FOOD BAZAAR — Attraction in Trenton

Hello, Fellow Shoppers! While the selection of edibles (and non-edibles!) cheers the palates of those of many lands, the service in the Trenton Food Bazaar, in my experience, almost consistently demeans some, if not all, of its customers.

To begin, while there is the fantastic, environmentally-friendly policy of discounting one's reusable shopping bags by .05 each, unless I stuff my reusable bags into my purse, I am required to leave any bags, excluding my purse, in the charge of various employees at the door. Not only does this make TFB's seemingly earth-friendly, wallet-friendly discount virtually impossible and/or ridiculous to obtain, it is offensive. Deeply offensive.

When I first started working in retail, at the age of 16, in Marlton, NJ, the FIRST issue I learned about was SHRINK. I learned that it is an enormous problem that raises prices for everyone due to the acts of the few. I understand that the owners/shareholders/board members of Bogopa think (perhaps): "Because Trenton Food Bazaar serves a poor community (in the majority of shoppers), the amount of shrink is higher and as a result, we need to confiscate (temporarily) any bags that don't possibly hold money (women's handbags). This will cut down on theft, the product costs and our profits." If indeed this is the thinking behind this awful practice, I would like to know why I NEVER had this experience and NEVER saw such a "station" set up at the Food Bazaars in NY, most specifically, the Myrtle Avenue Food Bazaar, my experience being from 1998 to the present?

I note the date because the ethnicities and tax bases have shifted significantly toward the more "well-heeled" in recent years. Yet, even when the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood was, shall we say "uncoveted," Food Bazaar's/Bogopa's customers were treated respectfully... or, at least, allowed to enter the doors without an assault on their spirits.

I urge my Fellow Shoppers and those "in charge" (those in upper management of Trenton Food Bazaar, Bogopa, Future Group... perhaps even Mr/s. Kishore Biryani) to challenge this policy by any means we can.

Food Bazaar's signage proclaims its devotion to "Home." In Trenton, reading that signage after entering after releasing my belongings, I am always just a bit disgusted, always reminded to buy enough browning to not have to shop there again for a long, LONG time. No other store in Mercer County, NJ, from the bodegas to the organic superstore, treats its customers with...

If you want to be over charged and profiled your entire visit, shop here! At first my boyfriend and I loved that we found this place where we could get some of the authentic things from his home country. Our first visit we thought we got a decent amount of meat and fish for the prices! However after this last visit and looking at the receipt more carefully, we realized we were over charged for quite a few items. Not to mention we noticed both the meat and fish butchers pressing down on the scale when weighing our order, we were double charged for our fish. On top of that, many other items were rang up differently than what they were originally marked, some duplicate items that were the same exact product were marked at two different prices on my receipt. This all added up since we were getting a variety of things, we come from out of town to get some of the more authentic things that you can’t typically find at your local market, however after this visit we will be looking for other options! After calculating I’d say it’s like $100-$150 dollar over charge!! If over charging me wasn’t enough, the stores cashiers and employees are very rude and unwelcoming. My first visit I just thought the lady may have been having a bad day, but this second visit just clarified that if you’re not Spanish you can forget about getting any type of customer service. When I asked about the stores reward and loyalty program the cashier lady acted like she didn’t know what I was talking about, then another lady approached me very rudely and asked me what my name was, I responded that I was just wondering about the stores reward program and the prices listed in yellow that were posted around the store, she again acted like she didn’t know what I was talking about, she came back over quite a few times and adjusted something with the register, it looked like they were weighing the produce items so I didn’t think much of it at first. After being stared at by multiple employees and hovered over by security the entire time of checking out, I’m still confused how I wasn’t rang up accordingly and the funnier thing is that my receipt says I saved $16.57, but I don’t see where that’s even marked on the receipt next to my items. No discounted prices were applied to my $300 order. My last order was a little over $100 and I feel like I got way more than I got this time around, how that works is beyond me! Terrible experience to say the least and so disappointed in your employees...

Awesome place to shop for food. Several years ago, I lived in one of the closest residences (on Genesy Street) to what is now the Food Bazaar facility. Later, I live on Broad street which was again very close to this facility. Back then, this facility was occupied by the Giant food chain. Migration changed the demographics, and Giant forgot one key role of business: that they only exist to provide service to people. Giant as a business did not know how to change to meet the needs of the new demographics. So they packed up and left.

Years later, the neighborhood was blessed with Food Bazaar. This organization clearly understands the constituency they serve. The carry a wide range of ethnic foods. Black Africans residing in America, Carrebbians, Arabs, Hispanics, ethnic Europeans, Asians, and much more find this store a go to place.

In December 2020, close to Christmas, at one of the raging points of the COVID-19 pandemic, the store, knowing the awful impact of the disease on the ethnic communities showed empathy by paying for food for some of their customers, and this is not a hearsay, as I personally know at least one family that benefited from this generosity.

Food Bazaar is so awesome, they carry every food item you could possibly need, including some from cultural backgrounds one would not even imagine could be found in America. Even more awesome is that as a retail store, some of their prices are even better than the so-called membership wholesale stores. One good example is the price of their celery which is less expensive and of better quality than that you will find at the BJs located at the Hamilton Market Place, where you will have to pay for membership to buy inferior celery at a higher price. I no longer live in the neighborhood, but I drive past all the big named guys, just to shop at Food Bazaar.

Hear is my slogan for this establishment.

FOOD BAZAAR - They know us!

Or

FOOD BAZAAR...