Why is that Acme truck going to Safeway? (Photos)

An Acme truck squeezes into the
909 Thayer Avenue Safeway store in
Silver Spring

The invasion of the Acme trucks into Montgomery County began last fall. But what are they doing here? There are no Acme grocery stores in Montgomery County! And why is an Acme truck going into my neighborhood Safeway's loading dock?

An Acme 18-wheeler heading south on
Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Bethesda

Three things have brought the great Acme fleets to places like Bethesda and Silver Spring, even though neither has an Acme store. First, Acme's parent company bought Safeway about seven years ago. Then, last year, that company merged Mid-Atlantic Safeway operations into the Acme unit headquartered in Pennsylvania. Finally, the Safeway distribution center on Leeland Road in Upper Marlboro was shuttered, and its operations relocated to - not surprisingly - Pennsylvania.

Silver Spring

So your Safeway groceries are now being trucked in from Acme's distribution center in Pennsylvania. That is a larger, mechanized distribution center near Lancaster. Thus, you are seeing Acme trucks hauling those groceries in many cases.