The big switchover from the existing Westbard Giant grocery store at the Westwood Shopping Center in Bethesda to the new store at the adjacent Westbard Square development at 5400 Westbard Avenue now has a date. The new store will open the morning of January 26, 2024. Giant's current Westbard store will permanently close the night before, January 25, 2024, at 10:00 PM. The existing Giant store has operated for six decades at the shopping center, which was constructed in 1959.
Circa 1970 my grandmother and mother went to the old Westbard Giant every Thursday, rain or shine, hauling my tiny, kindergarten-&-first-grade self along. They did a week's shopping for a house of six adults (and me), filling one-and-a-half shopping carts each time, and I remember clearly the weekly sum being between $90 and $100, a princely sum. Back then, a Giant employee was stationed on the sidewalk outside the store to load customer's groceries in their cars, each cartload identified by a removable, numbered tag, one copy of which hooked on a cart's handle, the other copy taken by the customer to their car, then shown to the "loader" when the customer drove up.
ReplyDeleteNo point to the story, other than the reminiscence of an aging romantic who misses kidhood and the trivial little things, like guys who loaded your groceries, which marked a different era.
Remember the lobster tank?
DeleteReminder the pickle barrel?
DeleteThanks for posting! So much has changed over the decades! Cannot believe you remember the price paid!
DeleteAnother most mentioned the lobster tanks giant used to have, I also remember the free cookies they used to give out/ maybe more like 20 years ago.
Recently that bakery has really gone down hill- I hope the new store brings more employees and better service-
@6:59 - THANK YOU! You brief paragraph opened up so many memories for me of those times gone by, when service was rendered with a smile and families were extended like ours it seems. Spending $100 dollars a week felt crazy, but our families did. Your novel has just begun.
ReplyDeleteLast month Giant Mgr said absolutely, positively opening on December 26……
ReplyDeletei will miss the old Giant and welcome the new one.
ReplyDeleteI miss the bulk food aisle where you could buy like a cup of flour rather than having to get a full bag.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do remember the lobster tanks!!!! I never would have had it not been mentioned!
ReplyDeleteAnd I also remember the plastic number tag system of identifying carts for the guys loading them into cars!
My mother used to shop at the Westbard Giant - UNTIL the Cabin John Giant on Seven Locks opened ( we lived in a development off of 7 Locks, near the intersection w/ River) and then she almost exclusively went there instead. It was new and all. 😊
But the first grocery store I remember her shopping at was the GRAND UNION where the Balducci’s now sits!
Days long past…