The Giant Food grocery store on Queens Chapel Road, one of the first modern supermarkets to open in the area, and one which can count Queen Elizabeth II as one of its customers, will be closing early next month.
According to a press release issued this evening from the Landover-based Giant Food, the store will be closing at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 4, 2013. The in-store pharmacy will be ceasing operations earlier, on Wednesday, March 27 at 6 p.m.
“After a thorough review of the operating performance of our stores, we made a very difficult decision to close the Queenstown location,” read a statement in a press release attributed to Anthony Hucker, president of Giant Food. “We regret any inconvenience this will cause and encourage our Hyattsville customers to shop at our nearby store locations.”
The store was one of the first supermarkets in the area to open back in the mid 1950s, part of a rapidly expanding Giant grocery chain. Back in 1957, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip toured the Chillum store on her way to the White House after attending a football game at the University of Maryland.
The Queen payed interest to the shopping carts equipped with a child's seat, while Prince Phillip noshed on some cheese and crackers offered up by store's staff.
In all, the sovereign's visit to the supermarket lasted about 15 minutes and was "conducted with soup-to-nuts thoroughness" by the store's management, according to historic newspaper accounts.
"The supermarket, in its awesome majesty, is a growing symbol of American abundance," wrote one AP reporter covering the Queen's visit to the store. "It is growing so fast, in fact, that if many more of them are built there won't be any place for customers to live."
Now, the store looks worn at the edges. The aisle signs are in disrepair, and the facility is noticeably smaller than newer area grocery stores.
Grocery shoppers in West Hyattsville, Mount Rainier and Chillum, who have shopped at the Queens Chapel Giant for generations, will now have to find other grocery options.
The nearest comparable grocery store, a Shoppers Food Warehouse, is located in the shopping center directly behind the Giant. There's also an Aldi and a Bestway grocery store on Hamilton Street in Hyattsville. The nearest Giant grocery store is a little under two miles away, at the intersection of East-West Highway and Editors Park Drive.
A spokesperson for Giant Food was unable to provide additional comment beyond what was contained in the press release.
The grocery store is not the only long-time tennant to be lost from the Chillum Center. .
He also pointed out the impact that this vacancy could have on the elderly residents of the assisted living complex to the east of Queens Chapel Road there.
I will miss this Giant as it is close. I too desire a higher quality grocery store, would love if Trader Joe's would take a gamble on this area. Payless Shoe Source just closed in this strip mall as well as the long time jewelry store.
i guess QC giant might have been gearing down provision of resources toward this store? it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy--giant gives less, the public is unhappy and stops coming, and then giant closes the store. i worry about a huge empty space being there for a while.
Really people other areas are not like this. They run a low quality operation because it’s PG County. I see it as institutionalized racism.
Plus, it was my hometown store. I knew the people there, ran into neighbors there, and it was close. I could walk there. I loved when I lived overseas, that I would go to all the little food shops (butcher, bakery, vegetable, cheese, etc.) on my way home and knew everyone and bought what I needed, when I needed it - I get it on the walk home from the metro to my apartment.
As far as low quality because we're in PG - this is an issue with a lot of stores, we have so few decent shops and restaurants and even supposed good ones are lower quality - have you seen the Macy's here versus the one at Metro Center? - but I'm not sure that's the case with this store. The one at East-West is much better quality. I think it's probably that the store needed a lot of updating and Giant didn't want to put the work into it since they don't own the property. I also wonder what is going on - article and comments mention but don't explore - with the strip mall owner and why there's so many shops closing and leaving. Heightened rent? Insurance, safety, upkeep issues? Why so many are leaving? I am concerned about the vacancies there, and also wondering if there is really another motivation behind it (get rid of tenants, sell the property to some developer for a lot of money).
For my birthday (5th or 6th), my mother went to the Little Store and bought a package of Twinkies - also gone now, who'd believe - and she put a candle in it, and she and my brother sang me "Happy Birthday." ... nice memories, thanks.
Oh no really hate to see it go. I grew up at that store a lot of things come to mind. The Giant bread that was 3 for $1.00, the cheese rolls that u use to heat in the oven. The Carnival that be at the top of the parking lot. Lots of good times! Giant then had 1/2 of the store as liked said before a little dept. store selling all types of stuff. As the years have gone so has the store. Upkeep wasn't the best Liittle dirty with a smell. It will be missed by many!!!
We'll probably start using the one up on Eastern or the one over on E-W. They're about equidistant for us and both are nicer. We'd periodically have to make runs there anyway when the QC Giant wasn't up to par in its food or if it just didn't have what we needed.