That’s a good point. I believe his book is fictionalized to some extent. It is very simple to prove if a Safeway was there and I see no reason to think there wasn’t...I live about an hour from that area and it was much smaller back then...I used to drink down there in the mid eighties in high school/college about five years after these folks...it was good times until they got rid of the kegs on campus...
Safeways in Md. do not sell beer in 2018.
Someone here on FR said there WAS a Safeway there in 82...they lived near it...FWIW