Randalls

Everyone at Randall’s is extremely helpful! I like going Int a store that’s clean and everything is well marked. I love the promotions that they run! Also the customer experience at the front of the desk is really superb. The produce department could use a little cork (as in keeping the merchandise at its’ best.

I had missed my Safeway back in DC area and found out Randalls is linked to Safeway. I expected the same type of store. Randalls or at least this one is just ok. I tried their apple fritters and cookies here and sorry but they miss the mark. Back in DC metro Safeways know who to make those items taste delicious and fresh. I am not sure if Randalls didn’t get the memo.
The overall selection of food is okay and deals are hit or miss compared to the other grocery stores in the area. I could see myself here coming here for a few deals but HEB will still be more store of choice

They have such nice people here. The guys that work in the butcher shop are so focussed on customer service. I can get my meat cut any way i want and they have helped me even after they cleaned up for the night. Their fruit is always colorful. And its like an artist put the vegetables and fruit together in a certain way, with primary colors of red bell peppers next to the yellow bell peppers. The Red Apples are next to the Green Pears. The Green Jalepenos are next to the Orange Habaneros which are next to the little red chili’s that burn you. Those red chilis are almost always next to the green serrano peppers and all that color just looks so appetizing!
The management at the front is very attentive and there never seems to be a long line. Even the computer-​simulated lady in the self-​checkout line has a cheerful disposition. Yes, sometimes the prices are a little higher, but there are distinct differences between HEB and Randalls. (1) Randalls fruits and vegetables are always fresh and don’t have mold or worm-​holes on them. (2) Every can on every shelf is turned exactly alike. I suffer from severe OCD which makes this a huge plus. I get very confused at HEB and sometimes the cans being turned all different directions causes me to lose my mind and get all discombobulated. (3) The conveyer belts at Randalls move much faster than the conveyer belts at HEB. In fact, its not even close. I took the time out of my busy day as a styrofoam account sale executive to measure the speeds of the conveyer belts. They are roughly the same width, as only ¹⁄₁₆^th of an inch is what separates them. Randalls conveyer belt runs at ¹⁄₁₀^th of a MPH. The HEB conveyer belts are almost a 32^nd of a Second ³²⁄₁₀₀ slower than the Randalls conveyer belts.
(4) There is ALWAYS someone to sack my groceries and they even offer to help me take my groceries to my car. (5) There is always enough carts for the customers. One of my pet peeves is going to HEB and seeing one of their employees pushing 50-​carts at one time in the heat of the day, all while other people don’t have their own carts. It’s wrong for them to hog them all like this. (6) Any time I need to make change for a dollar, I can get my coins back any way I like. Sometimes I get two quarters, 33-​pennies, a dime, three pickles and another two pennies. Or, I can get three quarters, ten pennies, a dime and a nickel. In fact, I have gotten change for larger bills too. Now that’s customer service with a smile.
Finally, Hit up the bakery and have them make you a cake. Their baker-​woman is outstanding at baking. I have enjoyed their cupcakes and their other sweet desserts. Their breads are always fresh and squishy, just the way I like them. (Except for the French bread, which is super crispy on the outside and squishy on the inside.) I wish they made a better Challah bread but you can’t have it all!
In all seriousness, their people make the Randalls experience on that I never forget every time I go shopping. From the honest and hard-​working people at the front, to the Grocery Store Ninja guys that turn all the cans around that you never see most of the time, all of the, are excellent. If you go early in the morning, they tend to let you bag your own groceries. Thats a thoughtful touch too, because for the most part, i never get the practice. I must remember not to put my eggs and bananas on the bottom of the sack underneath my bottles of 2-​liter Root Beer and my boxes of laundry soap.
Randalls is the only grocery store for me. And my family too. That’s on account of the fact that I am the driver in my family. So they go to Randalls too. But that’s because they have no other choice. When you can’t inspire loyalty, you can certainly enforce it! I LOVE Randalls!

I have come here many times. They seem to excel in the vegetable and bakery departments the most in my opinion. The meat selection is a bit small, but I have never had a problem with getting some decent cuts of meat. The fish department does leave a bit to be desired and it is a not a large selection. The dry goods are plentiful.
It is usually not very busy, even around holidays, so it is a good spot to bookmark as a source of groceries when in a rush. The people have always been friendly, but I often find someone who has just been put out on the floor and give misdirection or wrong information. This is not really too bad. However, if it looks or you are told they are out of something, you might want to keep an eye out just in case.
One thing of note; I have several times found items with a discount sticker for another item if you buy this or some similar deal, with the sticker coupon being expired. Bring this to the floor manager’s attention and they will ensure your savings, but it may require some encouragement for the checkout computers to recognize the savings.

