That filth pit. It doesn’t need a Starbucks, a new ready-to-eat section, or any other capital investment. It does need a mop, better staff, more cashiers working at busy times, and fresh fruit. Ahold has destroyed Giant and no amount of grease paint will change that.

Thanks for the 411! I can only hope that the renovation brings some improvement to store. I find it so hit or miss and the customer service to be horrendous. I mean who runs out of bananas, garlic, and skim milk all on the same day? And that was only one visit! I’m crossing my fingers in hopes this is a good change.

Did they provide a timeframe for the project completion? Does it mean I will no longer be able to find trashy convenience items such as this, this, this and this, or tawdry Christmas Gifts such as this?

What? No? Damn.

This is great news.. However, the article is quite poorly written.. Please stop with these silly (read: not pay)-type annotations.. It’s childish.

Editor’s note: I’ll interpret “childish” as “youthful” and “energetic”. Thanks, Roger! — JD (Jun 21, 2008)

How can they put a Starbucks there? 1) There’s a starbucks literally a block away - across from the metro/next to the bagel store on E/W highway. 2) There’s already another coffee shop in the same plaza… Caribou coffee (something like that, I don’t drink coffee)? Wouldn’t that be in direct competition? Does anyone really need 3 coffee shops in 1 block? The ones we have aren’t even that busy.
Also, I agree with those that said customer service/more cashiers is a more immediate need. Self-checking out produce is a nightmare, plus I can’t get my 5 cent discount for using a reusable bag in the self checkout line!

hrmm…. big fan of caribou…. not happy with that…. I’m most definitely gonna still walk over to caribou before my shopping…. better coffee too, starbucks has a nasty after taste

The Starbucks is probably just a kiosk and a couple of tables, like the new one in the Montrose Crossing Giant. I think it’s just to encourage people to sip while they browse– which is why they’ve added cup holders to their shopping carts. Frankly, I’m more impressed by the fact that the carts have four wheels that turn and aren’t crusted with rotten lettuce leaves and dozens of old advertising flyers.

They’ve also spiffed up the Rockville store considerably over the last six months or so. They brought in amazing international and kosher food sections, as well as some housewares and more prepared foods, and added the Easy Pay (used it this weekend– LOVE IT! But I’m always a fan of anything involving a laser). Yes, the Easy Pay is a bit of a pricey gimmick, but the lines in the Rockville store used to rival those in the Blairs store on the weekends, and yesterday I walked right up to the Self Checkout and was in my car in under five minutes. If it helps the lines in the Blairs store, bring it on, I say.

I strongly suspect the Rockville spruce-up was motivated by the prospect of competition from the new Harris Teeter and Whole Foods going up along the Pike. Sigh. If only the Blairs activity were such a happy byproduct of our rampant capitalism. Unless there’s something in the works for DTSS that I don’t know about. . .

What is Starbucks trying to achieve here? Seriously, the WORLD has them on every corner so now Silver Spring is getting in on the action. People do not go to a supermarket to drink coffee they go for cereal, fruits and meats. I have to agree with Paul, Caribou is much better especially their frozen drinks. We can surely expect six or seven more Starbucks in downtown Silver Spring over the next year. And with ten Starbucks in DTSS, we still won’t have a Civic Center or new library.

The updates to Giant are a sweeping process being made across the board by its owning company, Royal Ahold. They are also making similar updates to other stores (Super Stop and Shop and Martin’s) in other regions. It may in fact because of the competition from higher quality food stores moving into the area, but the Blairs (and Rockville) shops were chosen for updating and upgrading simple because of the amount of receipts they make on a daily basis.

What - all these comments and someone has yet to make a Royal A-hole joke? Yeesh. Do I have to do *everything* around here?

Well, thanks to certain groups, they don’t have to worry too much about “competition from higher quality food stores”. I’m surprised they bothered.

I dread going into that shithole Giant. It’s convenient because it’s next to the Metro stop on the way home. I am spending more of my money at non-union shops like Trader Joe’s and Whole Paycheck.

I think I will visit Snyder’s and this Korean supermarket place in Wheaton as well. Unfortunately, thanks to the crappy customer service, unhealthy food selection, and empty shelves at the SS Giant…I have to burn some CO2 by driving to other grocery stores.

Thanks Giant for making me pollute the Earth even more. And one more thing…

STOP PROVIDING PLASTIC BAGS TO THE CUSTOMERS!!!!!!

I do not understand what’s so terribly wrong with the silver spring Giant. Its clean in there and the shelves are not always empty. What time do you go in there? The safeway is the deplorable one!

Where does one begin with the Giant? Much of the produce I buy goes bad within a couple of days; they can be slow to restock shelves (milk, seltzer water are the first things that come to mind); it looks grimy (thus the “painting over soot on the ceiling” reference in story); the lines are almost always incredibly long, and when they’re not, they’re packed with the “80 or better” crowd who you’d think had never seen a supermarket before. That’s just off the top of my head. Maybe I should do a video and chronicle the shortcomings.

The one redeeming quality I always notice when I’m in there: good music. Anyone with me on that?

Until recently, I noticed that most of their music was novelty oldies such as Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini or She’s A Brick House. Missing from their musical selection was One Eyed One Horned Flying Purple People Eater.

I was in Giant this morning and they were removing the old ceiling titles and replacing them with ones that have a cream color to them. What you probably saw them doing was painting the metal braces that hold the tiles up, not the actual titles though reasonably paint gets on them when you attempt to paint a two inch strip from 5 feet below.

HA, Thayer Ave — I love the music too. It’s so random and so bizarre and hilarious. I shop in the middle of the day with people who are about 50 years older than me, and I love singing along to the oldies with them. And then, other times, it’s obscure hits of the ’70s… Or classic soul… You just never know. Don’t ever change, crazy Giant music.

But other than the music, I am very happy this store is getting overhauled. I think it’s generally fine (except the produce selection), but supermarkets have been getting fancier in recent years, and it’s time for the Blairs Giant to catch up. Most exciting in my opinion? The deli kiosk where you can pre-order. Oh, thank god. I have been praying for this invention for years, and just last week (on vacation) saw that it existed. No more jiggling my kid in the cart while waiting a solid 10 minutes for the 3 people in front of me to get a quarter pound of cheddar and a quarter pound of Swiss, the one on sale, is that one on sale, okay that one, and a quarter pound of turkey, no, wait, ham, no, wait, a half pound, yes, sliced thin, no, a little thinner, yes, like that, that’s good, and then could I try a little of that salami over there and OH MY GOD GET ME OUT OF THIS DELI TODAY PLEASE!!!

So yay for all of this.