Safeway

I Just posted a photo of very high definition burnt chicken wings. So please refer to the picture to see what I am talking about. Me and some friends went to Safeway on almaden today. As a 20 year old I don’t get carded for cigarettes very often but today I was carded for a sample of chicken wings. I don’t mind it, but the guy there told us we look 15 or 16 which I did not appreciate. Beside the fact, I got my wings, came home, opened the lid and boom! Dry, burnt to crisp ass wings that I payed 8 $ for. I work very hard for my money and today I threw some of it down the toilet on very terrible chicken wings.

I was treated in the utmost way of discrimination by the assistant manager of this store who’s name is Scott Heirigs. It was apparent that this man had a personal van-​dada in my situation when I tried to exchange the K cup coffee that did not fit my coffee machine. For no apparent reason I was humiliated and repeatedly asked to leave the store. This person must seek anger management or return to training on diversity. He needs to know that every 10 person that he interacts with at least in the Almaden Area in San Jose 7 – 8 are for a diverse ethnicity.
What Safeway does not know that this employee is a huge liability on them, he has had a long term anger management issues and was referred to me as a ‘BULLY’ by the folks who worked with him for an extended period of time. They stated that he received several verbal and written complaint from customers and employees but sadly Safeway’tucked it’ under the carpet, like they did with my case.
Half or more in this sore neighborhood come for somewhere in the world and has probably the most diverse ethnicity compared to anywhere in San Jose!
Very sad to see such a SICK behaviour from someone who claims to be your best neighborhood partner (s). Someday one is not going to tolerate Scott madness in a civil way, Safeway is still thinking about it… HELP HIM.

This Safeway is very conveniently located for me. I’ve shopped here for many years. They did an upgrade/​remodel years back, and it was an enhancement. I believe they recently merged with Albertsons, and have recently rearranged all of the aisles, to everyone who knew where to go for a quick trip’s aggravation, as well as to their staff, when you question them. But, even before the merge, this store has been going downhill for the past few years. Some key issues:
— The parking lot is a zoo, and it was so much nicer when PW was a block away, and you could quickly pop into their store. Don’t shop during peak hours or near holidays here, as the lot and the store are chaos.
— Prices are often not listed on the shelves or on produce.
— Produce has been shifted around, and it’s hard to find organic vs. non-​organic, and the pricing on much of the selection.
— Shelves in the evening are always depleted! Even bottled water by the jug will be completely empty, or there will 1 or 2 Safeway brand jugs left on the bottom shelf. Many times leaking. Good luck if you want a specific type or brand.
— Eggs have expanded to many types, but most have converted to small, brown eggs with tough shells. If you want free-​range, or cage-​free, etc. you better find out when they stock shelves and shop then, because they rarely keep up on demand for what customers are looking for.
— Very long lines at the counter (often 7 — 10 deep), and they will have very few cashiers, even on known busy days. Don’t plan to get out quickly.
— They’ve changed brands they carry, often trying to drive you towards Safeway’s label, often carrying inferior product, but they’ve raised prices.
— Often out of good & standard produce, and if you ask the man working produce, he’ll tell you everything is in boxes in back, and it will take «hours to find it».
— One bunch of bananas I purchased at the perfect ripeness – yellow, with a tint of green – you could not peel, just as if it was an extremely green banana, and if you took a knife to it, it wouldn’t cut through. I don’t know if all grocers are the same, but it really makes me wonder what processing they do to their produce to try to make it «look» and stay fresh-​looking. Must be some cryogenic type of process.
— My pet peeve, partly which is not their fault, is asking if you want to purchase bags, since you no longer can get free bags in our area, and then they will charge you for a guessed amount of bags. They will either cram as much as they can in your bags to look like they are not over-​doing it on the bags they charge, smashing your carefully selected, bruise-​free bananas, pastries, and making the bags impossible to carry by the handles or with the weight, or, when you have fewer items, they will often charge for more bags than needed, and fit them in fewer bags, and when you point that out, since the entire bagging situation annoys me enough already, they will frequently try to hand you several empty bags that they charged you for. I will tell them I didn’t come there shopping for bags, and they need to refund me my $.30, which makes the 10 people in line behind me have to wait even longer, but I find their approach to bagging to be amazingly non-​customer focused, and obnoxious. Often they will run out of decent bags, and have thinner, non-​handled bags, that they know won’t sufficiently hold the groceries, and will tell you to make sure to hold it from the bottom, as it will tear. Groceries are their business; many groceries are heavy; many people have to carry them upstairs, or longer distances than just a few feet — be prepared, bag correctly, don’t overstuff them, and have appropriate tools for your business.
— You will rarely be offered help with your bags to your car, and often won’t even be acknowledged at the counter, which is standard training at most stores. Here, there will often be 2 or 3 co-​workers chatting together at their counters, while the lines are 5 — 10 deep in customer, and they don’t worry about how long they are taking to check you through.
I’ve given the store feedback. Nothing is done to improve matters.
If you are in need of a couple items to buy, this store is fine. If you want a regular weekly shopping run, I drive about 10 times the amount of time it takes to get to Safeway and go to other stores.

I used to like Safeway, the car park can be a bit tricky to park, but you will find a spot. This particular branch used to have fresh Chibbatta rolls. The staff was friendly and the sale they ran on their Butter Top Wheat Breads every two weeks was great. I even signed up with their club card and this was my weekly grocery stop. Life I thought was good, they had a customer for life.
Then the sales moved to every three weeks, they tried their website with Just for U, grocery shopping really started becoming a chore. I no longer enjoyed shopping here, the aisles are cramped, the lines are usually 3 customers deep. Backing up in the parking lot is cramped and some of the drivers in the car park think their on the freeway.
So, I quit Safeway for good and went to Target.
Target has no gimmicks with sales every few weeks, just everyday great prices. A bright, lit store with nice open aisles. 5% off with their debit card and friendly staff. Target is now my permanent grocery outlet.
I still need to pickup some tofu products, where I now go to Whole Foods or Trader Joes. I can find no reason to go back to Safeway unfortunately. 3 stars.