cries were heard.
The same scenario here is playing out. Seattle, like San Francisco, has a history of ignoring petty crime and arrogantly telling businesses it’s entirely their problem to solve.
So do not act surprised if these big chain grocery stores with hundreds of locations nationwide that don’t have these uniquely West Coast City problems .. decides to solve it by closing these locations.
QFC / Kroger already closed 15th ave. Safeway is the only walkable grocery store left on 15th. And now the city is making more petty demands over entrances .. rather than address the underlying issues of crime enablement and street crime and violence.
It’s not an IF they close at this point, it’s unfortunately more likely a WHEN.
omg…this is not CA. or San Fran. It’s Seattle…It’s apples and oranges.
We gave cops back pay, raises and bonuses. WTF are you talking about?”history of ignoring petty crime and arrogantly telling businesses it’s entirely their problem to solve.”
100% bullshit that is. wow…
You are alarmist at best.
Whatever. We’ll never see things the same. Facts do matter.
Lol i guess to hell with fire code. Bums stealing candy bars is going to lead to the apocalypse lol
praying for the poor poor corporate supermarkets
The Safeway on Madison has had its second set of doors closed for years now…. and blocked them with carts, so there’s no saying that they are available for emergency exit..
They’ve never put locks on the ice cream cases, but they’ve done just about everything else they can to make it unpleasant to shop there…
They’ve taken away all the baskets, it’s get a cart or nothing..
They barely open their checkouts, two self checks (the credit only ones) and usually all but one of the clerked check out lines are closed 99% of the time.
They have a ridiculous tolerance for pets in the store. There’s nearly aways dogs in the store and believe me these are 100% pets, not service dogs – they’ve been observed to stick their faces in the meat cases, crap on the floor and get into fights inside the store.
To be fair, actual people have also been observed to stick their faces in the meat cases, crap on the floor and get into fights inside the store.
To be fair I’ve never seen any of that inside the store other than fights.. but I do see dogs do it regularly. Plus dogs are legally not allowed into the store unless they are service dogs. No excuses.
They are starting to crack down on that. I saw a sign at Madison Safeway today. The problem? It’s against the law to ask for ID.
Not necessarily in that order.
I saw a dude on fire…lol
He put a ciggy butt in his coat pocket that wasn’t out fully.
Baskets are stolen go to any encampment and you’ll find several of them. You are right about all grocery stores allowing pets in the store. One dog at Safeway on John pooped on the floor and it was runny well I didn’t see that and stepped in it. The owner didn’t apologize or try to warn me. I had to go outside to find a puddle to clean my shoe off. The stores don’t even ask “what service does your animal provide?” If the person can’t answer that they can legally be refused entry with their pet. But the stores just allow pets in violation of the law which is never enforced.
Not all grocery stores. There’s only been once that I’ve seen a dog in PCC and the meat counter guy told him to get out. Dog owner started giving him lip and probably falsely saying it was a service dog, but it worker wasn’t taking it – the dog was barking and jumping and the worker told him it didn’t matter, the dog was being disruptive and he needed to leave, which is 100% correct and legal- even service dogs (which I’m sure it wasn’t) don’t get a totally free pass. It was handled exactly how it should have been and that is why people don’t abuse the privilege there.
“The stores don’t even ask “what service does your animal provide?””
Because it’s against the law. No, you won’t see people getting fined or arrested for pets.
No it is not. They are absolutely allowed to ask 1) is the animal a service animal required because of a disability and 2) what the animal is trained to do. They can also ask anyone with an animal that is not behaving, service dog or not to leave
But they won’t because of the same reasons they let shoplifters do as they please. They refuse to do anything at all confrontational.
You are right. I was wrong.
I got confused with asking a person for their disability.
Against the law lol They have the right to refuse service to anyone. I dont know when the general public started thinking they are special and are immune from consequences for their poor behavior but it needs to stop.
I just said that Brad…Get over yourself.
Safeway didn’t take away the baskets…. You guessed it…..they all get immediately stolen too
No they took them. They had them one day and they were all gone the next. Not to mention an employee told me they gathered them all up..
I shop there. I haven’t seen anything like what you describe there, except the baskets are gone. They did come bake briefly a few months back and then were gone again.
I like that store except the aisles are too narrow.
You are talking some serious bullshit though. The liquor is locked up, but I haven’t had to ask for anything to be unlocked to get to my normal groceries.
Never seen a dog fight, poop, or jump up in the meat section. Ever.
I’m there 3 to 4 times a week.
Big imagination there, friend.
Go shop at PCC then.
