Post by: K Frame on January 12, 2007, 06:54:03 AM
"I thought I'd take a moment to tell you why I will never set foot in the Nutley Street Safeway again, and likely will never shop in a Safeway anywhere. I'll probably continue to buy gas there on occasion, but that's infrequent, at best.
Safeway has been going downhill in Northern Virginia for quite some time. Despite a shiny new store at Nutley Street, it's icing over poor management, poor staff, and poor selection, but tonight really took the cake.
I entered the store at roughly 7:15 p.m., thinking it would be nice to get a salad from the salad bar. Guess what? Despite a sign that says that the salad bar is open until EIGHT p.m., staff had already taken roughly half of it away -- no lettuce and many of the side items were gone, as well.
This is NOT a random happening, either. Staff at the Nutley Street store apparently feels that the salad bar can, and should, come down whenever the hell they feel like taking it down. A few months ago I was in the store at 6:30 p.m., and staff was busy dismantling the salad bar.
Why bother with a time on the sign at all? Why not just replace the time with "Your guess is as good as ours," or "Whenever we feel like it." The effect would be the same.
Quickly retrenching, I decide to head for the Safeway Select pasta that was on sale. On the way I went to the cheese case to get some Pecorino Romano.
Nice selection of cheeses in the case.
The only thing missing?
Prices.
I found prices for roughly 1/3rd of the cheeses in the display. The rest? No prices anywhere. I guess they might have been free, or it might have been just another case of management letting staff slack off and not worry about things like the customer wanting to know how much a block of Stella cheese is. After all, I guess if you have to ask how much it is, you can't afford it at Safeway.
So, off to the Safeway select pasta. Only... Staff is at it again. The cases haven't been stocked. There were FOUR bags of beef ravioli in the case. FOUR! Everything else was out of stock. That must have been one heck of a 3 to 7 p.m. dinner rush crowd to completely empty that case without any of the staff noticing it.
Actually, poorly stocked shelves are a COMMON occurence at the Nutley Street store no matter what time of the day I've been in there.
In utter disgust, I grabbed a bag of beef ravioli, which I don't really like, just because I wanted out of your store and I wanted dinner.
Then, the final straw.
There were 4 chekouts open, but there were nearly 60 people waiting in line. The woman behind me got disgusted and went to customer service to ask that more checkouts be opened. Her response, reported loudly to everyone in the rest of my line? "They say there's no staff to open
more checkouts."
Only one thing kept me from dropping my basket and leaving -- a checker named Fatema (I believe that was her name). She was doing her very best to move people through her line as quickly as possible. For that she, and
she alone, is to be commended.
All in all, the Nutley Street Safeway is a shiny new store that is rife with serious, pervasive, and ongoing problems.
I, for one, am tired of being constantly pissed off and frustrated by the time I get out of the Nutley Street store.
So, despite the fact that the store is less than 1 mile from my home, in the future I will drive PAST the Nutley Street Safeway to get to the Giant in Oakton, or the Giant in Camp Washington.
Congratulations, you've lost a customer, and unless you turn the Nutley Street store into either a Giant or Harris Teeter, there's little chance of me ever coming back to your chain."
Post by: BozemanMT on January 12, 2007, 06:59:32 AM
Lying bastiges.
Good on ya for speaking with your feet.
Post by: Sindawe on January 12, 2007, 07:08:37 AM
Safeway has gone down hill. There is an older store about 1.5 miles from me. Selection is not great, 'specially on fresh produce which is the bulk of my grocery bill. The Deli is a joke, MAYBE three varieties of meat and cheese. Peanut butter is Jiff, Peter Pan and house brand, ALL of which have added sugar. A much newer store about two miles in another direction is very flashy and upscale, but with the same piss-poor selection. The only good thing I can say about 'em is that the staff is eager to help the customer. Everytime I run into them they are always asking if I need help finding stuff. OH, and they still carry the large bags of roasted coffee beans that everybody else has stopped stocking.
