The address in question is 400 E Mason Avenue - not Mt. Vernon Avenue

I would hate to see the Monroe Giant and CVS go away. It's amazing how many people walk to the stores, including myself! We talk about how walkable the neighborhood is - these stores are part of that story.

Have any other grocery chains been approached for the space? What about Wegman's? I personally don't use the two Giants that we have now, I trek over to Harris Teeter in Shirlington since the PY HT closed several months ago. I would love to see something new rather than the same old chains that are already all over Arlington/Alexandria.

If you have to drive to a grocery store, Del Ray is no longer a neighborhood and our walk score goes way down. A fish market, Dean & De Luca & REI are NOT grocery stores. Bicycles are not an option in Potomac Yards--unless you have a death wish.

I say replace the Del Ray Giant. It lacks variety and the parent company does little to maintain it (the time to update the store directory is long overdue). People mostly shop there out of convenience because it's close but I typically end up going elsewhere anyway because it doesn't carry what I need.

Please AEDP: keep the major commercial establishments (Dean & Deluca, REI, EMS, etc.) at a bare minimum. No one wants Del Ray to start turning into a Clarendon. We've already got enough of these types of places showing up in King St. in Old Town.

I'd love to see a diner, something like the Silver Diner but ideally independent. Booths, jukeboxes, broad menu. So many families flock to Los Tios because it's large, loud, and kid-friendly, and I think would flood another similar place. There are too many tiny boutique restaurants and not enough for families.

I'll say this and I'll mark the date- 10-19-2012- if we end up with a huge condo development on that lot with some extra lame chain type anchor (think Clarendon ala Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, etc) it will be the death knell of Del Ray. I hope the council is reading this.

DO NOT PUT CONDOS OR BIG BOX RETAIL THERE. YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR KILLING DEL RAY!

We need a walkable/ bikeable grocer and pharmacy that doesn't involve "underground parking" and CROSSING ROUTE ONE for Christ's sake. I can't even begin to tell you how many of my neighbors are depressed and terrified- yes, actually depressed- that the small local Giant and CVS may close. What is a really enjoyable little errand- dumping the kids in the stroller and walking up to the Giant for a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, or some eggs and then hitting the YMCA park will become a dreaded load-the-kids-into a car-take-10 minutes getting through the new crappy lights at Main Line, and driving into a hole in the ground to hunt for a parking spot.

Seriously- look at other major cities (New York, San Fran, Seattle, Chicago) they all have small, hyper local grocers that do really well.

Please do whatever it takes to keep that spot as a designated grocer.

I agree the Giant needs an upgrade, but it doens't need to be eliminated. For those who need a large grocery - get in your car and go. Please don't compare our small, walkable grocery store that meet our basic needs to a large grocery store that includes a pharmacy, coffee shop, butcher, bakery. It's not comparing apples to apples. We also must not forget the friendly staff at both our Monroe Giant and CVS. I appreciate going in and they know me and I know them by name!

The filthy Monroe Giant can't close soon enough, in my opinion.Anyone who thinks Giant will keep the Monroe location open, with a larger, newer, store around the corner, is crazy. By the way, when did it become the "Del Ray Giant"? I guess I missed the renaming ceremony.

Turn the "Del Ray Giant" into an elementary school, because the city has no business building as many new housing units as are being built without addressing school overcrowding.

I hope this location stays as a grocery store. I frequently walk to the Giant--sure, it could be better, but I get staples there and I like the staff

The cognitive dissonance is striking. The only way you can have a small grocer (or walkability at all, really) is to have density. You have to have multiple vertical residences (i.e., condos) if you want to get density. You can't have one without the other.

Fact #1: The Monroe Giant is a dump.
Fact #2: The VAST majority of people talking about preserving the "walkable" Giant wouldn't deign to actually walk there. You like the IDEA of walking there. Just like 95% of people I've met in 8 years in DC/Del Ray like the IDEA of commuting by Metro but still drive to work anyway.

You don't have a single clue as to what you're talking about. As someone mentioned above, Dewitt and Leslie are virtual highways of WALKERS carrying groceries. Do yourself a favor on any weeknight or Saturday/Sunday and park your car in the lot. Just watch how many exit Giant and continue away on foot. I see neighbors from blocks away each time I've been in there and they've all walked.

As for it being a "dump" what effect does that have on staples such as milk, bread, eggs, TP, bananas, beer, wine, soda, a cheese, pasta, canned tomatoes, bacon, beans ice cream, frozen veggies, peanut butter, spices, soda, etc? All those products arrive hermetically sealed. It's impossible that they'd be any less sanitary than comparable items at Whole Foods.