You may want to go back and reread things bud… I never said anything about locking things up other than they have *not* locked the ice cream cases (unlike down on Broadway) Nor did I say I saw any dogs jump in the meat case…. I’d say you shouldn’t be accusing other of having ‘an imagination’, when you are the one making things up…
Doesnt matter if the dog craps, jumps, barks or solves a rubix cube it has no business in a grocery store. People that bring dogs to stores werent raised right.
Have to disagree, when I have a friend drive me to shop I always go to the Safeway on Madison as to me it feels safe and clean and not as ratty as the BW Mkt QFC or the 15th Ave Safeway. Sad to see the trash and scary people outside both of those locations. Neither are safe to go to after sunset.
I haven’t been in the 15th Safeway in a long time – probably 4 years or more, but if it’s worse than the Madison store, it’s fallen a loooooong way. It was always way better kept up in the past.
How do I file a complaint against the Safeway at 15th and John? Closing the door on 15th was the first inconvenience, but everything they have done in the name of safety has made me just not want to shop there. They seem allergic to hiring staff, but then hire 3rd party, non-union security that make everyone feel like a criminal.
shop the Madison store…completely different experience.
Surely you’re not talking about the store at 22nd and Madison? They blocked off their main doors and started locking up their cabinets a long time ago. Last time I went, they had even started locking up the ice cream! They frequently don’t even have any checkers working, only the self-scanners. I only go there now if I have to pick something up from the pharmacy; it’s not a pleasant place.
I do not disagree. All I said? Was it’s better than the one on 15th. I am not suggesting it’s Trader Joe’s. Just a better Safeway.
Yes, Justin at that store is worthless. he told me”I can’t help it if people are slow” (in the self check) One checker. Both options lines down the isles.
I asked him to please open the 3 self check to the left of the main 8.
He was talking to a girl. “We all get together after work”. Then he made the comment.
Then? He went down and opened the 3 self checks. Swear to God. I actually took pictures. Called Safeway and had a discussion about Jason Suave, and the store experience in general with 4 pictures of the lines (2 lines 16 deep in the self check and 12 on the checker that’s there.(1)
Yes…It’s beyond pathetic. They do not care. Jason is the weekday swing manager. Noah is the one who actually runs the store. He’s soooper good at his job and is a pro. But he can’t do it all.
They asked if I want a follow-up call. I said yes. It’s been about a year now and I went today. Same deal. Only all the floor help was hiding…and the main self check and one checker.
Since covid companies are raking profits by any means necessary. $6.50 for a bottle of Heinz ketchup today. Save 20 cents. The french fries are on sale. But of course.
Now they want the price to fluctuate based on demand and time of day. Like a progressive slot machine.
No, no they don’t. I’ve not once felt like a criminal. I’m all for them checking receipts now as an extra level of deterrence. If anything, it keeps them actually working and not on their phones or chatting doing nothing
For someone who just claimed to be “far left” in another comment, that sure was a Karen thing to say. You really think people would just fib on the Internet??
“feelings” are highly subjective. One persons “no biggy” is another person’s “Oh hell no!”…lol Like that Savage chick being afraid to enter the light rail on the Hill. Embellishments comes to mind. But maybe she’s terrified even though two grown men are with her.
They check receipts at Costco and Walmart before Covid.
Maybe the Safeway bebsite…err, hebsite….no that’s not it…rebsite??? Oh man, I don’t know….
It’s people like you that make it where we can’t do anything to deture shoplifting you are probably one your self and want it to be easier to get free things
More evidence-free allegations of crime! For the record, I have never shoplifted.
After shopping at this Safeway for over a decade, the only shoplifting I’ve personally witnessed was a teenager being hassled by a security guard for drinking a coke in the store without paying for it. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but I haven’t witnessed the rampant and massive shoplifting operations that frequent commenters on here have claimed.
I actually shifted most of my food shopping to Central Co-Op. It’s not perfect, but there is actually staff working there regularly, and I’ve witnessed them descalate situations of people in crisis when they come into the store. They did recently add a security guard though. On many things, the prices aren’t much different from Safeway at this point, but the experience is massively better.
Safeway is still the closest pharmacy for me, and there aren’t many options for that thanks to corporate greed/malfeasance from Rite Aid/Bartells and Walgreens.
If you haven’t seen it, you just haven’t been looking… I’ve seen plenty.
Even Hellen Keller could see the shoplifting that occurs at our grocery stores. It’s epidemic just go to Harvard market QFC around closing time it’s awful.
