Grocery Outlet Bargain Market

Category:	Grocery Store
Address:	2900 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94611, USA
Phone:	+1 510-465-5649
Site:	groceryoutlet.com
Rating:	4.2
Working:	7AM–10PM 7AM–10PM 7AM–10PM 7AM–10PM 7AM–10PM 7AM–10PM 7AM–10PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 6

A Private User

I love the stuff they sell, and that it changes a lot, and shop here often. Its interesting, but it takes me way more time to shop here than at other markets, because of the changing products and lack of prices. Huge organic section? They briefly had lots of fresh organic stuff (early 2010), but have had little for months. I find it maddening that SO MANY ITEMS AT THIS STORE HAVE NO PRICE. (-2 stars.) Id say over 2 dozen items that I consider per visit have no price info at all - on the shelf or item - including stuff that they try to sell a lot of/dedicate a lot of shelf space to. During many different visits over months, Ive spoken to several of the staff, and the manager, and even walked by the office during what looked like a senior management meeting and brought it to the attention of the assembled, but Ive seen no improvement. The dairy case prices arent affixed in any way, so a gust of wind and they disappear. They dont have a price scanner for customer use, and staff dont carry price scanners either. Its actually illegal in California not to price grocery items; will have to get tough with them if they dont get better. I recall from a radio ad that theyre a small chain, and either family-owned or locally-owned or both. (Edit: Headquartered in Berkeley, California, 130+ independently operated stores, and a family business, per their site.) On my last visit, the bread stockist pointed out that their products very frequently change, which is true, but even items I recall theyve always carried often dont have a price. If theyre testing to see what sells well, their tests are worthless; I would have been buying the croissants they stopped carrying, except I didnt find out they were well-priced till after they stopped carrying em. Lots of their bakery stuff is expensive, and bakery goods often have trans fats, so I shop it carefully. I actually walked out and went to Safeway once, in order to avoid further frustration. I generally shop here or at Safeway because only at Safeway can I easily compare prices, because they provide legible unit pricing. It seems that Grocery Outlet has what seems to be a relatively huge ongoing task returning product to shelves, probably from customers who pick up and later decide not to buy items because of the pricing problem. Only at Grocery Outlet do I frequently see staff re-shelving. Money spent paying staff to re-shelve and do price checks when customers (like me) ask for prices or give back has to be hurting their P&L! The workers **other than whoever can fix the pricing problem** are all good or OK; I ask for prices frequently, so Ive interacted with many of em. Indeed the coffee prices are nuts - lots of coffee under $4/lb. Most cheeses are cheap. They even had brie for $3 for a pound for a couple months, but theres been no brie for months. But they sell lots of stuff thats a really lousy value - e.g. cereals, so its essential to look at prices here - but often its impossible. Indeed, buy in bulk as reviewer Accident Prone suggested when theres a great deal, before its gone for good. Overcharged, you say? Pull over behind the checkout counters and check your receipt before leaving. Have your cashier fix any errors. I would do this at Safeway, where I often had the same experience, but havent had problems here. I always get the lowest price theyve advertised or posted if I insist on it. (Yeah, a crazy long review; my family was in the food biz (but not for years, and didnt compete; theres no conflict of interest.)) The place is *packed* with cameras (and/or camera housings), by the way, like a Vegas casino. Smile!

rose flanagan

If I lived closer to The Grocery Outlet Grocery Store, on Broadway, Oakland CA, I would be a much more frequent shopper. I just love the store and am always completely satisfied with my purchases and mostly with the cost of what I purchased. I was in today 5/6/16 and once again, left very happy and glad that I had a chance to shop there. I want to mention a checker who helped me today and, the last time, I was in the store. Her name is Chantale. Chantale, is just great. She is fast, efficient, courteous and I think that Grocery Outlet, is very lucky to have her as an employee. Dealing with customers all day long in a busy store, is no easy task. Chantale, does it very well. I also want to mention another of your employees. Her name is Amela. I had a bad wheel on my shopping cart and it was hard to push. Amela, saw I was having difficulty and called out for someone to take her place so that she could help me push the cart to my car. I was so impressed with her sense of caring and good Customer Service ability. Cherish both Chantale and Amela. Good staff is the heart of a company. I look forward to shopping in your store again.

Cymen Vig

My favorite grocery store! You can score some great wines here if you put some time in looking at what they have. There are also deals to be had on speciality food items (cheeses, high end olive oil, interesting condiments, frozen seafood, vegan and organic items). The produce doesnt look that great at first but I was pleasantly surprised that it seemed to last just as long as Trader Joes or another grocery store (except when its obvious with saw cherry tomatoes that they need to be eaten soon). The downsides are they dont have everything the grocery store has -- usually, the deli meat is not well stocked. But if you look carefully, youll find a lot of awesome bargains mixed in with just regular unexciting items.

Sebastian Castrechini

This is one of my favorite places to shop. Whats exciting about the Grocery Outlet is that you never know what you are going to get. I have found great bottles of wine Scharffenberger and Dagoba chocolate, and all sorts of interesting snack foods. Products are constantly showing up for limited amounts of time and then gone forever, so you just have to like playing roulette with your grocery shopping. If you can live with that, you can easily fill a grocery basket with all organic products or at least high-quality products and walk out spending $20-$30. The only downside is that their produce can be a little hit or miss. But this is my go-to shopping destination for most of my homes groceries.

irk hayner

This is a place for people who are flexible with their meal plans. The selection changes constantly, so dont expect to find the same things stocked everyday. The prices are terrific. Theres not a lot of fancy stuff, but there are amazing bargains to be found You will find products here that didnt hit it off in the big supermarkets and are selling here now. Bison broth? Yup, and man was it good. Too bad it many never be here again! The wine selection is surprisingly good. I have purchased great wines for stupidly low prices. If you need three bottles of decent wine for under fifteen bucks, it can be done. The place is a trip.

Sason

If you need cheap food, this is where you want to go. Unfortunately, its not the freshest food on the block. Some foods are days or weeks from expiring, and just last visit I saw molding strawberries on the shelves. Every case of strawberries was molding and they were still on the shelf. However, this one bad experience wont take away from the good ones Ive had because everything I need, such as cereal, milk, eggs and whatnot, are always cheap and not expired. The store is clean and the employees are there to help. 3 stars simply because the selection and freshness of foods are lacking a bit.