So my grocery bill is split 'tween Albertson's and Whole Foods.
Post by: Eleven Mike on January 12, 2007, 07:16:22 AM
Post by: charby on January 12, 2007, 07:20:03 AM
Also the store has 4 self checkout lanes which are about as worthless as tits on a boar if you buy alcohol, need smokes or purchase items that need to be weighed. I once asked the store manager if I could get a discount if I used the self cehckout because it didn't require a staff member to check me out and a boy to bag my groceries. He looked at me funny.
The store is clean, stuff is priced and the deli counter stays open until its posted times and you can get anything they offer up until that time.
-C
Post by: mtnbkr on January 12, 2007, 07:30:58 AM
Regarding the cheese issue, many grocery stores tend to not price the various "gourmet" cheeses. I don't know why, but they do.
The manager that claimed they didn't have staff for the registers should've jumped on one herself. Back when I was in HS, the manager and assistant manager of the Krogers I worked at would get on a register if things were that bad.
Anymore, I pretty much only go to Giant or Shopper's Food Warehouse. I'll hit Whole Foods if they have something I need unavailable elsewhere.
Chris
Post by: K Frame on January 12, 2007, 07:37:11 AM
Oh lord, don't get me started about Safeway's "meal type" store organization.
They seem to have abandoned that, though.
Post by: Werewolf on January 12, 2007, 08:06:18 AM
Post by: K Frame on January 12, 2007, 08:10:15 AM
Well - if Safeways in VA are like Safeway's in OK then they're union shops (UFCW). You actually expect good service and efficient operation from that?
Giant, Harris Teeter, and I believe Wegeman's in Virginia are all union shops, as is Safeway.
I don't have any problems with service or efficiency at Giant, Harris Teeter, or Wegeman's.
So, I guess the union factor really isn't part and parcel to this, now, is it?
Post by: mtnbkr on January 12, 2007, 08:35:16 AM
Chris
Post by: Twycross on January 12, 2007, 09:15:48 AM
There are strict limitations on how much manpower we can pay, and it's never enough. So we frequently have backed-up lines at the checkstands. We are frequently out-of-stock on all sorts of things due to the antiquated ordering system. And the unionization makes it hard to get rid of problem employees. Our store manager is pretty good at getting rid of them in the interview stage, but a few still slip in and stay.
All in all, Safeway itself is ailing.
Post by: HankB on January 12, 2007, 09:43:32 AM
Since the purchase, I've seen staffing, selection, and quality go downhill. (Strangely enough, prices haven't been reduced to pass on the savings . . . quite the contrary. )
What ticks me off is that they're carrying more of their own "Safeway" brands, which are usually inferior to the national brands they used to devote shelf space to.
I find I hardly ever shop there unless it's just to dash in for milk and bread or something . . . and judging by the general lack of customers with full carts, I'm not alone in this regard. Most of the time I end up at H*E*B for groceries. (Though the latter isn't without it's own set of problems . . .)
Post by: Monkeyleg on January 12, 2007, 12:18:19 PM
Glad there's no Safeways around here.
Post by: Standing Wolf on January 12, 2007, 12:41:58 PM
Post by: K Frame on January 12, 2007, 02:45:34 PM
The Safeway near me was recently remodelled. It's now darker than ever.
You know, you're right, Standing Wolf!
The old store was quite bright.
The newly remodeled store? Very dark. Dreary, as matter of fact.
When I go shopping, I want to SEE what I'm buying. I don't want to feel like I'm on a bad date at a crappy restaurant where they use lack of lighting to cover up the fact that the place sucks ass.
Post by: Fjolnirsson on January 12, 2007, 03:47:14 PM
Post by: gunsmith on January 12, 2007, 05:27:47 PM
Post by: danny on January 12, 2007, 06:37:35 PM
Safeway finally announced they were going to sell the chain and would the union agree to a contract continuation while they put it on the market? Over the next 6 months, or so, they turned down several offers as inadequate and then decided to keep it anyway.
