I always associate this Safeway with buying AA batteries, mainly because I happened to buy something ridiculous like twenty-four-packs of them on two occasions within two years of each other. No, I don't go through batteries that fast--although my DVR remote does burn through batteries something fierce--I think one of my roommates ended up taking a bunch of batteries with her when she moved out, so I was stuck without batteries again. It was quite a weird feeling looking for and then being excited and relieved by the good deal I got on that second twenty-four-pack two years later. Why am I writing about batteries? Mainly because I'm annoyed that this Safeway's finest feature is gone. I'll spare you all the gory details, but this used to be a really old, '50s-looking Safeway. Sometime in the early 2010s, they remodeled it by adding extensions to the eastern side of the building. Before, you could drive along the eastern side in the parking lot, but the new addition means that Safeway's exterior wall now abuts or almost abuts the sidewalk. They included some landscaping, some benches, and this lone bolted-down table with two bolted-down chairs right before the end of the Safeway property. When I worked in Downtown Berkeley, I would sometimes go to Mass at nearby St. Mary Magdalen Church after work, and I would then walk along Shattuck back to BART, usually stopping to eat dinner somewhere. Anyway, every single time I passed this Safeway on one of those walks, I wondered why they included that table, and whether anyone ever actually bought sandwiches from Safeway and ate them at that table. I saw plenty of people using the benches, sometimes snacking from Safeway bags, but I never saw anyone use that table. Well, probably in an effort to discourage homeless people from hanging around, Safeway recently removed those benches and my beloved table! I'm so sad. And I get it--it's Berkeley, but I'm also annoyed because this is way up in the Gourmet Ghetto. Were there ever actual problems with people using the benches and the table here? So four-point-five stars for having good battery deals, minus one star for removing my favorite table and those cool benches. It's still a useful Safeway with decent parking. It's very clean inside. The workers can be hit or miss when it comes to friendliness and competence, but there have always been enough checkout stands open when I've come here, which is more than I can say for most Bay Area Safeways. It's really funny that it's just one block away from Andronico's. (In case you didn't know, Safeway owns Andronico's, so the company is competing with itself.) read more

I don't know what is a more annoying marketing tactic - Safeway's app or Costco's membership. My go to grocery store is Trader Joes and Whole Foods - but I even somehow see Grocery Outlet with their expired foods as a step above Safeway and their pricing games and new cheap paper bags without handles. I will never remember if I overpaid for some random product in a grocery store by a dollar or two - but I will always remember the junky paper bags from here. It puts me in a rotten mood any day of the week. As I climb the steps in front of my house - the bag tears and cat food, beer and my luxury hair care products fly down the stairs. The Safeway app now has got your attention and phone number. Gone are the days when they just wanted your email address - now they are after your full attention and they machine gun all these notifications right to your phone at any hour. Costco tracks your every move and makes you pay a few dollars a year. They lure you in with too much of everything at a good price and you overeat. Safeway and their app is also hostile toward seniors and those without the ability to jump hoops with their coupon app. I don't want my thoughts revolving around money or coupons or the cost of things every day. Somebody has to stand up for those who aren't part of the club - and are discriminated against due to bad eyesight or lack of money for a smart phone or age or whatever. I don't think its fair a 95 year old struggles with coupon apps and pricing games - sure I can deal with it - but not all can. read more

Bathroom maintenance gets a grade F minus! I've seen nasty public park bathrooms in better shape. Backed-up toilet + a non-working soap dispenser. Yuck Stay away and stay healthy and alive! Also the night employees should be bettter trained on customer service and patience strategies. read more

Really bad attitude for someone working at the customer service desk... No one showed around at working time at first and then someone came out with an impatient attitude... Working for such a short time is still not enough for you to be happy? You still have to take it all out to your customers? We were a little confused at her initial explanation cause she was explaining insufficiently. And when we asked again, she yelled impatiently. Too bad I didn't remember her name! Angry face read more

I got here at 11:45 and was told that the store is closed. Store hours are posted as closing at midnight. Several other times I have gotten here to just get one little thing and told I can't go in even though it was 10 or 15 minutes before closing. read more

The Safeway store at 1444 Shattuck Place in Berkeley, California, 94709, (510) 526-3086 plays AI generated "music" loudly, which is distracting. I asked an associate to ask the manager to turn down the volume by 25% or so. He said he would do this, but said my request would probably not be granted. Several days later it's still blasting away. I tried to notify Safeway Corporate Headquarters, but the website does not function. Why does the volume need to be so loud? read more

