-i am surprised FTR but not really.... i think i might be the only past watsonville resident to yelp aside from my sister lol -ice cream brought me here, rite aid is next door and when i was craving the small malt balls in my mouth...small balls for a change, they were dry - all out -they have jamba juice and in the same store a starbucks...gotsa belee it! -this used to be an albertsons -my man mentioned that this could possibly be the cleanest, most organzied safeway he's seen and trust me it was sparkling white like someone's newly treated teeth -customer service was with a smile that could use some of that whitening treatment and some cheezme -in my mind "....just wait....watsonville will fuck it up" but it has been open for a while. over a year possibly? =I AM GLAD YOU ARE HERE SO MY BRO-IN-LAW CAN RACK UP POINTS FOR MY SAFEWAY GAS DISCOUNT read more

I've been shopping here for a few years. The staff seems friendly, and the store is well organized. I also like that they sell organic produce. They have sections where they sell groceries from other places in the world, like Thai food, Mexican food, and even a small Japanese section. They have a bakery and a deli, where they can make sandwiches, cakes, cupcakes, and donuts. I like it here and recommend it to shoppers. read more

Safeway - Front view of the store from the parking lot - Grocery Near Me - Freedom, California

this shout out goes to the "Safeway Deli." (the rest of the store is alright) True or False. Making a deli sandwich is rocket science. (In most cases this would be false...but in Safeway's case...well you catch my drift.) I do not know how many times I have gone in there, my coworkers & even my friends have gone in there and come out with a screwed up sandwich. I guess each time I go in there, I want to give them another shot to make my sandwich somewhat close to what I order. Almost every time I go in there, I order one of their signature sandwiches (they have the ingredients/directions taped on the inside of the counter) So you would think, it is pretty straight forward...step 1- condiments, step 2- meat, step 3- cheese...and so on. But apparently it is a lot harder...to follow the directions...or dare i say....READ?! Any sandwich I get there...every time they add an ingredient (whether the right or wrong one) they ask me if they can put it on. Then when I tell them 5 times to not put tomatoes on, i get tomatoes. I honestly think a 10 year old could do a better job at reading the directions and following them. Its not hard to listen to an order...i.e. "I'd like a number 5 without onions." If Togos and Subway and Eriks can do it, why hasn't Safeway grasped this concept? Sometimes it is painful to watch the people in front of me and even my own sandwich being made. Can we at least hire some COMPETENT people to handle our food? Or maybe interview my little sister who can read and write and listen to orders!!!!!! Jesus, I almost want to make a formal complaint about this particular deli to Corporate. Ive been going to this Safeway for almost 2 yrs (only because i work down the street). read more

Every single time I come into this store which isn't often since I usually go to my local store in Aptos but the times I do have some errands to run in Watsonville I make a stop to Safeway and every time it's a terrible experience. The workers are rude. That's the biggest point. They never accommodate to help or just give you attitude. Today was extra special with Mary at check out. I put my basket on the belt for check out (something I thought was normal to do) she refused to help me until I emptied out my groceries and moved the basket out of her way. She made me feel uncomfortable the entire time talking to me like I was a child. I work in customer service and the worst thing to do is make a customer feel uncomfortable. read more

So I go into my least favorite but most convenient to home grocery store Safeway in freedom caucus. I went at about 8pm so I can forgive the fact there was nothing on the shelves and it looked like a tornado hit the place. I settled for second choice on most items I purchased because the stockers obviously we're not clued into the fact that it's Sunday and people buy food on the weekends. Soninwheel up to the checkout and the checker, Jaun who I suppose had a bad day because he was sporting one great big bad attitude. No greeting. Didn't care if I found everything alright, he must have played ball or some kind as a kid cause he was great at throwing my scanned groceries on to the the bagging platform He was concerned that I wanted to put 40 dollars on my card and pay the remaining seven dollars of my bill with cash. It's something that must be really difficult to do because he rolled his eyes and looked at me as if to say ' your kidding right? Geez'. Anyway once he gave me change and finished bagging my food. He scolded me for havingore than 15 items in the fifteen or less lane. His was the only register lit up and no one was in line behind me. What's the big deal? I had 21 items . 10 of which were one brand of yogurt they had on sale. So what if I had 21 items? I mentioned I was sorry, but he was unyeilding. Turned his back to me as if I was then dismissed. I think Jaun might need a vacation. When I spend 50 dollars on not many groceries and the customer service is excellent I feel ripped off. When the customer service is mean and insulting, I write yelp reviews. Bottom line. If your rich , shop at Safeway. If your in line and you see Jaun is checking.... RUN. read more

