“Observation/conspiracy theory about Petworth Safeway”

in the day for the old school

“Dear PoPville,

I’m writing to see if the community has noticed what I have recently about the Petworth Safeway, specifically the parking lot. The last few times I’ve shopped, the parking garage under the store has been completely full.

My schedule is flexible so I like to shop at what would usually be slower times, like weekdays at 11 am or 3 pm. On these occasions, the store has not been nearly busy enough to explain the full lot. Further, many (most?) of the license plates on the cars are from MD or VA, many of the vehicles are big trucks like those you might see on a construction site, and many of them are parked backed in with their trunks/beds to the walls of the lot.

Yes, people with DC plates may be less likely to drive to this store than the out-of-staters, and yes, people with all sorts of vehicles need groceries, and I suppose you could still get groceries into your trunk or truck bed (with great difficulty) if it’s backed up to a wall, but all of these factors make me think the owners of these cars are not shopping at the store. Safeway offers 90 minutes of free parking to shoppers and after that supposedly enforces the limit with towing, but I doubt this is happening. So I suspect people are using this as a convenient free lot.

I’m curious if others who frequent this store have noticed this too, or if I have just gone at randomly unlucky times. It hasn’t been a big deal for me to come back later or park elsewhere, but I can imagine this being pretty disruptive to folks with mobility and/or schedule challenges.”