I moved to Berkeley about two years ago .. and recently started shopping at Safeway on Shattuck Ave . As I often checked out at self service area. I often had issue'd and questions regarding my checkout. My checkout experience was always handled very kindly and calmly with a great clerk at the store DARYl! He is never too annoyed or curt when I'm asking for assistance! Even if Daryl is helping other customers., he is patient and helpful With myself and most customers that he assists! Most recently DARYL mentioned he had been working at Safeway for many , many years!! Safeway is lucky to have DARYL as an employee!! Thanks for your help and good service at Safeway! Satisfied customer, Renée G. read more

I like this Safeway. I was there the other day to buy a bouquet of flowers for a dance recital, and Hailey, who worked at the flower counter was very helpful. She made a good recommendation on which flowers to choose and made me the most beautifully wrapped bouquet of flowers --the recipient was very happy with them and so was I. Thank you Hailey! Keep up the great work. I appreciate the customer service. read more

Safeway - Flower - Grocery Near Me - Berkeley, California

I bought a chinese chicken salad in the deli case, and it tasted rancid!!! Then the bathroom which I usually avoid, it still looks like the Greyhound bus station. First, you can't enter without a code, which you have to get from the poor bakery staff, because it's nearby. Good luck finding someone at the front, they're usually busy working in the kitchen area. Anyway the facilities don't look like North Berkeley gourmet ghetto, they look like a horrible public toilet that's just ghetto. Cracked basin, graffiti towel dispenser , they're not spending revenue from the high grocery prices to repair the place. read more

Waited at the self checkout for 10 minutes and the only person that had a key (daryl) went to wait to help somebody in the meat department and took 10 minutes to return. There's nine aisles and only one was manned and of the eighth self service checkouts only four were open at peak after work hours between 5 and 7 PM. There was eight employees by the cash registers and none of them had a key to fix the self check out Machine. I was working at trying to pay. This place is usually heavily disorganized, and although it seemed like there was sufficient staffing, the folks over there were not helpful, not friendly, except for the security guard who was encouraging people to take their place in line. read more

Safeway - Waited at the self checkout for 10 minutes and the only person that had a key let - Grocery Near Me - Berkeley, California

Update 11/9: I list wanted to post what I posted because I really enjoyed watching this woman create sushi rolls..lol. I was very amazed. It is the small things that matter! read more

I had parked at this Safeway's parking lot for about 15-20 minutes to pick up my daughter from her coding class, after which we were going to pick up a couple items from Safeway. The Safeway security guard had positioned himself near the lot exit and told me if I was walking off the lot, he was going to write me a ticket. He didn't care about my reason. As a business executive, I can tell you, it's not worth causing unpleasantness to your customers just to save on something like parking spaces. A high chance of those parking in your lot will indeed shop from you, even if their main or other priority is also to run an errand nearby. Those whose time is previous are usually also those able to buy from you without nickel and diming. so, you lost a customer at this site today. And hiring minions that care about executing their job commands from you with solely their own job security in mind is not great for your long term strategy. Ample other grocery stores nearby, so I need not lose my convenience and every time I pass your lot, I will recall this unpleasant experience. Terriible customer service. read more

I came to this Safeway to find Fruit Cake Mix which I was unable to find. I check out this Safeway and it was not a big mistaken. This location hidden in the best part of Shattuck is amazing. The parking lot is big with a parking garage below with access to the store with the elevator and stairs. Inside of Safeway is clean with a Starbucks. The store manage to keep it clean and fully stocked. I was able to find what I needed at Safeway which was sushi. When I went to pay for my sushi I was greeted with a smile from the cashier. I inform the cashier that their store was clean and much bigger than Solano location which he appreciated. I wish their self check out was able to use but since it was 8:15-8:30am I guess it is open after 9am. Keep up the good work on keeping everything stocked up Safeway. read more

No hand baskets. One cashier working at 5:30pm on 10/228/25. Lines at least 6-10 people deep. What is going on? read more

I shop at this Safeway three times a week and am quite familiar with the staff since I live nearby. I frequently use self-checkout because I usually purchase only a few items. On this particular visit, I was buying beverages for a sporting event and had clipped a water deal in the app. However, when I entered my number at checkout, the discount didn't apply. Patrick, one of the employees, told me to scan the app to ensure the deal was honored. I followed his recommendation, but the discount still didn't go through. I then walked over to his register to explain the issue, and instead of handling it professionally, he became verbally dramatic. He ended up giving me a dollar back from the register, but the interaction felt unnecessarily difficult and was not the difference of the water purchase. Unfortunately, this isn't the first time I've had a negative experience with Patrick he has consistently been rude in my past encounters read more