This store is horrible. From cleanliness to customer service. I never go in anymore and don't leave frustrated or disgusted. My husband refuses to shop here anymore, choosing to drive clear across town to Nob Hill. I keep coming here because I know where everything is and the location is convenient. It seems that there is NO pride taken in this store by management or employees. The lines are ALWAYS ridiculously long. I'm standing now in a check out line waiting & waiting. I have shopped here for years but I think Nob Hill is going to gain another customer and Safeway will lose out on yet another unhappy customer (with a family to feed) *when I got to the register, Vanessa was great! She was personable, helpful and efficient. I almost didn't post this review but I'm hoping corporate sees this and cares enough to make some changes read more

I just got home from a quick grocery run which was cut even shorter due to the fact that they had an employee in the Produce Dep not wearing a mask. I saw him, did a double take and decided to just leave with what I had. I should've gotten a name, picture , etc. but I just didn't feel comfortable and wanted to leave. He was working breathing on all of the produce that we buy and eat. This is why watsonville is so high for Covid positive cases....the complete lack of respect for others and following the mandates. Then, I'm checking out with what I did manage to shop for and the checker asks if I want bags... ummm yes please, I have 25 things in my art, I'm not going to carry them out one by one. Haha OMG this place is a joke. Don't go to Safeway, read more

What a great Safeway! It's it just a great grocery store but rather, it's the extra things they have! Jamba Juice, Starbucks, the coin machine, flowers, and great individual departments!!!!! Wow!!!!!! The clerks are awesome and the management is very nice! I love the specials I get with my Safeway card too ! It's my pick in freedom for the best place to buy food!!! Finally, kudos to corporate Safeway for hiring such sterling employees!!!! You rock.... All of you!!!!! read more

Review is about the bakery ONLY. Today Will and I were grossed out. We usually shop this Safeway for our cakes and cookies fix. Tonight we had a hankering for some cake so stopped here on our way home. Will found a package of 2 cream puff eclairs. The package only had 1 in it! Not only was the sticker freshly put on and undamaged, there was cream filling smeared all around the inside of the container! How can an employee stick a price tag on something that clearly looks disgusting and is missing 1 eclair?! Will was able to get them to send the bakery manager named Nancy out to speak with us. I'm guessing this woman already had her mind made up. She felt we were wrong & there wasn't any foul play. She said customers usually eat some food and they see it all the time. My question is: how do these supposed customers manage to take the price sticker off without damaging it? It looks like it was just stamped on and is supposedly fresh. Nancy didn't seem to care about our concerns. She dismissed it right after saying thanks for telling her. She whisked the offending package away and we were expected to still feel OK with the quality of food care. NOT. We ended up going to another grocery store. If you do decide to buy bakery items, check them thoroughly before paying. read more

Was in here recently and counted about 8 employees half-assing their mask requirement by wearing them too low with their noses fully exposed outside the mask. These were all stockers. No cashiers. Absolutely ridiculous for these times. We just had an outbreak at the new leaf in aptos!! Management needs to get on this. None of us like wearing a mask but none of us like a global pandemic either. These are the people handling every food item going on every shelf!!!. Couldn't believe seeing one person doing this- then it's another, and another, and another.... etc. made me extremely uncomfortable and they are putting the community at risk. read more

Deli here stinks. They never have enough people working in this department and even if there is one somewhere in the back they pretend they don't see you. The people making the sandwiches have no clue what they are doing. Today, the guy shorted me on the bacon and burned my sandwich - $7. Total rip-off. Half of the cashiers are unfriendly. If you can't be nice to a customer then find another job. Anyway, I will be buying all of my sandwiches from Subway from now on. At least they are a good value and the workers treat you better than this store does. read more

The freedom Safeway is my store to shop. The people are always friendly. I would to single out one emploee in emploee. His hame is John, I believe he is ate assistant manager. I have run in to him several times and he has gone out of his way to make my shop experience very pleasant. Thank you for the great customer service. read more

Simply love this store. If you want to save money, shop here. MM

I typically only come here if I can't find what I'm looking for at other grocery stores. This Safeway is my last resort. The lines are horrible cashiers are extremely rude and most of the time their over priced fruit, veggies, or meat is rotten. Beware of a bad experience read more

