Nesters Market — Local services in Vancouver

Been shopping here for years on and off only because it's close by.

Problems with this company and location specifically :

1. Prices are extremely high for this tier of grocery store. It's not Whole Foods, or Urban Fare. While they do have good sales occasionally, why do they need to charge more for items that you can find a better assortment of at London Drugs or a Loblaw's owned Grocery Store for $2 or $3 less? Nester's is owned by Pattison Group, which means not only that they can afford to be more competitive, but they really should try to be if they want to remain relevant.

2. The new loyalty points program is useless. It takes an extremely long time to accumulate points vs. the old loyalty points system. The computers are often down at this location as well, meaning your points will not be entered unless you bring your receipt back.

3. Expiry dates. I have found a lot of expired items at this location.

4. Employee Management seems to have gone downhill drastically in the last 3 to 4 years or so. This is a city wide trend in Vancouver, but less corporate locations have a bigger problem with this. Some employees are very diligent and hard working, but others really need guidance. There is a lot of weird audible chit chat/unprofessional behaviour amongst employees throughout the store, and while I realize many employees here are quite young, they should really be learning how to work effectively from their upper end local and regional managers. Again, some employees are great - friendly, hard working, and diligent. They are a pleasure to deal with. It's just that the general feeling is that management ( and I am thinking of upper end management, outside of the store - head office/regional type management ) might need take a look at what is happening here. The new shift manager seems to be very smart, hard working, and diligent. A pleasure to deal with, and I have no complaints whatsoever about them in the capacity they seem to be working within. It's just that when you have some workers who are not necessarily very mature themselves, they create problems, they are almost impossible for a local manager/shift manager to deal with effectively. They bring a store like this down for both customers and their coworkers/ store managers.

5. Crowded. I see that someone complained about distancing during Covid. It's a small store and there really is a space issue. I would suggest a renovation so that the freezer doors do not block the aisles, etc. Also, please stop leaving ladders in the aisle. That is an obvious safety issue.

I try to avoid this place as much as possible, but wish I didn't have to since it is close by. Hopefully some changes...

Meh. Expensive but OK to grab one or two items as needed. I saw apples on sale and bought them, but didn't realize until I got home that I'd been charged nearly twice the advertised price. Went back and it was a huge deal to get refunded the difference. And then realized I had still been overcharged, but by this point I couldn't be bothered. And I didn't get the feeling anyone bothered to take note and change the price in their system so that others wouldn't be overcharged. Another time I couldn't find something out of my wallet and the only place I'd been was there, plus the liquor store. I thought it was a long shot, but I'd try asking if it had been turned in. The woman at the liquor store took the trouble to look, but no, it wasn't there. At Nester's I asked if anyone had turned in my card, and I was told, "I don't know, sorry." (Couldn't she at least pretend to check?) So I asked, don't they have a place to check where things get dropped and turned in? So she asked another employee, "How can this customer get a card?" Not exactly what I asked, so I explained. The second employee took a brief look around two of the three checkout counters and said No, not here. Which is fine but I wasn't overly impressed - I've worked in stores before and most have a place to stash cards and other items that customers have dropped, so they know where to look when they come back for them. They need some people skills, such as if you're not sure of something, feign concern and pretend to want to help, and make it appear you've at least thoroughly checked instead of total disinterest. It's entirely my fault I lost my card but it would make a more positive impression if they...

It appears I am not the only customer who feels the same way about the deli counter at #4556 Main Street store. I am left standing there for at least 4 minutes ( i have timed it) before I am even acknowledged. When i finally am acknowledged and I give my order I get the "look" as if i am speaking an alien language? I have to repeat myself at least 2 times.. After all this I have to watch the employee like a "hawk" as my request was clearly not understood and i get 2x what i ordered or 2x less ...I do not any "hello" how are you" nor "thank you" I am there almost every day and yet this is the service i get...When they do get the order correct it is like watching "paint dry" it takes them forever to slice 5 slices of deli meat.....Are they not happy due to takeover of Nesters ?? Whatever it is they are losing clients as many of my neighbors feel the same... there are other local market stores.... or many of my neighbors are driving to other market stores.... This specific store may want to review their logo of "where the locals...