Safeway - Grocery Near Me - Berkeley, California

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I was in this store for literally 15 min and bought a couple items. When I came out I had a parking ticket for $65! Their word against mine that I was there over 2 hours. Guess they have to meet their ticket quota! AVOID this place!! read more

I don't know where they find there security this one they have now asked my daughter for her phone number she declined he then followed her out to her car made her pull out her receipt then pull out everything out he car to make sure she scanned everything. Unacceptable this is crazy she came home in tears. I will file a formal complaint. She clearly scanned everything he knew because he watched really scary read more

This was never a haunt for me because I no longer live in the area. Three of the most miserable years of my life. So much for the joys of Berkeley Hills living! Anyhow, I came by here to get some stuff for the holiday, Cheeseboard had a huge line and after surgery, I wasn't going to wait. I'm an Andronicos girl, but this place was closer to the Cheeseboard and I came here. It wasn't as busy as I expected. It was nice and Christmassy. I found what I wanted right away. It's a clean store and I was confident that if I'd gone into the bathroom, that it would be clean, unlike the bathroom in El Cerrito. The only issue is that I was looking for some Mexican corn chips and the El Cerrito Store has them. For some reason, they don't have them here. Probably, not a lot of Mexican people. But as a non-Mexican woman, who likes some of their chips (which says a lot because I don't eat chips from other countries - England/France ...no thanks). But they lose a star for having plenty of food for fancy folks but nothing really for those of us with less fancy tastes in chips. I had a former friend from high school who used to work there and I remember running into her once. I was hoping that I'd run into her. No such luck. Last time I saw her was over 20 years ago and when I've come in, I've stopped asking for her. I'm not in the area much, but if I need to get something and don't want to traverse the aisles of Andronicos, I will definitely stop in for something. read more

Pésimo servicio ! Cajeros de mal humor con mal carácter Pésimo servicio al costumer No saben atender, no entiendo porque contratan ese tipo de personas sin valores Una contestación pésima Ofensiva y de mala gana Por poco les dejo tiradas sus cosas read more

I received a parking ticket after 5 minutes of parking in the lot. I was in a valid space but they gave me a ticket for parking in an employee area. There were no signs anywhere! read more

This place gave me the BEST sushi ever they gave me a 7.99 dollar sushi that was on sale for 5 dollars however with my amazing bargaining skills I got the sushi for for 1.99 and guess who didn't believe me guess who didn't believe me the people i thought could trust that were around me around me but BAM BADABOOM BOP I DID IT. I will be back that was americas smartest decision the energy of the space was AMAZING AND IMACULATE however one piece of sushi was off center so work on that but loved the unicorn balloons. I'll always go to this one. read more

Safeway - The already bargained offer before I worked my magic - Grocery Near Me - Berkeley, California

You would think with eggs costing $7-13 they could at LEAST price them or stock them accordingly. This is not the case. Be better Berkeley.

I go into this Safeway on Sunday evening around 8.15, im trying to find Passion fruit, never seen it before, this little 4ft 10 inch tall girl doing on line orders in giving someone an order, I wait patiently by the Peanuts for her to walk back towards the back room, I stop her and say excuse me you know where passion fruit is, she says over there way back there, then she walks to the back never showing me where its at, so now im walking around the fruit isles in circles looking and asking women shoppers do they know where it is, so here comes the 4ft 10 inch tall girl from the backroom storage area and I say excuse me you said look here but I dont see it and she's walking 30 mph saying to me im off the Clock, really your off the Clock, when I was working I'd help people load boxes and carry stuff while I was off the clock, Lucky for me a Hispanic guy about age 45 was cleaning around the area, he told me he knew what they looked like and he found them for me, he even told me you can chew and eat the seeds, then he told me he doesn't even work in that fruit area but he still gladly helped me, he had a thin mustache, nice guy, so much for miss im off the Clock. read more

