New Anacostia Giant Bolsters Community

Last December, a grocery store in the District of Columbia’s Ward 8 was the talk of the town.

The buzz surrounding the opening of the new Super Giant wasn’t unwarranted. The store on Alabama Avenue was the first full-service grocery store in the area in more than a decade.

Residents and newspaper articles heralded the arrival of the store, which officially opened on Dec. 7, 2007 after years of wait that left many residents frustrated with their limited grocery options.

“I thought it was a disgrace that we didn’t have a grocery store in this area before,” said Hannah Hawkins, a resident of the area for almost 50 years. “There’s a mass majority of children in this ward and they needed this.”

Now, nearly nine months later, many community members say their new grocery store was worth the wait.

“It’s real nice,” said Denise Gray, a Ward 8 resident of 40 years. “I’m glad it’s here, although it took almost 20 years. It’s good for the community.”

Gray’s comments reflected the variety of troubles that have plagued the controversial planning period for a store many residents thought would never be built.

Ward 8, a primarily African-American community located below the Anacostia River, is known for its high crime rate and lack of community resources.

In 2000, the area had a 36 percent poverty rate and a 22 percent unemployment rate, according to NeighborhoodInfo D.C., a data collection resource from the Urban Institute and the Washington D.C. Local Initiatives Support Corporation. Almost 70,000 people call the area home, and more than 26,000 residents received food stamps in 2007.

Recently, the much beleaguered community has welcomed housing units, the new Nationals Park and THEARC, a $27 million arts and education center.

Two historic public housing projects, Douglass Dwellings and Stanton Dwellings, were recently razed across the street from The Shops at Park Village, the shopping center where the new Giant is located.

Before the new Giant, Ward 8 had no grocery store for more than 10 years. A 2007 National Urban League study cited by The Washington Post found that 81 percent of the food offerings in Ward 8 came from fast food or convenience stores. The nonprofit Food Research and Action Center gave the area a “D” for community food access in 2006.
Residents of Ward 8 were forced to go to the Safeway in Ward 7, which required them to get rides, take buses or even walk.

“It’s good to have it here in the neighborhood so I don’t have to catch the bus to go to the Safeway,” Gray said. “It was a real pain to go there because I had to take the bus and carry all of my stuff.”

Although community leaders have long advocated a new grocery store in the area, the road to getting it was rocky.

The District purchased the land from the federal government in 1983 for $1.8 million. Previously housing a National Guard base, the area remained empty for more than two decades as community leaders and former D.C. mayor and current Ward 8 Councilman Marion Barry fought to get a grocery store built.

Eventually, property development team William C. Smith and Co. purchased the area from the District in 2001 as long as the land was leased to a supermarket.

Jamie Miller, public affairs manager for Giant Food, said the decision to open a Giant grocery store on that spot came after several years of detailed analysis.

“It part of the multi-year process that led to the opening of that store,” Miller said. “We looked at the demographics of the area, what was taking place there, including a number of new homes under construction. All of these variables ultimately led to us opening a store there.”

The new Giant anchors a sprawling shopping center that looks very much like a modern oasis in the middle of Ward 8’s dusty, tree-lined streets. The neighborhood is dotted with churches decorated with makeshift signs and brown brick buildings surrounded by chain-link fences.

An International House of Pancakes, a Wachovia and a clothing store called Dots -- which still boasts a bright pink grand opening balloon bobbing from its rooftop -- frames the football field-length store.

Inside, the Super Giant is cool and welcoming as the harsh fluorescent light is tempered by patches of sunlight that stream through geometrically organized skylights.

In many ways, it is the image of a perfect grocery store -- clean, organized and full of employees milling around in green shirts.

During lunchtime, people flock to the salad bar to fill up containers with different types of salad and fruit. Other shoppers peruse the aisles with their carts, stopping to look at periodically placed weekly deals.

“They have specials on a lot of stuff that matters to people in the neighborhood, like pizza, toilet paper and toothpaste,” shopper Darlene White said. “It’s nice to bring everything together to one place.”

Miller said the specials are the result of occasional focus groups, and are based on the needs of consumers in different markets.

“There are always specific demands from different communities,” Miller said. “We merchandise our stores, including our store in Southeast Washington, D.C., based on what local residents in that community want and demand.”

In the produce section, ripe green Granny Smith apples lined up at attention in wooden crates featuring signs that offer advice for picking out nutritious choices.

Healthy eating is an obvious focus, as vegetarian and organic products are featured prominently throughout the store.

“I’m happy with the food advice, but they could put up more nutrition information by the fruits and veggies to encourage shoppers,” Hawkins said.

Late last year, Hawkins, who runs a Ward 8 community outreach program called Children of Mine, was featured prominently in a Washington Post article that talked about the opening of the Giant.

"I'm elated," Hannah Hawkins said in the Post story. "After long suffering, going everywhere else, catching cabs, buses and rides to Virginia and Maryland, now we've got our own. Just to share in the revitalization is wonderful."

Now, Hawkins maintains that the store has lived up to its hype because of the services that it provides elderly community members.

“Senior citizens can take their little carts up the streets to the Giant and they don’t have to catch the bus or a ride to Maryland or Virginia,” she said.

The Giant lives up to the full-service name by offering amenities such as a pharmacy, Coinstar, DVD rental machine, eating area and florist.

Darlene White sits on an available wooden bench in a brightly lit area outside of the pharmacy featuring information about the pharmacy.

“I’ve lived here in Ward 8 for 21 years and the Giant is definitely a good thing,” she said.

After a decade filled with complications, shoppers and the grocery store seem pleased to finally be operating in harmony with one another.

“We’ve been pleased with the progress of the store over the past months,” Miller said. “We continue to be optimistic that business there will grow and more residents will come to that store to shop.”