According to the latest survey from Consumer Reports, which ranks 96 of the country’s grocery chains, these ten are at the very bottom of the list.
Consumer Reports ranks them from best to worst, 1 to 96. This list flips it all upside down, ranking them from bad to really, really bad – from the tenth worst store on the list, to the #1 worst store of them all.
So, in order from bad to worst, here are the stores that more than 75,000 respondents told Consumer Reports they liked the least – with some supplementary caustic, critical comments from shoppers who’ve visited the online review site Yelp.com to tell us what they really think.
(Click here to return to the main story.)
Since acquiring the chain a few years ago, Kroger has been sprucing up many Pick ‘n Save locations across Wisconsin. But the refreshes can’t come soon enough for many shoppers. Consumer Reports readers gave the chain low marks on checkout speed and the availability of healthy options.
But many Yelp reviewers are a bit more specific in their disdain.
“I would shop here again, if they clean up the place. It smells like something died when you walk in,” one reviewer wrote. “Don’t understand why this store exists. Always dark and deserted, kind of creepy. Very outdated interior. Staff seem like zombies when you engage them. I only go when I absolutely have to,” another opined.
Many reviewers mentioned that they frequently find expired food on the shelves. It all led one disappointed Pick ‘n Save shopper to conclude succinctly, “Never again. Seriously. I’m done.”
Image source: The Redmond Company
Jewel-Osco shoppers in the Chicago area told Consumer Reports they’re not particularly pleased with the store’s prices or customer service. And Yelp reviewers agree.
“Not once have I left this store thinking ‘that was a really easy in and out’ or ‘what a pleasant shopping trip’,” one reviewer wrote. “I don’t usually have a lot of feelings associated with grocery shopping as it is a necessary evil. But any time I think about having to go to this particular store I get bummed out,” added another.
Many shoppers complained of apathetic employees, expired food and a general sense of uncleanliness at their local Jewel. It was all enough to leave one reviewer struggling to articulate her thoughts: “I have no words. Understaffed. Incompetent. I don’t have anything else to say.”
And maybe that says it all.
Image source: Jewel-Osco
Albertsons-owned Randalls in Texas actually got high marks for store cleanliness in the Consumer Reports survey. But it got terrible marks for its prices, and poor marks on just about everything else.
“You may have wondered: What do the nice grocery stores do with rotting produce, meat and any other item that any but those on the most desperate of food budgets might buy?” one Yelp reviewer wrote. “The answer appears to be, they ship it to Randalls.”
Another shopper says he now only uses Randalls “as a last resort when we need something and don’t have time to drive to the better grocery chains in the area.”
But look on the bright side, a third reviewer says. Alongside a long list of “cons”, he found a couple of “pros”: “No one is ever there and parking is easy.”
Image source: Facebook/Randalls
Consumer Reports readers gave Stop & Shop middling marks across the board, with the biggest criticism being poor prices on organic items.
But Yelp reviewers have many more complaints.
“I personally am disgusted by the filth as I enter this store. The vestibule is like walking through someone’s garage,” one reviewer wrote.
“Probably the worst managed supermarket in the country. Run by saboteurs. Surprised the attorney general hasn’t shut them down,” another commented.
One shopper said there’s one good thing about waiting in interminably long checkout lines – there’s plenty to talk about with fellow shoppers. Such as? “Your lack of stock, your terrible layout, your disgruntled employees, your horrible management, your smelly fish department, and how we only shop there when we absolutely have to.”
Image source: Stop & Shop
Albertsons makes another appearance on the list, with its Safeway chain ranking among the worst grocery stores. Consumer Reports readers were not pleased with Safeway’s speed of checkout – apparently because many of them want to get out of there as fast as they can.
“I really want to embrace my neighborhood store, but everything about it feels like an outdoor swap meet,” a Yelp reviewer wrote.
“It’s fine if you’re looking for Cheez-Its and frozen pizza rolls, but don’t even consider it if you’re trying to cook something,” another advised.
