Opening Date for Bradlee Safeway? Maybe

The completely rebuilt Safeway next door to Bradlee shopping center in Alexandria will be unveiled soon, with a spokesman noting earlier this year that the company was aiming for an opening date that would be “before the holidays.”

According to employees at the Safeway Pharmacy, the big date is less than a month away: Friday, Dec. 5.

The brand-new store, built at a reported cost of $11 million was built on the site of the previous Safeway, which opened in 1982 and closed July 13, 2013.

The new ”Lifestyle” format of the store includes an earth-toned décor, subdued lighting, custom flooring and unique display features to impart a warm ambiance that enhances the shopping experience.

The new store is still hiring cashiers, according to an ad on Indeed.com. The store may also be hiring for other positions, but it’s unclear on Safeway’s hiring Web site.

Some of the highlights of the new store at 3526 King St.: A hearth oven for baking bread, expanded deli, a gourmet cheese department, a beer and wine department with a wine steward, extensive natural and organic products including organic produce, an extensive health and beauty aids department, as well as the pharmacy. The pharmacy has been servicing customers from a mobile office behind the construction site.

“It’s going to be a much larger store, in the neighborhood of 55,000 square feet, with some sheltered parking, some parking below the store, at grade —we’re not digging any holes,” spokesman Craig Muckle said last year.

Planning documents with the City of Alexandria note the store’s size at 61,323 square feet. There will be 228 parking spaces with 125 covered by the store; the store will be on the second floor. The previous store was about 44,000 square feet.

You’ll be able to get to the store on the second floor by using an elevator, stairs or an escalator. An outdoor terrace will be a spot where shoppers can stop for a cup of coffee or a bite to eat. Shoppers will use a down ”cartveyor” to get their groceries to the first level.

In addition to the larger produce, deli, seafood and wine departments, shoppers will also see a larger floral department, as well as a Starbucks inside the store.

A previously planned Bergmann’s dry cleaners was nixed. Instead, in the same lot residents will see a Floyd’s 99 Barbershop. The barbershop is looking to hire barbers and hair stylists.

Next door to Floyd’s will be a Verizon store, according to Muckle.

Last year the spokesman said just before the store closed that ”as much as we hate to go away, it’s painful for people, we understand that, we will come back with a lot of fanfare.”

PHOTO: Rendering of new Safeway