Sudbury Farms Needham — Attraction in Needham

Great long-time courteous employees, upscale, always immaculate, with particularly good good deli, meat, prepared food & produce departments.

Gripes: Altho hot chicken wings were really scrumptious, the store mystifyingly changed offerings -- & STILL miss the old, honey stung drummies that were the BEST - what is available now is not nearly as delightful.

Ditto, been little disappointed in the generic-turned bakery products - While in-store baked bagels are still nice, years' past baked goods were far superior -- half-moons, eclairs, cakes all tasted home-made good, as opposed to the processed-food tasting. For more than a decade ordered birthday cakes from here, they were as good as a free-standing indep bakery. Baked goods are just not as qualitative, not sure why, but sure wish the store would address. Eclairs are the only offering that still tastes worth eating the calories ;)

Dairy yogurt & ice cream selection are not tremendous, probably due to the relatively small store size. The store does seem to try & offer items that are less easily found elsewhere, which is nice. I loved the delicious frozen ravioli & was willing to travel just to buy them, but they're no longer available & it's a shame --

Prices are definitely on the higher side, but then sale prices can be super & offset the other spending. In many departments, store brand items are economical options i.e. plastic bags & good quality, so painless swap out.

Produce is reliably excellent -wherever the store sources their veggies (with the exception of white mushrooms, which tend to disappoint, being pre-packaged & have short shelf-life) it's top notch. I prefer to buy green beans, green peppers & celery here, the stuff is that much better. A well-deserved shout out to the long-time produce manager & his crew for years of healthy eating options! POST-COVID 2025 UPDATE: Everything I love about this store as a whole, workers, cleanliness, produce remain top-notch! Alas, their originally to-die-for honey stung drummies never returned & their alter offerings are just meh. This is no longer my go-to for salad bar & hot food offerings --- perhaps, due to the times...? While salads & such are available pre-packaged, with a relatively high price point wish there was a way to order what ingredients I prefer, so not wasting food & money tossing components not fond of. Ditto on the dressings. The bakery, too, seems to have suffered a continued decline -- still clean & staffed with lovely employees, but the pricey half-moons bought as a treat tasted like typical cheap, commercial /canned frosting, not something store-made & yummy. Can't help miss the quality delicacies that used to be available...Cheesecake from the frozen food aisle tastes better & has a better consistency than the heavy cheesecake selection from the bakery. Luckily, the breads seem more fresh & appealing, but as someone that used to splurge on certain dessert items, can't help feel bit nostalgic for Sudbury's past baked goods, which were a cut above large grocery chain cheap, heavily processed, baked goods. Bottom line, the good news is the things probably shouldn't be eating are the ones I no longer shop due to lackluster taste, freshness & ingredients. Apparently, the universe is telling me to stock up on fruits, veggies & non-processed proteins & LUCKILY this is where Sudbury...

I've been here twice. It is a basic supermarket. Something smells a little off in there, possibly the meat department (I am vegetarian so maybe I'm extra sensitive to certain smells?). Whatever it was, I could smell it throughout the store. On my last visit I bought 2 bags of lemons. When I got home I discovered that 1/2 of the lemons were in a bad state. Also during that visit, I noticed (who I believe was) a store manager behaving in a surprising manner - 1st he brushed past me, hurrying, unapologetically. 2nd, without even looking at me, he cut me in line (to pay for his lunch). I understands that he may be a very busy man, or he was maybe even having a bad day - who knows - but c'mon, walking into people while they shop then jumping in front of them in line without saying a single word to them is kind of ridiculous. I would've gladly let him go to the register before me had he indicated that he was in a hurry. (I want to mention that I let a water works truck driver get in line in front of me because he was on obviously a lunch break. Grateful truck driver -1 point, self absorbed manager - 0) . Then, naturally, the cashier was unpleasant. Because this is my local market I will have to return again. I really hope my disappointment in this store doesn't...

Want helpful, knowledgeable staff? Not here. I have come here more than once needing a quick pointing to something, and each time I get disappointed. Tonight, I asked the guy hanging out next to customer service for help finding a sauce. He told me to ask customer service. He stood there still not doing anything for ten minutes while I waited! Customer service didn't know, and called a guy from the dept who then try to give me lighter fluid instead of sauce! He had to ask someone else, who asked the manager, who did try to help but...