I love the store but One of the Mangers is a Huge B! Her name is Stephanie. Just no kindness or costumer service. She may just be an unhappy Person to treat random people like she does as a Manager! She needs to go!!! read more

I LOVE coming to this Safeway, the staff is always friendly and helpful, the shelves are always stocked the prices are great and the deli sandwiches are to die for! even when i had an issue with a price mix up the customer service counter was very understanding and fixed it right away without even questioning whether it was my own mistake or not. I also love bringing in my children to get a Jamba Juice every now and then and while I'm there i grab a starbucks for myself! read more

The men's bathroom in this establishment is foul! It smells like it's never been cleaned, ever! Tags everywhere! None of the stalls have toilet paper dispensers or anything.. seat cover dispensers on floor even! This has to be an issue with the health board! It's a grocery store for crying out loud! I'll never shop here again! read more

just a little annoyed cuz i always see people with their dogs in baskets here and the one time i bring my dog in because i didnt wanna leave him in the car (hes a blind senior dog) i get told dogs arent allowed in the store. smh and i was carrying him too. he wasnt even in a basket. read more

Hmm, 9 pm and one check stand open. No self-check out was open either. Then the lady in front of me grabbed the wrong loaf of bed and it took awhile for another worker to go grab her the correct one, then she had to split her purchases and pay with her WIC and a check. Goodness. I just had one item and there was a line forming. Call in another cashier. They didn't. Blah. read more

Horrible . Jamba Juice has the worst customer service. I felt guilty drinking my juice after the kid behind me got denied because they were suddenly closed. Fucked up service. I feel guilty for not standing up for him . On top of that fifteen minutes to make my drink just to tell me one of the ingredients wasn't available so I had to pick another kind . Will never come back read more

In all seriousness...Where to begin with tragedy of a grocery store and the customer service nightmare it represents?!?!?! I've shopped at this particular location on multiple occasions (unwillingly) and it truly is overall the worst Safeway I have ever been to! The employees are on average unfriendly, and noticeably unprofessional. It appears that they do not know the first thing about customer service, and seem to have an attitude when you bring up something that isn't right OR unfavorable towards them. The deli counter staff was the tipping point for me today! The staff in that department do not seem to understand the importance of customers time or their need to have speedy service. The staff also seems careless in regards to how many people are waiting to be helped and the speed in which to help them. It's obvious they prioritize what their behind the counter duties are versus who's waiting for help. There is absolute disregard in feeling a sense of urgency to help customers. It's very frustrating and annoying! I have personally experienced this and it blows my mind!!! How can a store run like this? Same thing in the produce department, as well as the dairy area. Additionally, the store is jammed packed with "Crap", seemingly concentrated around the checkout area, making it extremely difficult to maneuver throughout the front of the store. In my opinion, I feel this is a potential fire hazard and definitely unsafe! There are many more disappointing things I can comment on but I do want to say something positive about that store and her name is Karla. What a wonderful, helpful, courtesy, professional lady. She helped me out with my issues there, and deserves to be acknowledged. I would love to say more but want to say it to a Safeway executive! read more

I ask 5 different persons in this store for no nursing water and no one gave me a good I called you but you didn't answer they sand me to different please finally I asked Brian and he call to the manger and he told me that they don't carry tha water any more 5 starts to brain :-) :-( read more

I finally had enough of waiting forever for some deli meat and then having to put up with some rude cashiers after waiting in a long line. Its like a Stephen King book. You want to get the hell out of there but your stuck there for what seems forever. I now shop at Nob Hill. Hardly ever a wait and the cashiers, on their worst day, are courteous. Yep you pay a little extra but worth every cent especially when you don't have to walk around the parking lot in the rain looking for a shopping cart. Oh and Safeway should have a contest......if ever any customer sees Juan smile, they win a prize; they don't have to pay for their groceries that day. No worries.....it will never happen. Finally, there are a few good courteous cashiers but I think they rotate them to the stocking crew because they are good all around workers. Management needs to reevaluated and replaced. read more

This Safeway always has lines out the door at the check stands. The cashier-to-customer ratio is a big joke. I rarely like shopping in this Safeway for that reason. The lines are always super long and it doesn't seem like management ever does anything about it. Service is good, but they need to work on having more cashiers when the lines at the check stands become too long. read more

