When Trader Joes, Gelsons and Whole Foods are in lock-down for the night, and I'm desperate for some essentials, this is my "last resort" grocery store. Upon entering, I always feel like I'm in a dimly lit, seedy feeling market in some rank third world country.
Why, you ask? It feels kind of creepy and depressing, their dark lighting is eerie and almost all the people that shop here look as though they're either on the wrong anti depressants, their meds haven't kicked in yet or they're not ingesting enough of them. In other words, they look depressed and move in an excruciatingly s-l-o-w fashion. My Stuart Smally-like nature just wants to gather all of them up into one big group hug and expose them to the miracle of a loving and supportive group therapy experience, encourage them to get in touch with their feelings, so that they can talk about their sadness or whatever else is ailing them, so that they can cry it out and move on to a better tomorrow. "You're good enough, you're smart enough, and doggone it, people like you!"
The food: Most of what they pawn off as organic produce looks like it's been sitting for far too long AND they expect their customers to pay "Whole Foods" prices. Come on people! We tree huggers that purchase organic produce? We do so because we desire to eat healthy nutritious food. I hate to break this to you, but when produce is in the gray-brown, wilted and ready to be read it's last rites stage, it's then devoid of most, if not all of it's nutrients. Kind of defeats the purpose, yes?
It's almost as though upper management dashed off a memo to their stores, letting them know that they 'must' carry organic produce and the managers did what they were told, but did it begrudgingly, as if they had no interest in the stuff selling, so they could then report to the CEO that the 'organic produce thing' hadn't been successful.
The reason I think it's a distinct possibility, is because a year or so ago I'd nicely asked the manager if he'd please order some soy ice cream, and he didn't seem much too thrilled with the idea. He'd said that they really didn't have the room for it. I said "Well, you might consider making some room, by removing one of the 50 or so brands that you're currently carrying, of the regular ice cream products?"
After about a year and a half of me repeatedly asking him if he was going to order any, he finally did but it's in the most boring basic flavors such as vanilla or chocolate, hidden in the back of the refrigerator case and most of the time it's out of stock. I've asked him a couple of times if he'd be so kind as to place larger orders because obviously, the stuff is selling... and I'd also requested that he add to it more interesting flavors. ... Lets just say that I didn't receive the answers I would have liked.. It was a "No Go" on both counts.
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Also, the deli items often times look as though they've been sitting in the case for far too long. I wouldn't recommend their selections as the food is nothing special. Next door is Gelson's and their deli is far superior.
At this point, I've given up on changing a thing about this Vons, and All I can think of while speed shopping for my items, is getting the Hell out of there.
1 star for the nice guy that offers to help bring my groceries to my car that's parked in their scary parking lot.
1 star because they're open late at night.
Update: 02/07
I called their corporate office and read them my review and the woman that I spoke to was really grateful that I'd let her know what my experience had been like in this particular Vons. She also said that the mgr. should of let them know that a customer wanted them to add more choices of non dairy ice cream...
Since then a miracle has ocurred! I visited Vons the other day and I didn't even recognize the organic produce area, 99.9% of it looked fresh, and it looked tended to... and the whole area was far more attractive. In the past, the bins were half empty and the produce was unappealing and old. This visit, the only negative thing that I noticed was that the celery was brown on the ends, as per usual.
I added one star!
Thanks Vons!
Now, if they would only get rid of the ancient looking flooring (which makes the place look unkept and dingy), add good lighting, do a remodel, and clean up the parking lot, the inside and outside of the store would look clean and bright. Hint Hint. ;-)
Update: 06-02-07
I'd figured that there would be an improvement in their selection of non-dairy ice cream but absolutely nothing has changed since the call. The last couple of times I've visited the store, I found nothing other than dairy ice cream. Shame on you Ms., and you seemed so sincere...
Update: 6-17-07
I briefly perused their organic produce dept. and lo and behold, I had a deja vu experience... Yes, they were back to pushing their decaying and inadequate foodstuffs. -1 Star read more