BUYER BEWARE ! THIS STORE SELLS EXPIRED FOODS !! This is a little mom-and-pop store in Coolidge Corner. During the Xmas holiday season I purchased some olive oil and accessories for gifts; I was happy with my purchase and the 2 women working there were very helpful - I think one was the owner. Fast forward to April 2019 when I once again was shopping for a small gift; this time there was an older couple working, seemed like a husband and wife team who I assumed are the owners. While discussing different award-winning Olive Oils I noticed a "Mystery Grab bag" display, promoting /offering the goods sold in the store, but in a sealed bag (the bags were stapled shut hence the "Mystery Grab bag" promotion). The price was $40 for a bag, marked down to $20. When I inquired what was in the bags, the gentleman (owner ?) stated "this was my son's idea, there is $40 worth of goods in the bags, but no olive oils, only various spices and marinades and other products." I decided to try my luck at the Mystery Grab bag and bought one with the intention of giving it to a gourmet cook as a hostess gift on Easter. I didn't check the contents of the bag for several hours after my purchase, until I arrived home. I checked out the 5-6 products in the bag, which consisted of some kind of sea salt, chili pepper flakes, 'pizza seasoning' (whatever that is), chimichurri sauce and a marinade that literally looked like vomit in a jar. When I turned the jar to check the ingredients, I noticed the expiration date read 'March 2019'. A month prior to the current day. Obviously the next thing I did was check the expiration date of all the other products, and all of them had either April or May 2019 expiration date. Went back the next day (Saturday) to return the mystery bag, only to find a younger guy behind the counter - who I assumed was the son that the older man had referred to the previous day. There was another customer and his young son in the store so I quietly approached the counter and informed him that items I had purchased were expired (trying not to cause a scene). He seemed concerned for a moment, but never apologized for selling me expired goods. Then he started to carefully check the expiration date of each item, as if he didn't believe me. As I started pointing out the expiration dates his attitude changed. He seemed to know he got busted in his scam. The chili pepper flakes had an expiration date of 05/02/2019 and he gave me some attitude that this product hadn't actually expired. I explained to him that if the product expires May 2019, it was probably stocked on the shelf over a year ago (probably more), and asked for my money back. By this time he was visibly angry that I wasn't buying any of his bullshit, so he took some money out of the drawer and slapped it on the counter and sarcastically told me to "have a nice day".
This jerky dude tried to sell me expired goods, then got angry with me when I called him out on it. The sad part is, I doubt his parents even know he's selling expired goods and putting the store's good name (?) in jeopardy.
Moral of the story is don't buy "mystery grab bags" and don't give your business to Olive Connection !!! I learned my lesson the hard way. read more