Safeway

This is only a so-​so Safeway as far as Safeways go. They run out of stock a lot, especially on sale items and often have a lot of items close to the sale-​by dates, not as fresh as I would like seeing them, like lunch meats. Meats and produce sections aren’t that great, especially produce. Bakery is only so-​so and often out of stock or you have to ask for items not put out yet. Delivery is bad and they home deliver later than promised, by hours, with no good apologies or excuses. So they are only so-​so, a mediocre Safeway store and I have been using Safeway for 33 years now and know there are better ones out there than the one here in North Auburn.

I shop here a few times a month since it is conveniently located and the coupon app saves us a ton of money. We love the cashiers who are great, but the computer system always seems to get multiple items incorrectly priced and I have to pour over the receipt and then go over to the customer service desk to get a refund before I leave. So annoying, although it does seem to be better lately compared to the previous few years. There is an issue with agressive panhandlers harassing people in the parking lot, but that is not really the store’s fault, but it does make it uncomfortable going here sometimes.

Always greeted with a smile. Like any store, there are peak times that lines may get long but i have found they call for backup quickly. Avoid peak times if you don’t like lines like weekends and dinner time! They are open late, stay clean, actually call you back if you request they carry an item you like to buy regularly. Be careful of the baskets, they stop working if you go past the sensors so the homeless don’t steal them. I find in all of Auburn, they have the best prices and good selection of produce. The kiddos love the staff as well.

Love the store, but not the lack of staff. Rarely is there an available courtesy clerk to bag groceries after you’ve waited in line because there is one checkout open.

I have been shopping at Safeway for years and the service has always been good but recently my checker Sarah was so refreshingly delightful when I was feeling rather blue.
Thank you Sarah for being such a breath of fresh air and sunshine. You made my day!

Love this store! ! They remodeled not too long ago… the produce area is awesome with a Starbucks inside too! Everything I buy is usually on sale and I love their self checkout. .can get in and out real quick :)

Prices are high and selection is poor. The absolute worst bakery section ever. I went in to get a cinnamon roll to have for breakfast with my coffee. They only sell the cinnamon rolls in packages of 6 or more. I asked if they had singles or possibly a pack of two. No luck, only larger quantities. The sales person was rude and kept telling me to buy the pack of 6 because they were so good. News flash… I am not going to eat 6 cinnamon rolls all by myself and they would get stale before I could eat one a day. Will avoid this store from now on. At least Bel-​Air sells two packs and has a better selection, friendlier people and lower prices.

I recently had a non fault issue regarding service at my store regarding a coupon.
Upon arriving home, I sent feedback thru my phone app and received an email reply the next day from corporate. Unfortunately, it was not quite the response I wanted.
In short, it stated that corporate-​wise «they were unable to assist /​accommodate me… contact local store, etc., etc.» I decided «oh well +» to let it be.
To my surprise, several hours after receiving corporate’s email, I received a call from the Asst. Manager C who had also received my initial inquiry. She called to apologize for the inconvenience — to which I explained, it wasn’t necessary as, neither of us were at fault — and to rectify the issue. She honored my coupon.
To date, I’ve had five issues with this store; of which, three were my error. Each time store personnel has instructed /​corrected me and or accommodated me. I love this store and rarely shop anywhere else for THAT very reason!!!
Needless to say, the store was not in any way responsible for the issue and the accommodation provided to me was minimal; but it is just the service and caring that keeps me coming back.

First time going and it was very pleasant. The staff were very friendly, especially Leslie. They could expand their organic selection, bulk options like whole foods and enforce the «no loitering rule», but other than that I couldn’t offer anyway to improve. I’ll keep going and see if I can come up with more suggestions. Thanks Leslie for the friendly Auburn welcome.

Seriously Safeway?! I think we need to break up, I love the items you sell but this location is becoming increasingly difficult to check out! I have been holding off on writing this for hopes that the EXTREMELY long lines were just a rare occurrence, but after visiting several times over the last month, it’s become the norm!
It’s outrageous how long the lines are at all hours of the day, is this a staffing issue or what? There are lines at all stations, the deli sandwich line is never short of at least 5 people waiting in line. The employees are friendly but the check out lanes are ridiculous! I’m a fan of self checkout but even there people are waiting!!! Between 5 and 10 in line… you do realize your next door competition has an A-​Frame in their entrance that says «blazing fast check out» and they are living up to it!

went there tonight and store smelled very bad of rancid fish and rotten fruits and veggies. it knocked the wind out of me. A grocery store should NEVER smell like this! last time i go there! Yuck!

Safeway is SOOOO much cheaper than Belair it’s ridiculous! The coupons that you load on to your card are a pain however, but the savings makes it tolerable! The head cashier (Kari?) was rude and impatient! I coulda lived without her attitude!

Pretty good Safeway store, not as many healthy/​vegan/​organic options as other stores, but they still had Amy’s frozen foods, which I lived on for a week. The prices are pretty good here, and the produce is decent. The selection was just slim, they didn’t have any Cliff bars, or Kids Cliff bars. or anything other than the regular GMO/​Milk infected ones you’d find at a gas station.