Give Trader Joes a try. It is a very good store. You’ll need to adjust a bit. Many labels will not look familiar do to how they stock the shelves with the best foods. Not necessarily named brands. Kinda like Costco does. Everything they make beats the industry. I swear by their chocolate chips.
For a pharmacy, if you’re bussing or driving to the Madison Safeway, only a few more minutes east by car or #11 bus and you can use the independent Madison Park Pharmacy. The pharmacy does everything the chain & grocery pharmacies do, but the service is great and only a very short or no line.
wow…mkay…That’s kinda cheap man.
Nobody is Pro-shoplifting. Or stealing, lying, cheating etc. “The left” is simply a way to justify to yourself the argument as a sound one. It ain’t.
Its people like you that value honest purchasing of candy bars over human life. Think about that
the answer s easy— DONT SHOP THERE!
So to hell with the publics safety if they shop there?
I’d bet you good money that the majority of shoppers in Seattle ARE actually criminals
shit…sorry man…This is how ya do it. Call and make your complaints. And compliments…And ask for a follow-up call. Safeway does a really solid job. They actually take action. They actually care. Just call em’. Let me know how it went
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Its not illegal to close an exit because its an inconvenience. Its illegal to close an exit because its a safety issue. Look up the shirtwaist fire. Pretty sure that fire made locking exits illegal everywhere.
8340 15th Ave NW Safeway is a war zone. I can’t shop there. Last time I went was enough for me.
Safeway on 15th.
Safeway on Madison.
Both QFCs on Broadway.
Grocery stores closing their pedestrian entrances has become rampant, and it’s a blow to the walkability of our neighborhoods. Glad to hear the city is doing something about it.
If they are forced to open the doors, and shoplifting increases, are you ok with paying even higher prices?
They jack up the prices no matter what happens, and the “shoplifting is driving retailers out of business” narrative has been largely debunked. Shoplifting remains a small percentage of sales.
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/us-retail-lobbyists-retract-key-claim-organized-retail-crime-2023-12-06/
Safeway/Albertson’s and most grocery chains have been manipulating prices and gouging customers since the pandemic started. They will raise prices as much as they can get away with, even as they try to convince shoppers it’s due to some nefarious actors rather than the corporation’s profits.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/errolschweizer/2024/09/04/why-a-price-gouging-ban-isnt-so-crazy-after-all/
The city needs to hold them accountable when they violate agreements and make living the city unpleasant.
Living is not made unpleasant by having to use one entrance unless you are lazy. Grocery store margins are thin and during the failed Kroger/Albertsons merger it came out that many QFC’s are https://www.seattletimes.com/business/once-seattles-grocery-darling-qfc-in-limbo-after-kroger-albertsons-merger-fails/ I would bet that many are in seattle and rampant theft is to blame.
The article you linked says that they jack up prices unrelated to their costs for the product (QFC prices for Fred Meyer products) driving away customers. The whole article is basically about Kroger buying the brand, keeping prices high, but offering worse products and a worse experience for customers, and then trying to offload most of the QFC stores. Shoplifting wasn’t mentioned once.
It actually is really unpleasant to go around to the back of the store when the front of the store, on the neighborhood’s commercial street, is blocked off. At the Safeway on 15th, you now either have to pass the loading dock/dumpsters with no sidewalk (north approach), or go up a slope on a super narrow sidewalk that isn’t ADA accessible (south approach) to get to it. Not to mention that the entire frontage on 15th Ave is now just covered up windows. They’re really trying to make it as unpleasant as possible.
Its a safety issue you moron.
They will have to hire two security guards.
you saying hiring security for that door will jack up the prices?
So you would rather people die in a fire than steal ho hos?
“indignities like this plexiglass maze”
lol, how is a plexiglass wall with two obvious entry points and one obvious exit point an indignity or a maze?
Life is a struggle, friend.
Prepare to be amazed!
Journal, Day 17: I still haven’t found my way out of this retched store. The good news is that there seems to be plenty of food and water here to sustain me, the bad news is that I’m certain my cat at home is now dead. I see new faces each day, so I suspect that there is some way to escape, but I’ve been over every inch of the plexiglass wall and can’t figure it out myself. I’ve considered building a fire with some of the firewood bales present in the lower level to watch the smoke and see if that help me determine a way out. More to come tomorrow.
Wait! Your living rent-free + there is food and water? So Lucky!
I dont know. How about we put you in the back of the store and set it on fire and see if you think its an indignity then.
The plexiglass wall that has three obvious openings? Sure, let’s do that?
To be clear, I do think it’s stupid to close the two exits that went into the mall areas, though those are nowhere near the back of the store.