I have bought so much expired food from this store. It’s disgusting. They should seriously get checked on regularly by the city.
Once I bought a few different ice cream things from the freezer section. Two boxes of ice cream had been completely melted and refrozen. The ice cream in each package had been SOUP at one point and refrozen. The small pints of ice cream (both gelato and sorbet) had obviously been melted and refrozen as well. They had a sticky substance all at the top of each container.
I was told «oh yeah… our freezers have been acting strange lately. I’ll have them look at it.» If your freezers are acting strange YOU PULL THE FOOD AND GET THEM FIXED. HEB does it when their’s go down. Other stores have to. And you know what? I never saw them do anything about it. Then again I moved and never touch that store.
I used to only go in there when I was lazy. But HEB is where it’s at. They need to just leave and put an HEB in it so we don’t have so much over crowding at the other locations.
Oh and the produce department? That’s a joke. Never ever buy anything unless you want it to expire the next day. However, good luck buying anything because it’s all rotten. You won’t find anything to buy. This store gets little to no traffic so the produce has little turn over. I avoid walking through the produce department because it makes me, literally, gag.

Having a great time waiting on a cake I ordered two days in advance. I was promised it would be ready at a certain time. I’m sitting here watching them add the icing. No apology from staff. Not coming back.

The few times I’ve been here I would describe this place as a ghost town… Its a wonder how they stay in business but then I look at the prices and then some things make a little more sense.

Ugh. Does anyone actually buy groceries here? The parking lot is always empty, which is nice for getting a close parking spot. The only time I ever go to Randall’s is if I’m on my way south and have already passed HEB. The produce selection is horrifying and way overpriced. Unlike HEB, who tries to source all that they can locally, you are mostly going to find California and Mexico produce.
The entire store layout is confusing and backwards, which means if you have more then a few items to pick up, you are going to be walking around in huge circles.
I don’t like their generic brand «Lucerne». It’s gross and cheap. (Cheap quality that is, still overpriced.)
Don’t even get me started on checking out. They ALWAYS only have two registers open and it takes FOREVER– which they make up for by searching for your name on the receipt before handing to you, while mispronouncing your last name. Don’t forget to shove all my groceries in one bag and smash everything all to hell! Oh thanks for putting my bread sideways in with the gallon of milk, I love smashed bread!
I HATE the «club card» system here. Just because they mark everything up 50% and then give you 10% select «club card» items does not mean you are getting a deal. It feels like such a scam and a rip off. Shopping here feels like paying the difference between Walmart and Whole Foods, but paying MORE for Walmart. Totally backwards.

Positives: I have to admit that most of the people that work here are all very nice. I think they have more down time and a relaxed work place (few customers) and are much more well rested. The store is clean, however, that might be because it is never busy and it’s very quick to get in and out of, again because it is never busy and I don’t remember ever having a person in front of me in line with a full basket. Very few people do their real household grocery shopping here. I think of Randalls stores of being like a gas station convenience store on steriods. Good for close parking and fast service.
The Negatives: Expired food. If it happens occasionally no big deal and as someone mentioned in another post, I’m not overly worried about canned/​packaged items on the shelves, if they are just a week or month over. Sadly, that is not the case – They are often way past the date. I’ve twice bought cottage cheese that was close to two weeks past date (I pay attention to dates now!). Recently, the day before Easter (4÷4÷15) I ran in to get a couple items for kids Easter basket. One was Keebler cookies. Tonight my son opens them and comes over to tell me they taste like a weird chemical, maybe Windex and they are strangely chewy, not crunchy. I look at the date and they expired 5 months ago. Trust me, even overly processed cookies go bad. very bad, and even I (with sugar addiction), couldn’t eat them and I have been known to eat an unwrapped Tootsie Roll I found on my floor board that may have belonged to the previous owner.
Anyway, two weeks ago it was also an expired bag of their brand of corn chips that were two weeks past the best by date, but they actually tasted okay. I guess I wouldn’t be so upset about it had I not had to pay the extra $ 2 – 3, for the item as compared to other stores. I used to just justify the extra cost as the price I pay for being too lazy to go HEB, but lately I feel like I’m paying high prices for things I often can never use and I end up having to go to HEB anyway to replace it. Another thing that has been bothering me, even more than the expired food is how they will often have a product for sale on an end cap of the aisle that is marked with the wrong sale price. The first two times, I thought it was just an over looked mistake on their part, but, by the third time within a 5 week period I seriously started to think that this is just a manipulative, dirty tactic to use on hurried shoppers. One time, it was 12 packs of sodas with an advertised price of 3.99, yet when I got to the counter they were 5.99. When I went back with a worker to show them the multiple signs, they pointed out the small writing that list another product like a box of kleenex, yet they leave all the signs up and don’t honor the price. I checked the next day, the signs were still up. I can only imagine how many people grabbed the product advertised at the good deal and ended up paying the crazy high price without ever noticing. This last time it happened, it was on the big bags of Frito Brand individually wrapped snack sized bags. When I pointed it out to a manager, she said oh it was a mistake and she blamed the vendor and would not honor it and walked away until I pulled out my phone and started taking pictures, then she ran over and started grabbing all the signs down. I’ll post some pictures of this, although I don’t think I can attach them to this specific post.
Yes, I agree that HEB may be crowded and full of normal people that can’t afford to pay 7 – 11 type prices for a cart load of groceries and you’ll have to walk a little farther, but in the long run it’s well worth the trouble and as a company they seem a bit more honest to me.