Not a bad Safeway overall, but I have just had too many bad experiences here, mainly due to the old guy (has an accent, usually wears a cap) that mans their self-check out sometimes. Whenever I get one of their items with the purple "25% and 50% off" tags, which requires the person on self-check out to review and approve it. Most of the other self-check out clerks do it smoothly and look at the item, read the screen and approve it. The old guy with the accent instead pretty much always rescans both the item and the 50% off tag, which results in a double charge, so I actually end up paying full price for an item that was supposed to be half off. Sometimes the dude rescans (which re-adds) the half-off item multiple times, which resulted in me paying for 1 item (that was supposed to be half off) like 3 times. I time my shopping with the bus and go through self-check out to get out faster with less wait-time for the bus, so I often didn't bother getting it corrected (it's only a couple bucks after all). But the last time I had like 10 items in the bagging area but the screen showed 14 and I pointed that out to him. He counted my items slowly and counted the screen, then said "I don't know why it's showing that." I replied, "Dude. You rescanned this 1 item multiple times. Take those off man. It's the same thing charged over and over again." Then he got closer to the screen to read it and he begrudgingly took off the overcharges. And I wound up missing my bus, but at least I didn't pay multiple times for just one item (that was supposed to be discounted). Like wtf dude, do you think scanning 1 item a bunch of times won't add it on the machine? Not sure if the dude just has eyesight issues or what, but he's ripping people off. Also gotta add, it's not even limited to when I have a discount tag issue. Sometimes the self-check out isn't even lighting up and people don't even need help, but he will get real close to read the screens like he's looking for something then walk away. Didn't look at the items in the bagging area, doesn't say anything to people. Not sure what that's about, but respect people's space man and maybe have an actual reason to look at people's stuff. Honestly, if I see him sitting at self-check out I just go to the regular cashier line and wait. If the cashier lines are too long, I don't even bother, get out and spend my money at TJ's or Berkeley Bowl. Most of the clerks are alright, but I'm not about to keep getting ripped off by some guy that simply can't read a screen well. Another issue is all the locked up stuff behind plexiglass here. It can take anywhere from 5-30 minutes of waiting to get a locked item (usually like 20 minutes). Really inconvenient just to get shampoo/bath products and not worth it, so usually after waiting 10 minutes, I don't bother and leave for other grocery stores. read more

Selection is not great. Additionally, very strict about parking enforcement. Even though I did buy something at Safeway, running across the street to see if I could find something at another store that Safeway didn't have in stock resulted in them ticketing me for leaving the store and then coming back without leaving the parking lot. Strongly recommend this being the last place you go if you might go to multiple shops. read more

They carry my favorite Chicago Pizza. Home Run Inn. Although normally a big store they generally are a great one stop store! Try them. read more

Came in just before midnight on Wednesday, February 4. The one employee there cussed me out even though the security guard had said I could grab my one item. This employee was a very short, possibly Hispanic guy with a stupid haircut who should be fired. Extremely unprofessional - in my 15 years of working retail I have never once actually swore at a customer ( and I've dealt with ones who actually deserved it, which I certainly hadn't as I hadn't said one word and was in fact already on my out the door. By the way, just in case that child's manager happens to see this- on my way out the door he yells, "you're a crackhead, get the fuck out!" In fact I have a very serious thyroid problem which would make that a pretty discriminatory statement. I'm pretty sure you guys have to watch a few very long training videos on why doing this can cost the company a whole lot of money, especially if said to someone who may be a bit litigious AND have the resources to act on it. Maybe mention this to him? read more

I've been going to the Shattuck Safeway's on and off for over two decades. My other local shopping choices that I frequent are Sprouts and Trader Joe's. Occasionally Whole Foods for their organic roast chicken, bakery items, hot foods & soups, to go, and an occasional specialty item. Generally, speaking, Safeway is a great place for a lot of items at better prices equivalent in quality to even Whole Foods. But you have to shop for a while to figure it out. For the last decade, it has increased its offerings of organic vegetables, frozen items, as well as can and bottle food products. If I can buy organic product at Safeway's, although Whole Foods may have it, I'll buy it at Safeway's. Safeway's also offers a lot of two-for-one deals & discounts if you are a member . They even started to offer a lot of even better deals, if you scan specific coupons posted on the shelf. For some reason, although I'm pretty good at digital technology, I am not able to always do that successfully and it's frustrating. My real complaint is if I'm already a member and you have my information, my telephone number, to confirm at check out, why are you putting me through the trouble of separately scanning coupons digitally an item at a time? And often with such difficulty that I give up? And then I feel cheated because I didn't get a better deal than membership!?! It's like you're competing with your own decades-long established membership discount program and defeating it. Or putting us through two steps towards the same end. Otherwise, I would've given you a five star. Hopefully you'll resolve this. read more