It is time for both QFCs and Safeway to open both entrances again and for the city to provide greater enforcement against shoplifting. The closing of the doors has made these stores and the streetscape much less inviting, which only contributes to the problems created by homeless drug addicts. I have always thought that closing the second entrance must be creating multiple code violations. I am glad that someone finally has shined a spotlight on this issue.
The closure of the upstairs entrance at the north Broadway QFC has absolutely created a hangout area for drug use and sales, and has reduced pedestrian accessibility and any positive streetscape experience. I sympathize with the challenge of shoplifting issues for the staff, but this tactic has only created a more unusable, hostile city scape. It’s time to expand this review to all of these grocery spaces across the city.
They simply need guards at all entrances.
You point is a very good one. I overlooked the little den of ill repute they created there.
All Safeways have been closing one exit everyday for at least 2-3 years now. There are 3 close to me but when I go to other stores out of my area in the evening, one exit is always closed. You would think they know they’re breaking the law.
Are you referring to the people stealing from the store multiple times a day?
No hes referring to the fire code violation that comes with a 500 dollar daily fine.
You walk around QFC or Safeway, and you can see people shoplifting sometimes. And you just see sketchy people in general.
When I walk around Trader Joe’s, I never see either. I have been in each store hundreds of times, so this is not a small sample size. All three stores have security.
Why is there such a massive discrepancy?
Interesting question and see the same now that you bring it up. Wonder if the increased density of both patrons and workers decreases how comfortable people are shop lifting.
May be a different story if TJ was not off the beaten path
That was my guess. Location.
TJ’s isn’t off the beaten path… it’s right at the top of Madison.
Plus Madison Market at the top of Madison and PCC over at Union and 23rd are both fine too… PCC is two blocks from Safeway and it’s like it’s an entirely different world.
Is there really a mystery afoot on why the generic Supermarket is hit up more than the bougie small grocers?
Not at all… because Safeway basically turns a totally blind eye to the actual act of shoplifting, even as it does everything possible to make shopping there miserable for everyone else. It doesn’t matter how many doors they block or mazes they make, or security vested guys they hire, if people can pick stuff up and walk out without even bothering to try to hide what they are doing – which I’ve seen plenty of, those people are going to do it. Just the idea of being stopped, relieved of their goods and booted out is enough to send away from the smaller stores to the easy mark that Safeway is.
I disagree…”The beaten path” means where folks congregate and steal. There’s not a lot of riff raff at Joe’s like in town on Capitol Hill, downtown of course etc. It’s a weird 3 way thing there. There’s a pan handler or two but not the thick with thieves downtown corroder..
Maybe it has to do with the size of the establishment, with larger places like QFC and Safeway being easier to get lost in as you shoplift items.
I agree that Trader Joe’s is a better shopping experience, but please do note that Trader Joe’s stores only have one entrance. Works for them…
QFC Broadway they shoplift and go out the fire door at the back by the milk section. They can’t lock it, as it’s the fire door. Alarm sounds, but they are gone. This whole discussion seems to ignore that these stores have fire exits. The wider issue is the viability of running a grocery store in some of these locations. If I was Safeway and QFC I would be downsizing.
Be careful what you wish for. They could just decide to close the store. Grocery stores have low margins to begin with and now have higher costs with extra security, shrinkage, high labor costs, redesigning the store every month to deter shoplifters. There’s a point where it becomes unprofitable.
At which point the activists would scream that Safeway or QFC/Kroger are ‘racist’ for closing stores and creating ‘food deserts.’ Like activists literally just did in San Francisco after a longtime location Safeway closed due to endless ongoing crime and problems brought on by tolerant/nonexistent enforcement of existing laws by the City.
As a local, walking resident living very near this store, the closed entrance is actually pedestrian accessible, while the entrance they’ve left open requires me to walk through what drivers consider “their” space. I was hit by a toyota a few weeks ago just in front of the door (just hard enough to make me drop my bag mostly in surprise that some fucktard just ran his car into me), and the cockwaffle sociopath behind the wheel actually rolled down his window and yelled at me to “Get the fuck out of the street!” Literally less than 10 feed from the door, directly in front of it. Fuck asshole drivers, of course, but also fuck Safeway for prioritizing them over people just trying to walk up and buy some damn groceries. Coming from the north, the only approach seems specifically tailored to foster car/pedestrian conflict.
” cockwaffle”I am stealing this
Reading the comments, most of you are just looking to complain when it comes to access to teh store. Is it really THAT difficult to walk to the other entrance? God forbid you walk 200 meters to the other entrance!
