A Hillcrest Heights shopping center, abandoned by Safeway after 60 years, has found a new supermarket to occupy the space left behind by the major grocery chain. Evergreen Supermarket plans to open a grocery store at the shopping center by Thanksgiving, Prince George’s County officials announced Wednesday on a bus tour of emerging developments in the county.
A spinoff of the Food Bazaar chain in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey, the new Hillcrest Heights store is the first of what officials hope will become a new chain of smaller grocery stores to complement the county’s larger supermarkets, such as Wegmans.
Thomas Jeong Han, vice president of Maxsun Produce Corp., said the company wants to open five more Evergreen Supermarkets inside the Capital Beltway. It is looking for similar locations in underserved parts of the county, and hopes to carve out a niche as a reliable local grocery chain while offering less floor space than larger stores like Giant.
Safeway left the strip mall three months ago after 60 years in search of more space so it can compete with large stores such as Wegmans and Walmart.
At only 30,000 square feet, Hillcrest Heights offered no opportunity to expand, so Safeway left, leaving a sizable gap in a community accustomed to walking to a grocery store near their homes.
Many nearby residents are older and may have trouble traveling to other grocery stores, said County Councilwoman Karen Toles, D-Suitland, who represents Hillcrest Heights.
The location was one of two vacated by Safeway this summer — another store in Upper Marlboro was abandoned during the same week in July.
Evergreen will specialize in fresh seafood and produce, officials said.
To help the transition process, county officials encouraged Safeway to leave much of the store’s infrastructure intact. Shelves, aisles and checkout lines were left behind for the next tenant.
Earle Gumbs, president of the Hillcrest/Marlow Heights Civic Association, said he was encouraged by officials’ proactive actions to find a suitable replacement.
“This has been an anchor for the community, a walkable grocery store,” Gumbs said.
