Butera Market — Attraction in Algonquin

Update: 3/2/2018 We have stopped shopping at Butera in Lake in the Hills which is too bad because they are close and convenient. The meat counter has not improved and the display case is often dirty. Packages of chicken leak and make your hands sticky. Twice, meat and poultry we purchased spoiled in our refrigerator in just 1 or 2 days.

Two stars is generous and I'm leaving them up for the reasons given, but we won't shop here anymore. Two good things which earn them a star each. 1.) Most of the staff who were left over from Joe Caputo and Sons try to be helpful. 2.) The store offers competition to Jewel across the street and keeps them competitive. That said...

The transition from Joe Caputo and Sons to Butera Market (summer-fall of 2016) is about complete and that is unfortunate. The meat department in particular has suffered. The display cooler is frequently dirty and sometimes smells. On a recent visit, raw chicken had fallen out of the package was laying in the cooler for the entire time I was in the store. (See Photo) Right before I checked out I went back and looked and it was still there. The store was not particularly busy and there were staff available who had seen the spill.

We've lost the Caputo brand of sausage. Formerly, Joe Caputo and Sons could promise that their mild italian sausage was gluten free. Now Butera can't even tell me where it is made. One Meat Department employee claimed it was made in house, another said it was outsourced. Both told me that it was probably gluten free, but would not offer any proof or verification. My wife has celiac disease, so taking a chance is not an option.

Instead of all choice meats, now there are cuts of utility grade beef offered at a discount price. T-bone for 2.99 a pound. They call it USDA inspected. Well of course because any beef sold in a store is inspected meat. They are hiding the actual grade of the meat by saying so. No marbling, very little if any intramuscular fat. This is utility grade or cutter and canner grade. Some steaks offered one day were almost certainly cutter and canner. You don't see T-bones with no intramuscular marbling graded select or choice.

We usually buy low fat ground meat, but now you can't even be sure. Products carry conflicting labels (see Photo.)

While so many things have changed, a few remain. The bakery is still a good bakery. The deli help is still slow, but they get the job done. There are still good choices in the produce department. Joe Caputo brand spices are gone. Hopefully the new brand can be verified as Gluten Free.

Too many low-quality store-brand offerings have replaced what we used to buy.

I realize we are probably still fortunate to have a store there that competes with Jewel. It was hoped they wouldn't change too...

Meats: Good, not great. Lots of fat left on many meat cuts, adding to additional cost to the consumer and additional profits for Butera. Produce: AWFUL!!!! On numerous occasions I have brought a bag of carrots with mold up to the service counter (Algonquin Rd. Store) requesting that Butera be more mindful of what they're selling. I get a polite 'Thank You for bringing this to our attention", but nothing ever changes. Produce across the board continues to be sub-standard. Deli: The staff is wonderful, but the prices & quality are questionable. Randall Rd. appears to draw more traffic which begs the question how fast does the stock turn over on Algonquin Rd. Butera knows it's only real competition is Jewel in Algonquin/LITH. Costco may be a competitor, but only if you purchase LARGE quantities. For those of us who don't order in LARGE quantities, Butera, in my opinion, is on an equal or sub-par level with Jewel for price and quality. That said, Butera's Deli is nothing special in terms of VALUE. As for general goods: Prices, once again are just plain 'ol O.K. If you follow your sale circulars you can more often than not do better somewhere else. Pet Peeve: If they do issue a rain check it's good for a full month. Great, you might think, but often times the product is NOT restocked within the month and when you request another rain check they issue an extension for one week. Really??? That's a total of 5 weeks without an item. Wouldn't you think they'd give you an unlimited time extension if they didn't have a product on the shelf within ONE WHOLE MONTH??? Finally, I feel for the cashiers. When shopping the Randall Rd. store I am often overwhelmed by the long wait at the cash registers. For reasons unknown to me, it seems that Mgmt. NEVER has enough cashiers on duty. I have been in the store on several occasions and have had to wait in excess of 20 mins. to check out. REALLY! My time has a value too. Adding insult to injury, those poor cashiers have to bear the brunt of irate customers who are regularly being charged more at the cash register than what is priced above the product in the aisle. Seriously? Why should the consumer POLICE Butera's pricing vs. Butera being responsible for their own pricing??? *I agree with the review below. Since Butera took over Caputo's service and quality has fallen off dramatically! Sad. 2...

I just started going to this grocery store. Very clean, well stocked, and fair prices. The bad experience I had involved one of the workers in the front by what seems to be a customer service area. I have a two year old who I imagined would love to push one of their child carts around the store. I remember doing similar things with my parents and loved it. The child carts are, as expected, kept behind in this service desk area to deter people from taking the carts. I had my daughter and was waiting for someone to show up at the desk so I may get a cart. First, no one is apparently stationed there so my options were to flag someone down or wait until a worker made their way to the area. Fortunately, a young lady was returning a red cart while I was waiting. I asked if I may have one and the young lady with brown straight hair and glasses CLEARLY rolled her eyes and mouthed “what”, I asked again if I may have a cart thinking she didn’t hear me because she was about 20 feet away rolling a cart in a grocery store. To this she put her finger up as if to quiet me. She then opens the half door to one side of this service area and returns her cart to the line. She then walks towards me knowing I was asking for a cart for my daughter. She pulls a little red cart out, pulls the old newspaper ads from it and then without making eye contact says “Open the door” as if I were making it an inconvenience. No other words were exchanged. No customer service banter of “How are you today?” Or “How May I help you?” I’ve worked in customer service (retail, hospitality, etc) for 15 years. This lady either was having a bad day or hates her job that requires customer service. This exchange left such a bad taste in my mouth and I was shocked at how rude someone in retail could be. Don’t want to be bothered by customers, then don’t be in customer service. If that’s the first exchange a customer has at any place, I’m sure a family business will wane. If I didn’t want to chit chat with a local store worker, I’d go to the self check out line at any other store around. The small family feel to Butera was absolutely...