I don’t like the grocery store nearly as much as HEB. The food prices are much more expensive, but the thing I hate the most is the fact that you have to have one to two cards in order to not pay a ridiculously high price. I would really appreciate it if they would let me go grocery shopping without filling my wallet full of their weird cards

I love Randalls. They’re more expensive than HEB, but I’d gladly pay the extra not to wade through aisles amongst the ghetto people that always flock to HEB’s.
The selection is more upscale and you’ll never feel like you need a shower after having stepped foot in here. This place is a class act.

I don’t understand why this place is getting so much hate because I have always had very great personal experiences here, so I’m going to throw them five stars on principle.
Apparently people have complaints about expiration dates (Oh, hey, Ardie ;-) — this isn’t aimed at you, I noticed this trend in the reviews overall)… C’mon. In any area other than dairy, meat or produce, we all know that expiration dates are arbitrary. If you’re complaining about anything on the shelves in the non-​perishables or anything in the frozen section being «expired» — then you’re clearly just looking for something to complain about.
I love this store for a number of consistently pleasant elements in my shopping here:
Their staff, from the group of young college aged gentlemen who work here, to the lovely lady cashiers, is a consistent bunch. I’ve been seeing the same faces there for two years. And they are always polite, smiling faces. They have always been helpful, engaging, patient, they’re nice to my kid, they offer me help out of the store. I’ve even paid for and forgotten groceries before and they had them waiting for me at the front when I ran back in over an hour later. Most of them recognize me and my daughter now, too.
The Randall’s Gas Rewards points make it advantageous to shop here. With the Randall’s Rewards Card, I get the discount on my grocery purchase, then get points towards gas at Exxon. Last time I filled up using my Randall’s points at Exxon, I had racked up so many points I got 40 cents off per gallon and filled up with Super Unleaded Plus for under $ 50 bucks on a 15 gallon tank. That felt rewarding.
Their bakery is well-​run and has a great selection of beautiful cakes and pastries at all time. I bake cakes for birthdays and for my office occasionally and I can pop in the bakery and pick up a cake box to transport my homemade cake in. They’re very polite about it.
In the meat department, last time I picked up some stuffed and wrapped chicken for dinner, I was given great service, tips on how to cook it and what best to pair it with.
I don’t know, it seems people have issues with selection mainly here… but I’ve never not been able to find what I want, and the human experience of always being treated well by the employees makes this one of my favorite shopping spots, convenient to home and I feel respected. So, to me, that makes for a great shopping experience.

The produce section is not very good, but it’s better than it use to be. Even with the Randall’s card everything is significantly more expensive. Location is close by, but all fresh meats and produce are sub par.
If you go here it should only be for convenience. I do like the evening cashier though. He is very friendly

This is a terrible store. I only stopped in today because HEB was slammed and I didnt feel like trying to come back later. The only good thing is that I got a parking space right up front, but when I got inside I could see why. Terrible meat selection, everything looked old. Horrible grocery selection and the produce is awful and sad looking. How does this place stay open? They should close it and open another HEB in it’s place!

I couldn’t find the olives that I like. BUT, it’s clean and the people are really nice. It feels just like a Safeway in California (and it’s part of the same business so you can use your Safeway card if you have one and start adding those gas savings!).
BUT, it’s a little pricier on some items than H-​E-​B… I guess you get what you pay for :)

I really wanted to like Randall’s when I first moved to Austin last year. It reminded me of some of a grocery store my husband and I would shop at in Wisconsin. It was a little more expensive, but it was clean. Unfortunately this location consistently has expired food on the shelf. Bread, milk, yogurt, etc. I was having to check everything I bought so I just stopped going there. I gave it one more try a few months later but I still found moldy bread on the shelf. I won’t be going back.