Methinks someone is a sucker for marketing.

"My, my, my, these canned beans from Whole Foods are soooo much better than those disgusting canned beans from Giant!"

When did we all get so sensitive that any disagreement has to devolve into personal attacks? For perspective, these are personal opinions about a grocery store.

I'm not saying something better wouldn't... be better. All I'm saying is please let it remain a grocer and not become a Crate and Barrel below 275, $500,000 one-bedroom apts with .27 parking spots per unit. Clearly you see others here lamenting the predicament and can understand that a sizeable chunk of the folks with kids in this section of Del Ray heavily rely upon Giant for things families burn through quickly. I know that each week my house goes through 4 gallons of milk, 3 loaves of bread, a dozen eggs, 5 bottles of wine, 6 rolls of TP. These staples are readily available within a short walk. It's gonna suck if I (and everyone else) now has get in their cars, load up their kids to cross Rt. 1 against lights that never seem well timed to hunt for a parking spot to simply get these staples.

Have you ever lived in NYC? You'd probably understand this better if you had.

I'm not talking about bodegas. At all. I'm talking about markets comparable in size to the Monroe Giant. There's two in Stuyvesant, a handful in Grammercy and I think a couple more in Union Square. They're all within walking distance of each other yet they survive and thrive. Del Ray needn't be NYC for the comparison to make sense. People shop where they live. I don't live by Glebe Road. I live near Braddock Road. Ergo I don't want to lose Giant. Neither do my neighbors.

I think the really bad traffic will start in Crystal City and eventually back up to Old Town so I think we're all in for a sh*t sandwhich. Just wait until all those new condos by the post office to get occupied too! Sweet!

For a little while there, we actually got the comments from the election off the main page! It was awesome!

Yeah. Turn it into a big park. It's no longer a neighborhood anyway. Lost its post office years ago, then one drug store. And over the summer, it's second drug store. Big, tall, ugly, apartment building with no public green space and very little open space coming. No longer a neighborhood.

I'll throw this out there into the pit and let everyone wrestle with it:
The land on and around the Monroe Giant/CVS and the adjoining Landbay L (including the park between Braddock Rd and the middle school) are all prime locations for highrises and mixed use (commercial on bottom/residential on top) because of their proximity to the Metro. By proximity I mean within walking distance.

It was mentioned at the city council debate on Monday, and I'm sure most of you have already heard this, but Braddock Road Metro is one of the most underutilized Metro stops in the entire system. Coincidentally it also has the highest density of people who bike to/from it. But I digress. The reason it is under utilized is because the lack of density immediately around the Metro station.

Before you reply to this do yourself a favor and ensure that haven't already commented in this same thread and complained about A) getting in your car to drive somewhere or B) traffic from new development surrounding Rt.1 and Del Ray.

The Giant and CVS properties are privately owned (by different owners). Giant's decison to renew or not renew its lease will be a business decision based on the viability of the smaller store in light of the newer one close by. It is entirely possible that they will view the two stores as complementary. In other words, whether the Giant (or the CVS which has a much longer lease) stays or goes is not up to the city. Even if Giant does not renew the lease, the owner will determine to whom to lease it (or alternatively whether to redevelop). While AEDP can help encourage businesses to consider leasing there and can help identify businesses interested in or potentially complementary to what is already here, only the owner of the property can determine what goes in there next. (That is, so long is the use complies with the existing commercial zoning.) Given the differences in ownership and lease terms of the two sites and prior statements from the owners, it seems that redevelopment along the scale suggested above (big apartment buildings etc) is highly unlikely. The DRCA meeting about these properties and the Audi dealership property was very interesting and informative. I encourage people to read the minutes in the newsletter/posted on the website and to view the information on Del Ray on the AEDP site.

Thanks. My wife passed away in April after an extremely brave fight with pancreatic cancer. I'm raising the girls on my own.

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I kind of like idea of putting a new school there. One is going to be needed as PY is more fully developed. Putting a school there might be feasible and could be worth investigating.

I rarely go to the Monroe Giant unless I am in a pinch for some basic stuff. Re-habbing the building to make it two businesses with a smaller, staple-focused grocery and one other business (diner, sandwich shop, etc.) could also work.

Once the Yates Corner property is completed and we see what types of businesses go in there, we may have a better idea of what sorts of businesses would complement the neighborhood at the Giant location.

There is a hyper local focused small independent in Richmond called Ellwood Thompson's. Its format is around 20,000sf. It just opened 2 months ago in Rockville Maryland as Dawson's Market named after a long time local farming family, the Dawson's. It's mission is to be the heart and soul of the community.