They brought in some clown who had run their Texas operation and he got rid of any of the experienced help.
Now the stores are run by kids and elderly (work cheap), are poorly stocked, and there are few shoppers. The prices certainly haven't gone down. Dominicks always had the best meat but now it's cr@p.
My wife and I don't expect them to remain open long-term.
Post by: Felonious Monk/Fignozzle on January 12, 2007, 07:50:31 PM
...of course, that was in the 1970's!
Sorry you've had such a crappy experience, Mike.
I've had a very similar experience in Kroger.
Stopped by a large, very recently remodeled Kroger in Knoxville a couple of years ago.
Well lit, beautifully laid out salad bar; I go in for something totally unrelated. However, it being meal time and this being the most amazingly beautiful salad bar I've ever seen, I went up and took a look. Circled it twice looking for pricing. One little hand-written 3x5 card that says "$3.95".
Not $3.95/lb, 3.95#, or any other iteration. Just $3.95.
Wow, says I, and proceed to grab the styro containter provided and load up a beautiful salad with shrimp, cheeses, spinach and romaine, broccoli, and all my faves. Spent about 10 minutes on this beauty, took it and the ketchup (or whatever I was ACTUALLY there to get), waited in line a GOOD 15 minutes (busy day), but I was patient and understanding.
Get up to the counter, cashier says "That'll be twelve dollars and 46 cents."
So I says to meself "Self, Back the truck up, Petunia! TWELVE bucks? What am I dealing with...expensive ketchup? She HAS to have made a mistake!"
Kindly, courteously, I say ma'am, can you explain why my three ninety five salad and dollar fifty bottle of ketchup are going to cost me TWELVE dollars?
She says "the salad's three ninety five PER POUND. Your salad is almost three pounds.
I start to argue, but realize quickly that it'll get me nowhere.
In a perturbed but controlled fashion, I say "Ma'am, I would encourage you to more clearly label your salad bar, since there is no mention of this being a per-pound charge. Thank you for your time, but I'm not going to purchase a twelve dollar salad.
Turned and walked out.
Dang, I wanted that salad.
Post by: 280plus on January 13, 2007, 01:21:57 AM
Post by: cassandra and sara's daddy on January 14, 2007, 02:02:05 PM
Post by: ilbob on January 14, 2007, 02:07:21 PM
Post by: pluvo on January 14, 2007, 02:55:06 PM
They remodeled about a year ago adding a Starbucks & bigger deli/bakery area. I really love their soups (even had the jambalya for lunch). Even before the remodel I liked shopping there. We used to have a grill at work & we'd cookout on the weekends. We'd usually hit Safeway for whatever was on sale & the butcher was always happy to go to the back & cut us exactly what we wanted. The only bottlenecks I run into are at the customer service counter & folks buying lottery tickets. Since they put in the vending machine fot the scratch-off tickets that's even improved.
Post by: Werewolf on January 14, 2007, 05:17:46 PM
Quote
They remodeled about a year ago adding a Starbucks
I imagine the standards that Starbucks requires of the stores it locates its small shops in are pretty high. That probably explains your exemplary Safeway.
Post by: K Frame on January 15, 2007, 02:49:25 AM
Quote
They remodeled about a year ago adding a Starbucks
I imagine the standards that Starbucks requires of the stores it locates its small shops in are pretty high. That probably explains your exemplary Safeway.Oh REALLY?
How does that explain the Starbucks attached to the Nutley Street Safeway?
Post by: Werewolf on January 15, 2007, 04:09:50 AM
Quote
Oh REALLY?
How does that explain the Starbucks attached to the Nutley Street Safeway?
Beats me...How does that explain the Starbucks attached to the Nutley Street Safeway?
All I can tell ya is that here in OKC there isn't a single Starbucks I've been in that isn't a very clean and well kept place.
Maybe folks where you live don't have standards quite as high.
Post by: K Frame on January 15, 2007, 05:06:02 AM
The Safeway to which it's attached is a damned freakshow!