One of the larger grocery stores in Loudoun County — a Giant supermarket in Ashburn — is closing its doors.
Word started spreading this week among shoppers that the Giant at the Shoppes at Ryan Park retail center would close at the end of January.
The Burn confirmed this information with management at the store, and received a statement from Giant’s headquarters this morning.
“Effective January 30, the Giant Food Store located at 43670 Greenway Corp Drive … will close. In the normal course of evaluating our business and local trade areas, we determined that we can adequately serve this community through several other nearby Giant Food locations as well as our online services Giant Pickup and delivery. While closing this location, we remain committed to meeting the needs of our customers and providing them the best service,” the message read.
“We want to express our sincere gratitude to the Ashburn community for their support over the 19 years that Giant Food has been a part of this neighborhood,” it continued.
The statement also says that all employees of the closing store are being offered positions at other locations in the area.
Meanwhile, there was no immediate word on whether another tenant was already lined up to the take the space. We have reached out to the landlord for more details.
The move came as a shock to neighbors in the area. The Giant at Ryan Park is one of the largest grocery stores in the immediate area, clocking in at roughly 65,400 s.f.
Compare that to area Harris Teeter stores such as the one in the Brambleton Town Center, which is around 56,000 s.f. and the ones in Ashbrook Commons and the Broadlands Marketplace, which are both about 48,700 s.f.
Even some of the other Giants around Loudoun are smaller, including the store in the Ashburn Farm Market Center, which is 49,000 s.f. and the one in the Leesburg Plaza is about 55,000 s.f.
This is the second major grocery store location to close in the Ashburn area in recent years.
The Harris Teeter at the Moorefield Village Shopping Center off Loudoun County Parkway closed in early 2020 and has remained vacant ever since.
The news from Friday that southern supermarket chain Publix is moving into the Winchester area led to immediate speculation that the brand might take over the vacant Harris Teeter or the soon-to-be vacant Giant stores in Ashburn. We need to stress — there is no information that anything like that is happening at this juncture.
(Image at top: Google Maps)