And another update, June 2013 — perhaps the last such update, because I’m done even bothering to stop at this place in the mornings anymore. Mr. Randall, why can’t you staff an express lane during the morning rush? Or at LEAST open your stupid automated machine lanes (that replaced actual humans) — even THESE were closed today. One lousy lane was open and staffed by a solitary cashier. And there were a half-​dozen people in line, half of whom only wanted one or two breakfast items but the rest had whole carts of groceries. When I worked as a grocery cashier at HEB back in the good old days, it was a cardinal rule that one express/​quick-​check lane was ALWAYS to be open whenever the store was open. This is why.
This is far from the only time this has happened to me here.
Ridiculous. I abandoned my two bagels and left. I can’t afford to be late for work because you can’t keep your store staffed at a reasonable level. Yeah, only a one dollar purchase, you sneer. But I make those purchases a lot during a year, and from now on, those dollars are going to HEB or Shipley’s or any number of other places en route. They may not be as conveniently located, but at least they have reliable customer services. They won’t leave me angry and without breakfast. And I will also bear a grudge when I have other, larger shopping choices to make.

A grocery store would have to capable of serving as a one-​stop shop for me to give it 5 stars. As it is, this would be a 2-​star review if it wasn’t so close. And if it wasn’t the best place to buy beer in walking distance of my place.
I mean, there’s nothing really wrong with the store, it just doesn’t have what I want. The bakery items are filled with foreign-​sounding chemicals – I just want a decent cookie that I didn’t have to bake myself. Is that so much to ask? Why does all the granola have so much sugar in it? Why is there no uncured bacon and sausage? Where is the heavy cream that has not suffered under ultra-​pasteurization? And that seafood counter? I wouldn’t touch it with a ten-​foot pole.
I go here because I’m addicted to Whole Foods but it’s too expensive. Circle C’s HEB is really the happy middle ground, but why is it such a zoo? I guess everyone feels the same way I do.
Oh, and we realized pretty quickly that you need a card to get things for sale price. I hate that, but I bowed to the man and got a stupid card anyway (well actually, my husband did it for me– thanks Sweetie!)

SO I now fully understand an agree with my older sister’s decision to spend more money here just for some sanity. I haven’t shopped at a Randall’s in nearly a decade because they are so much more expensive than every other main chain store… but compared to the HEB on Manchaca @ Slaughter… this was bliss.
The store is clean well lit and well organised. Several employees while walking to restock asked if we needed anything/​had found what we were looking for.
I could have spent quite a lot less at the HEB but would have been ready to commit mass homicide halfway through the trip.

Randalls is one of the cleanest and friendliest grocery stores in the state. This one in particular is always cheerful, well stocked and easy to navigate through.
Full disclosure: I used to be a bagger/​stocker for Randalls as a teenager, but that was when they were independently owned. Now they are part of the Safeway corporation, which has some plusses and some minuses. The biggest plus is they now sell beer and liquor. Their beer prices always seem to be less expensive than other grocery stores.
My only complaint with Randalls, and this is more a trend now with all grocery stores, is the use of less real checkers. Self checkout is okay, but I always prefer a real human being.

Reason #47 why I don’t shop here often:
Your Lean Cuisine expiration dates: May 2011
Current Lean Cuisine expiration dates: December 2011
No wonder it’s «On Sale».

This review is very heavily leaning on the customer service side with a slice of seafood dept thrown in for good measure. This place is head & shoulders above anyone else in the customer service dept, I am always treated like the king of the world when I get there, whether it be while on the floor searching for food stuffs or checking out. They even know me by name.
Their prices are satisfactory if you get the Randall’s card specials, however if you’re just buying all willy nilly you’ll spend more than at HEB. The produce is sometimes rotten too, however, the seafood is always fresh and the fish mongers are way friendly and always ready to serve the customer, they have great fish and great deals almost every day.
So all in all it’s a great experience, just spend that extra time giving your produce the once over and you’ll find this is one of the best grocery stores in town. Only better place is Whole Foods but way more expensive. Just need to use your noggin’ and you’ll save money and still get good food.

This is my second favorite Randall’s to shop at the first being the one one Research and Braker. I never buy anything that’s not on sale so I stock up when they have great sales! It’s much cheaper this way.
This store like other Randalls, sometimes has expired items. I ALWAYS check dates on cans and such!
The clerks are nice and the young men are eager to help and please! I’ve never had an issue that they were not eager to correct.
Great clean and QUIET place to shop!