From Piggly Wiggly To Wegman’s: How DC Grocery Shopping Got Cool

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When the organization Historic Takoma bought an old building said to have started life in 1932 as a Piggly Wiggly grocery store, Diana Kohn, the group’s president, started researching the structure—and became an expert on the area’s grocery history. With her help, we put together this timeline of Washington grocers.

Photograph by Lewis W. Hine/Buyenlarge/Getty Images.

1801

Center Market opens at Pennsylvania Avenue and Seventh Street, Northwest. In 1931, it—with its 666 vendor stalls—is demolished to make way for the National Archives.

g.history2 - Washingtonian — Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress.

1873

Eastern Market opens in Southeast DC.

g.history3 - Washingtonian — Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress.

1875

Commodore John Magruder opens Magruder’s, aiming to sell imported goods to foreign dignitaries and the well-to-do.

g.history4-2 - Washingtonian — Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress.

1909

John Letts, a Bethesda businessmen, opens Sanitary Grocery.

g.history5 - Washingtonian — Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress.

1921

A dozen small grocers form District Grocers Association, a cooperative grocery chain. At its height, there are 300 stores.

g.history6 - Washingtonian — Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress.

1923

A&P operates 198 Washington-area stores. By 2016, all will have closed.

g.history7 - Washingtonian — Photograph by George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images.

1927

John Letts retires from Sanitary, but not before buying local Piggly Wiggly stores, bringing his store total to 362.

g.history8 - Washingtonian — Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress.

1928

Safeway acquires Sanitary Grocery, securing a presence on the East Coast and in DC. Sanitary retains its name until 1941.

1932

The Montgomery Farm Women’s Cooperative Market opens in Bethesda to sell fruits, vegetables, homemade preserves, and baked goods.

g.history10 - Washingtonian — Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress.

1936

Giant opens DC’s first “supermarket,” on Georgia Avenue. Its high-volume model eventually brings food prices down by 35 percent across the area.

g.history11 - Washingtonian — Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress.

1946

Louis Snider opens an independent grocery store, Snider’s, in the same Silver Spring location where it remains today.

g.history12 - Washingtonian — Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress.

1951

A&P and Safeway follow customers to the suburbs to compete with Giant, adding such features as mechanized checkouts and open display cases for meat and frozen foods.

g.history13 - Washingtonian — Photograph by Rodman’s Twitter.

1955

The Rodman family opens a corner drugstore discounting national brands. Rodman’s evolves into an international marketplace.

g.history14 - Washingtonian — Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress.

1972

Unable to compete with supermarkets and still reeling from the destruction of neighborhoods after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the DGS cooperative dissolves.