This is, unfortunately, the closest Kroger to me.
Let me preface by saying that I'm from Cincinnati. The home of Kroger. I worked at 4 different Krogers as a peon and as a manager when i went to school. My roommate did too and he helped set up a Kroger marketplace store from the ground up before we both worked there. So I know Krogers. And this one sucks.
It is in the middle of what for lack of better terms is the "ghetto", or a bad neighborhood. Everything on this side of I-45 between probably Louetta and Greens is just pure crime and shit. So, while you'll have your standard Girl Scouts selling cookies or Church solicitors outside, it's also right next to a Babies R Us and shoe store and women's hair supply store so eventually some deadbeats will show up. But this is Houston, can you really go anywhere without beggars and homeless around every corner? I was here yesterday and there's a group of guys hanging out and after I walk by, two of them saunter off and one comes up to me with a story about "I was a victim of the flooding etc. etc." I don't care, and no you weren't, because nothing up in this area got flooded. So if you aren't from this area, go back to your own. This must be part of the beggar handbook because of the dozens of people begging that I encounter every week, a huge chunk of them always say "I'm not from this area I'm just trying to...." Annoying.
Although to be fair, we had much more Kroghetto's in Cincinnati, where people have literally been shot inside and all kinds of nonsense has happened. Anyway back to the point.
Like all grocery stores, this one is poorly staffed. They have about 12 checkout lanes and 8 uscans. The stupidest part of the check out lanes is that they have these "Express" lanes which are literally just the cigarette counter with a wooden table and no conveyor belt. So you have to put as many of your groceries on the table as can fit until they are bagged, and then move the bags into your cart. It's as inept as I've ever seen when it comes to the sole purpose of a store - to sell you things. So there are literally 6 or 8 real checkout lanes, and only 2 of them will ever be staffed at most.
Worse yet is the money center. Oh my sweet Christ. Look, blame me for being a Yankee, that's fine. Blame me for being a Kroger elitist. The money services/guest services at this Kroger is a complete nightmare, and I would have to attribute it to the fact that this is a low income, crappy area. I live in a community that only accepts money orders, and so I have to come here every month to pay my rent. I've only ever come in this store one time and waited less than 10 minutes to get a money order. I could go down the street and get a money order, but I don't trust a mom and pop store with that much of my money. Every single time I have gone to this store to get a money order, except one, there is a line of 20 - 30 people waiting for money services, with 2 cashiers at most. This seems to be the case anywhere I've ever gone, whether it be way down near Galleria where I work, or to the good Kroger way down on East 1960 near 249. That can't be changed, but the management KNOWS this is going to happen on a daily basis. Yet, they don't ever shift people to the guest services area until the queue is at least 45 minutes.
It was mentioned almost 2 years ago in another Yelp review - the guest services staff is rather ornery. The "old white guy" mentioned is a squirrely old short black haired dude who generally runs u-Scan and I've witnessed him being kind of a dick to customers before.
As some other people on Yelp have mentioned, despite all that this Kroger is half decent. They regularly have good management specials, like yesterday (4/30) they had a great discount on ribs, and they always have 10/10 on Coke and Pepsi products. Most of the staff will try to be helpful as well, but this Kroger gets far busier than it can handle. Being a Cincinnati company, they also manage to at least stock some Cincinnati local products like Graeter's, John Morrell, Skyline, and others, but the selection sucks and is often out of stock for weeks at a time. The only negative experience I've had with that was one time I bought expired Montgomery Inn sauce.
Compared to bigger and better stores, like a Marketplace, this store is just crap though. It lacks the features that many similarly sized Krogers up North have - starbucks, salad bar, a decent bakery, meat and seafood section. It has essentially no beer selection, and unfortunately does not have a liquor store in it. I've actually never seen a Kroger in Houston with a liquor store. Their Deli makes the same shit every single day and doesn't make enough of it, because they evidently lack the display cases to show off more than 2 things at a time.
To Hades with this place. If you live here on this side of the highway, I'm sorry, but I would seriously advise you to go to down to the good Kroger that's like 11 miles east. read more