A community fixture for decades at the Greenspring Shopping Center, Shoppers supermarket will cease operations on Sunday, Nov. 7, and become a Safeway store, according to multiple sources.
The sources say Safeway plans to move into the space at 2801 Smith Ave. that week, noting that both Safeway and Shoppers have offered vocational opportunities to employees of the Pikesville location.
“Everything changes in life,” said one employee, who requested anonymity. “We’ll miss the customers here, but it’s time for a change. It happens.”
Shoppers management referred inquiries from Jmore to its marketing department, which has not yet responded.
Another employee at Shoppers said no official announcement has yet been made by the company, but customers have frequently asked about the rumors in recent weeks.
“It’s certainly not a secret,” she said. “It’s been all over the internet. People know about it. It just hasn’t been made official.”
A full-service supermarket, Shoppers was founded in 1949 as Jumbo Food Stores by Irving and Kenneth Herman and their brother-in-law, Sam Levin. It became part of United Natural Foods Inc. in 1999. Shoppers serves the Maryland, Northern Virginia and Washington D.C., markets.
In 2019, the Providence, Rhode Island-based UNFI sold 13 of its then 43 Shoppers stores to three separate grocery operators, and the following year closed Shoppers supermarkets in Milford Mill and Severn.
Brooks & Goldman Realty LLC owns and operates the Greenspring Shopping Center. In the past, the Shoppers anchor space there has been occupied by Metro Food Market, Farm Fresh, Pantry Pride and Food Fair.
A Safeway store was previously located in Pikesville at 201 Reisterstown Rd., which is currently the home of Seven Mile Market, one of the nation’s largest full-service kosher supermarkets.
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