Safeway has been languishing near the bottom of the Consumer Reports survey for several years now. So one reviewer concluded his review with a pep talk: “Come on Safeway, you’ve got a long way to go to reach ‘average’, but if you tried you could do it!”
Image source: Safeway
ACME shoppers who participated in Consumer Reports’ survey aren’t particularly pleased with the store’s prices. And Yelp reviewers aren’t particularly pleased with a lot of things.
“Disorganized and kind of grubby with not such a good selection of products,” one reviewer wrote. “Terrible grocery store. The staff is always so unhappy and can’t tell you where anything is located,” another added.
One shopper wondered why ACME’s prices make the store seem swankier than it is. “Can’t we at least have a place to shop for our groceries that is respectable without being priced like Whole Foods?” he wrote.
Another reviewer said you’re better off skipping ACME altogether if you can: “High prices, lower selection of products, and the store has a tendency to leave expired items out. Save ACME for your emergency milk run.”
Image source: ACME
Shaw’s represents another Albertsons appearance on the list. Shoppers at the New England-based chain told Consumer Reports they’re not thrilled with Shaw’s prices, and aren’t all that happy about anything else in the store either.
A Yelp reviewer calls out Shaw’s for its “surly customer service and second-rate meats and produce”. Another says “customer service is non-existent at this place. It’s totally disorganized.”
Some shoppers believe Shaw’s has gone from bad to worse. “Shaw’s has never been spectacular, but they have gone downhill precipitously,” a reviewer writes. “I want to like Shaw’s. I really do, but sometimes it’s hard,” another offers.
Then there’s this poor, misguided shopper: “I switched from Stop & Shop and color me unimpressed.” Maybe next time she’ll try a store that’s not on the list of the ten worst.
Image source: Facebook/Shaw’s
Walmart typically never does well on lists of the best grocery chains. So the only surprise about its appearance on Consumer Reports’ list, is that it’s not dead last.
So if you don’t like Walmart, take heart – because it gets worse.
Consumer Reports reviewers gave Walmart the worst possible ratings on customer service, checkout speed and the quality of its fresh foods. The only thing that saved it from landing at the bottom of the list was a high rating for “competitive prices”.
“My mom loves Walmart and I can’t convince her otherwise. I’ve tried,” one Yelp reviewer lamented. Another said the store’s low prices come at a cost: “Unless it’s a huge price difference just go to another store to buy what you need. You’ll be happier.”
Image source: Walmart
Tops hasn’t quite hit bottom, but it’s close. The grocery chain, based in upstate New York, was going through bankruptcy proceedings for most of last year, which didn’t help matters. Tops got “fair” marks across the board in Consumer Reports’ survey, with one “poor” rating on prices on organic items.
But based on the reviews that shoppers have written on Yelp, they’re not coming to Tops expecting great prices and selection on organic items anyway. “Prices are beyond outrageous, whoever figures their pricing is either greedy, from a whole other state, or inexperienced and unaware of the prices at the store next door to them,” one reviewer wrote.
And it definitely doesn’t help that Tops’ main local competitor is one of the country’s most popular and well-run grocery stores of all. “This is a place you go to when you do not have time to go to Wegmans,” a Tops shopper advised. “Do not expect much.”
Image source: Facebook/Tops
The good news – Key Food is making its very first appearance on Consumer Reports’ newly-expanded list of the best grocery stores in the country! The bad news – it came in dead last out of 96 chains.
Consumer Reports readers gave the Northeastern chain middling marks for speed of checkout, and poor ratings on just about everything else. But to find out what shoppers really think, all it takes is a visit to Yelp:
“The store smells like decades of misery and despair.”
“Only go here if there’s an apocalypse and no other choices.”
“I usually end up there out of desperation and regret it.”
“I can’t stress enough how bad the store is. I am begging for them to close.”
Well, tell us how you really feel! Unless Key Food undergoes a major transformation, its first appearance on the list of the country’s worst grocery stores may not be its last.
(Click here to return to the main story, or click here to sign in or subscribe to Consumer Reports to read the full list.)
Image source: Facebook/Key Food