I came to this Safeway for the approximately four years I lived in Berkeley and Albany. I found all store sections to be well stocked and have a variety of offerings. Even managed to find fresh okra here one time for a recipe I was making. Three of the stand out sections I regularly visited here were the bakery, the frozen novelties, and the pharmacy. Doughnuts became a breakfast staple especially in my later years living here as I headed to work. The pharmacy in my experience was well run and pharmacists were clear with instructions when needed and friendly and kind in their interactions. They were helpful when I would be out of town when my prescription needed to be filled making sure I had worked everything out with my psychiatrist so there were no problems when I went to get my prescriptions filled. In the main store there are both checkers/cashiers and self check-out options. Lines could get quite long at times, but still moved at a decent pace. read more

Watch out for employee Patrick @ self-checkout, he is a filthy fu*%ing pig! I just checked out w/ 7 items and the machine was acting up. The fist time Patrick came over clear the error he cussed at me; the second time he came over he burped onto the screen after clearing the error - leaving me to finish my transaction with his dirty inside juice covering the areas of the screen I needed to press. So nasty, read more

Great store. I like that it has natural foods and then the regular conventional stuff. The organic line from Safeway is great . This is a nice, roomy store with a fast self-service check out. read more

This is a subpar grocery store. The fruit and veg is always on the verge of going bad. The milk selection is super limited. The bakery items are basically non-existent. All that would be excusable for a city-center grocery store struggling to get by, but this place takes it to another level by just not caring. The place is always filthy with trash strewn all over. The parking lot is dangerous with holes and pits all over. The staff is also terrible. They are totally unhelpful and can't really pay attention to anything going on. read more

I spent $95.00 the cashier starts giving himself 10s on the keypad, I told him that he was not supposed to do that. They did not even bother to say thank you at the end of the transaction. And I said if they had good customer service I wouldn't mind them giving themselves 10s on the survey. read more

Safeway - Grocery Near Me - Berkeley, California

I kind of hated on Safeway for a very long time, but then I downloaded their app and now I kind of love Safeway. There, I said it. Download the app. So many great deals and coupons for their rewards members. Without it, I wouldn't be giving them the bright lights of 4 stars. This Safeway has a nice produce and meat section and is nicely laid out. The guy checking me out was fine, there was a security guard in the front and everyone was masked up, as to be expected. Mainstream brands, anything more independent and bougie is going to require Berkeley Bowl or Whole Foods, but definitely a solid shopping trip to load up on essentials. Overall, armed with app and coupons, you can get some great deals here. read more

If you're a Safeway shopper, you're probably aware of its $5 Friday specials. After stopping my local store, the there was a waiting line at the deli for the fried chicken special, so I left not wanting to wait. I was in Berkeley for another shopping stop and decided to check out this Safeway store in North Berkeley. I was able to find a space on the street level lot, though they have an underground lot. The store's layout was spacious and well laid out. The store was not crowded too. First, there was only person waiting for deli service, so I was able to get my fried chicken. Next, I headed over to the meat dept and picked up some packages of the short rib on special too. They have self-check registers here to speed the check-out process. Overall, I was pleased with my shopping experience at this store. read more

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Oh man! I never reviewed this Safeway? I worked here while in college! Store 695. Stopped here on my way home for a few things and the Friday $5 8 - pcs fried chicken. I like the underground parking lot that's almost empty most of the time. Convenient during the rain. The store is like a "super" Safeway. Wide aisles and fairly clean for a busy location. A very pleasant deli person picked me good sized chicken and got me checked out fast! read more

The deli is great for fried chicken and the individual wings that can be teriyaki, bbq, salt&vinegar or spicy. They're usually fresh and hot, unlike other locations, and the ladies who work there are great, very helpful and friendly. read more

I have pretty much had it with this place. There are some nice and competent people who work here and sometimes the sale prices are decent. But the combination of inflated prices (sodas, Gatorade, and pita chips are among the worst), some rude employees, and understocking has led me to buy as much as I can elsewhere (TJ's, Amazon, and Walmart, mostly). My most recent bad experience was with Dave at the meat counter, who was flippant, rude, and insulting when by early Saturday afternoon they had already run out of the chicken breast that was on sale and I politely explained to him the legal requirements about having adequate supply of advertised sale items. I filed a complaint via online chat, and was falsely promised something would be done and somebody would get back to me (nothing was and nobody did). Goodbye Safeway! read more

A wide variety of food and good service. It's my neighborhood grocery store. I don't know what to say about the ambience.

This is a terribly unfriendly store. They allow crazy long lines, have terrible produce; the store is an unhappy mess.