I shop here all the time it's neat and the staff seems friendly my daughter just started eating food and snacks so I would buy them here at Safeway but today when I went to purchase more all the baby food and snacks had expired like a month over expired dates I was so disgusted I just left and went to target but not before I told one of the cashiers about the situation. Please any parents out there CHECK the expiration date before purchase for your children's health and we'll being. read more

Very long lines every evening I have been in this store (3 times in the past month). Easily 15 people or more. This last time it was about 8:00 pm 2 lines where open. The so called quick checkout had the least amount of people. As I headed toward it I was stopped by an employee at the end of the line. Who told me that line was closed to go to the longer line running all the way up the middle of the frezzer section. I asked her why they did not have another line open. And that this was not the only time I have seen it that way. She shrugged me off. And procceded to direct other unfortunate shoppers to the longer line. In my opinion a better use of an employee would have been to have the redirecting employee open a line up and help instead of telling people to go to longer line. Also in my experiance in retail; Managers on duty will actually assist in checking out when things get really busy like in this case. Not the case here. In part we the consumer are to blame for continuing to patronize places like this. Instead of shopping elsewhere. In my case I left the store without purchasing anything. And will only be forced to use this store in an absolute emergency. or not at all if I can. read more

Time after time this store never fails to disappoint, especially when it comes to their deli counter. The staff is consistently clueless in this department and cannot seem to handle any situation without that extra helping of attitude. The ONLY reason I set foot in this store is because Nobhill is too far away. read more

I love the service I get at Safeway in soquel, now having to work next to this one is a bummer. Staff has ignored me, and been rude. Ofcourse there's always those nice ones that get to look bad because of the other poorly trained staff. They get paid well, hopefully they soon will show that they like working there. Especially horrible service at the deli. read more

Absolutely love this Safeway amazing customer service. They don't change stuff up so it is easy to find what your looking for!

I mainly come here for the fresh bread rolls or a sneaky treat. I can't make them because I either cannot be bothered to make it at home or just don't have the time. The quality of a lot of the items are better than some of the other hyped up bakeries on Yelp and for as much as a quarter of the price. read more

Ernie in the meat department as super helpful! He helped me find just the right turkey for our Thanksgiving dinner. I shop here often and the customer service is always great. read more

Just Now! trying to reach customer service by phone. Never, does anyone in any department answer the phones. This store has disgusting customer service. And while I'm at it, by late afternoon, the bakery stock and the deli items are always depleted and employees won't make more food late in the day. read more

Good decent Safeway. Fairly new and well kept. It's always clean and you never really have to worry about running into riff raff here. The staff is always in a good mood, in fact they're nicer than the Safeway's in Santa Cruz and Capitola. read more

was shopping last Sunday and I for got my 10$ off coupon. I had said that to my checker and she called over the front manager and she said to go ahead and give it to me. I thought that was so nice because I hadn't asked, but they said they are here to take care of us. I thought that was a wonderful attitude and wonderful service!! read more

Possibly the worst store manager I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with! I was horribly treated by one of the clerks that was working their terrible self check out section so I asked to speak to the store manager. I am not a person to complain easily but the blonde woman working the self check out was so blatantly rude to myself AND other customers that I felt I could not leave the store without bringing my complaint straight to the store manager! I have been a faithful customer at this safeway store since I was a teenager. To make an extremely long story short the Store Manager (Yezi) did absolutely nothing to help the customers that we're mistreated by the woman running self checkout (who apparently turned out to be a front end manager) and I actually I felt I was met with irritation and disregard by the Store Manager! I don't know if she and the front end manager are buddies or what kind of Store they are running there but I will NEVER be back. RUDE STORE MANAGER AND FRONT MANGER! I expected so much more from such a large corporation! They may want to rethink the training they are providing their poor excuses for "managers". In my opinion the store manager was so out of line and uneducated I am dumbfounded that she has actually earned the right to run a store. I wouldn't want either of those women even bagging my groceries with their evil glares and disrespectful attitudes. Lastly I would like to know what the "store manager" was doing hiding in her office when her store was CLEARLY under staffed and so busy that all the customers we're waiting in 20 + minute lines?! So she doesn't know how to check people out? She must be above that! I will find a new store to do my shopping. read more

i love everyone that works there (all friendly and very helpful)... i just wish they would carry more organic foods...although they are now carry great products with their organics brand...i go to santa cruz to get organically ground almonds where i can grind them to make almond butter, fresh (refrigerated) organic unsweetened almond milk, organic kale, organic flax oil and much more...i know nob hill has more organic, but not enough either. read more