Because there are requirements for retail in pedestrian areas to open to the street and not to parking lots (especially parking lots at the back of the store, away from the street). This has benefits for sidewalk activity, eyes on the street/neighborhood safety, and increases foot traffic for other nearby businesses.
Why not close the parking lot entrance and make drivers walk around to the pedestrian entrance? They’re already walking a long distance in the parking lot, and throughout the store. Why? Because Safeway has taken a decidedly anti-urban, anti-people, pro-car stance, and will use whatever reasoning they can come up with to justify it.
and someone finally said it…Nice work!
Cars > people
(correction to my prior comment: not actually this store, the one on 15th & John)
indignities?
Far left want to defund the police and ensure that thieves have their rights. Let’s have the migrants come in to the USA also and bleed our country dry. Oh and let’s not forget that Elon Musk is getting rid of all the fraud so let’s protest about him. The left is completely stupid and should get out of America. Idiots
I’m not far left, but anyone who believes that’s what Elon is doing should not be calling other people idiots:
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/doge-website-offers-error-filled-window-into-musks-government-overhaul-2025-03-04/
Did Grok write that for you?
whats a Grok?
Grok is Elon’s goofy AI… I was trying, poorly, to make a joke out of the other Matt’s post that was nonsensical MAGA-ness
“Far left want to defund the police and ensure that thieves have their rights.”
No, they don’t. It’s what you are told to think. Big difference.
“Defund” was a protest. Not a policy.
“Burn it all down!” is protest. Not policy. No, the left does NOT want to burn everything down.
What the “far left” and I think almost everyone wants?
Cops to obey the laws and police themselves.
Saying things that are simply false. And laughably so, is a problem. It doesn’t solve them.
This is my Safeway, and I cannot tell you how much I hate it.
I personally don’t give two millish*ts about the shoplifting as it’s just a cost of doing biz in grocery.
That said:
–The employees and management are either (1) surly and awful, or (2) completely incompetent
–The store is so poorly merchandized
–The lack of baskets (!!!!!!) is maddening, and really unacceptable
–The ostentatious sign demanding no one leave without a receipt…I mean…not acceptable
What all this adds up to is just the most hostile retail environment imaginable.
And, again, I don’t care about the shoplifting. By all means, have loss-prevention personnel, but that doesn’t mean you get to close legally-mandated entrances and treat customers like they are criminals.
Of course, it many ways is **does** mean you get to treat people this way, because there’s no enforcement of anything in America today.
Now the bigger question is when this Safeway is closing for the already-approved redevelopment of the lot? I know the creepy cult on the corner sued the city regarding the approval and, thankfully, lost. But where are we with the redevelopment?
I was having a helluva time there as well. I changed stores and now I listen to music the entire time and it helps.
Whomever filed the frivolous complaint must be for higher prices as two entrances just leads to tweakers and theives pushing carts full of stuff out the door. It also costs stores more to staff guards at two entrances. Those costs are passed along to shoppers. Anyone who thinks theft isn’t a problem is lying like Donald Trump.
meh…more security is never a problem.
Yeah, if you’ve noticed, M2M, the korean store on broadway, just opened up one of their doors they had previously closed off, as well…
The 15th Ave. Safeway is one of the worst parts of the neighborhood. I used to go there regularly, but the number of drugged out people actively smoking crack and fentanyl outside makes it not worth it. The perimeter is always strewn with disgusting garbage. I have to take the 8 bus daily for work, and I never get off at the stop across the street because I just don’t want to deal with that corner of 15th and John St. I’d rather get off at a safer, albeit less convenient, bus stop.
This is to say nothing of the inside of the store, which is poorly maintained, has all the products locked up, has tweakers inside constantly shoplifting and scaring normal customers, and has maybe one or two employees manning the entire store.
The city has just given up, and I think that Safeway probably isn’t far behind.
This city is quick to penalize businesses yet do nothing to stop the crime. They fine businesses for having graffiti on their building yet they do nothing about the ones doing the graffiti. It’s kind of the head up their butt attitude. Until you clean this city up, let businesses do what they can to help prevent theft. Stop paying someone to drive around this city writing fines to businesses that got tagged and instead have that city person use paint and paintbrush to clean the mess up. We need to start posting photos of these city employess who are adding to the citys problem and not helping with the solution. This will end pretty fast.
If you want that Safeway to remain open, let the business protect itself from crime or they’ll cut their losses and close the entire store. I’m tired of the lawlessness around Seattle, these businesses are not obligated to remain open just cause people need food.