Time to eat

I sometimes, well most of the time, loathe going to this Safeway. My particular distaste for this Safeway is not reflective of how I feel about other Safeway locations. The Auburn location is just really the plankton of the area Safeways. First grievance: the parking lot is ridiculous. For some reason it seems as if every person with zero sense of direction/​zero sense of urgency gravitates to this Safeway. There are cars all over the place and people just walking right into the stream of traffic, without looking, as if they believe they are invincible.
My second grievance is with the bakery department. Every Friday my work hosts a company wide lunch, where we typically make some form of sandwiches. The bread in the bakery section of Safeway is delicious, so when possible, we opt for the Safeway bread rolls. One problem: there is hardly ever any bread ready. The bakery department tells you that it will be done in a half hour, so you come back. Low and behold… no bread. It’s a complete cluster.
Third grievance is the inventory in the produce department. By 4:30 p.m. everything has been pillaged. All that is left are the bananas that have already browned and apples that are bruised and cut. They are out of certain bagged items, such as shredded carrots, all the time. I would figure that if the inventory is constantly low or out that they would get hip to the fact that they probably need to order a larger quantity.
My fourth grievance is the checkout area. This store is literally slammed… 24/​7, that being said, Safeway needs to hire more checkers. There are 3 lanes or less open, not including the self checkout. On top of not having enough checkers, the ones that do currently work here are constantly talking to one another, complaining about break times, etc. Further, when you have a line of 8 people waiting to get checked out, there is no reason that you need to engage in an in depth conversation that causes them to check people out even slower.
I find that whenever I leave the Auburn Safeway, I have the thirst for an adult beverage. I can only assume that it is a direct correlation with the irritation and annoyance that hovers over me after a shopping trip at this location.

I like Safeway a lot always have and this one is just as good as any other. The employees are friendly. Once I was looking for a good watermelon and didn’t know what I was looking for and a woman who worked here had taught me how to find the best watermelons and she was awesome. Best watermelon i had in a long time too. The guys behind the meat bar are always helpful. I’ve never ran into a rude employee and hope to never have to. I shop here almost every week because the customer service is good. and it’s close to where I live.

Today I took my 84 year old grandfather shopping there. After spending a few hours filling the basket with all the items on the shopping list we were finally ready to check out. After the items were all scanned and bagged my grandfather wrote a check for the $ 295 and change for the total of the groceries. The cashier took the check and another checker appeared and there was some sort of an issue with the check. We were informed that they were unable to take a check over $ 125 per store policy as he hasn’t written over 10 checks at Safeway. They were not apologetic and offered no other solution except my grandpa could pay with a debit or credit card both of which he does my have. I asked if they could just split it into 3 transactions and he could write 3 checks, no they said. Only a debit or credit card would work. My grandpa told them he had lived in Auburn his entire life and has shopped at safeway numerous times over the years and couldn’t fathom why they wouldn’t take his payment. I decided to pay for it and have him reimburse me because we had just spent the last 2 ½ hours shopping and checking out and if I had more time I would have just told them to blank off and have fun putting all the items away, but I didn’t want to have to start the process off at another store. I had a few things I was going to purchase that were actually really well priced but I told them I didn’t want it and would no longer be shopping there. They never made any apologies and didn’t really seem to care. My grandpa also asked to speak to a manager and a few minutes later this young guy appeared who was the «assistant manager» we told him our issue and he reiterated that it was «store policy» and I asked how on earth is anyone able to purchase anything if they only have a check. He then said they could have «called in to authorize it» which was never offered to us. He then said he guessed he needed to train his employees that were unaware of that option. I then told him «yes you better «
It was the worst grocery shopping experience of my life. Here is my 84 year old grandfather spending his hard earned money to pay your paycheck so you have a job and you treat us like we are criminals and have done something wrong?! Seriously ?! I don’t understand how a business can survive with treating its customers so poorly and rudely.
On another note the original cashier and the girl bagger had the personality of a lamp no smiles, did you find everything alright, how are you, no pleasantries whatsoever were offered by their employees.
Bel-​air/​raleys will definitely be receiving our business in the future as they have always been 100% friendly, courteous and been always helpful.

This is a great Safeway! I have seen! Plenty of parking! It’s hidden a bit on the side of Bell Road. It’s next to the Ross. You can barely see it from Bell and can’t see it at all from 49. The store is set up funky due to the shape of the building and size.
They have a sushi bar and a sandwich area! Isles are nicely stocked. Occasionally I will find a sale item out of stock, but they are always very nice about writing a rain check. Cashiers are great with coupons. They have an amazing cheese area and tons of hummus to choose from. They are stocked with a good amount of vegetarian frozen items as well. There are usually lines at the checkouts, but not too bad. Great location! Will continue to shop there!

The best thing about the store is the sushi, there is a sushi chef that makes the best California rolls. I have them make them because I like soy wrapped instead of seaweed. The sandwiches that they make at the deli department are great too. You can have them make the sandwich the way you want. Fresh items. There is a long line come lunch time.

I love this store. I really liked the one near my old apartment because of their huge selection of organics, so I was a little hesitant when I went here, but I was pleasantly surprised. This store is even bigger than your average store with plenty of selection. I will be returning for my all groceries for now on.