Farro Epsom — Local services in Albert-Eden

Update 20/03/24: It's been 5 days since I had an awful experience at Farro Epsom - still haven't heard back from Farro management. Upon reading the existing customer reviews, I also had similar experiences too - I've purchased "fresh" fruit and vegetables that I paid premium price for from Farro Epsom that turned completely rotten and inedible the next day - I've had to chuck them in the rubbish bin. I've also purchased supplements from Farro stores that appeared to have some contents missing from the bottle. I didn't have time to go back to return the rotten/faulty products as I work and study full time. However the issues described below were the last straw. We will no longer support a business that does not appear to show consideration towards their loyal customers, their belongings and their Health and Safety.

My husband and I both live locally. I have been going to Farro stores for grocery shopping for the past 7 years, but we both had very bad experiences at Farro Epsom on our last visits there - I was repeatedly followed around, and stared at repeatedly by Farro Epsom employees, and had multiple Farro Epsom staff stand close to my body on multiple occasions during my last visit there for no reason. They stood close to my body on multiple occasions in the same visit without saying "hello" or "excuse me". One of the staff was a male employee (I'm a woman). I felt my personal space violated and was left feeling very uncomfortable during and afterwards.

My husband also had a bad experience there. He went to Farro Epsom after work. He was told by the security guard to put his small work backpack at the front exit door of Farro Epsom before he was allowed to enter the store - my husband hadn't even entered the store yet when the security guard made this request. My husband felt discriminated against because he noticed he was the only customer who was told by the security guard to put his personal backpack by the front exit door. Other customers who came in with their personal handbags/backpacks were not asked to do the same. Nevertheless, my husband did as he was told without arguing with the security guard, however he had some important documents in his backpack that he would prefer to keep with him. He was told to put his backpack in an open, unsecured area of the store where it could easily be lost, damaged or stolen, and his backpack could potentially pose as a tripping hazard for other customers due to the high foot traffic at the front exit door of Farro Epsom. This is a potential Health and Safety hazard /potential accident just waiting to happen. From these actions, it appears that the Epsom Farro staff seem to lack consideration for the health and safety of their customers, and lack consideration for their belongings.

The staff did not even offer my husband an option of leaving his backpack in a secured area such as a storage locker/drawer. This is really disappointing. He works nearby in Newmarket so he came by bus instead of by car that particular day, so he had to take his work backpack with him.

Therefore we will not be returning to Farro Epsom anymore. I've never experienced this sort of behaviour from any supermarkets or supermarket employees in NZ over 20 years. It has never happened in any of the other Farro stores, just the Epsom store.

We usually spend over $100 on each visit each time at Farro, we like the products at Farro, and we like how tidy Farro stores are. Their rewards system for earning $10 vouchers is great. However, it is not worth it when we are both made to feel awful after being discriminated against and treated unfairly by their staff members at the Epsom branch. My husband and I have both never stolen anything from their store, but was made to feel like we did and treated as such, which is rather insulting since I have been a loyal customer at Farro for many years. I work as a senior healthcare professional in NZ.

If you don't want to be treated this way and made to feel uncomfortable, I would highly recommend avoiding...

Unfortunately today I had an incredibly uncomfortable experience at Farro Epsom.

As I often do, due to working locally, I called in to pick up some snacks/lunch. Having decided on my purchases I was waiting in line for the cashier, and the person in line in front of me was attempting to purchase their goods. This person was an elderly Asian gentleman who (quite obviously to me) did not speak much English. The cashier asked if they needed a bag, which the person did not understand, they asked again in a derisive tone and the elderly gentleman turned to me looking confused then quietly said, "No English". The cashier proceeded to roll their eyes and sigh loudly before stating the total of the purchase and ask if they wanted a receipt. Then made a square shape with their hands. The customer was confused, paid for their purchases then left. The cashier then rolled their eyes a second time and scoffed loudly.

This upset me for the following reasons: 1) the gentleman stated they could not speak English, the cashier continued to communicate with them in a way that appeared to be rude, 2) the cashier did not need to make it obvious that they were annoyed at this customer for not openly communicating back to them in English.

So, when it was my turn to purchase my goods, I said to the young female cashier that there was no need to be rude to the customer before me simply because they could not communicate in English. The cashier then proceeded to use an aggressive communication style whereby they justified their actions as, "they didn't make any attempt to communicate, not even smile". I then stated that in other cultures things like smiling is not necessarily done, and that perhaps they could try to be more accepting of other people. Now, I am someone who communicates for a living and I actively ensured my tone of voice was calm and collected, motherly even. The cashier then proceeded to tell me that I had called them "racist", which I categorically did not, and aggressively began to argue and accuse me of various things.

At this point I had enough, and I asked them to get their manager for me, as I was very aware that this conversation had escalated to a point where I was uncomfortable continuing it any further. The manager, the cashier, and another employee then came over in what I can only describe as an intimidating manner. The cashier immediately began to, again, aggressively argue and speak to me in a way I was uncomfortable with. The manager defended the employee while encouraging them to "tell their side". I put my hand in the air in a stopping motion and said to the cashier that they need to stop and walk away. They then walked away with the other employee, and I spoke to the manager about my concerns. I do not feel as though the manager listened to my concerns at all, and I do not feel as though they effectively handled the situation. I stated that the cashier was rude, aggressive in their communication with me, and that I was simply standing up for an elderly gentleman who could not speak up for themselves. The manager made vague statements about staff being given better training, and stated this employee was new.

I walked away from the situation feeling incredibly uncomfortable and attacked for having rightly stood up for someone who quite literally had no voice to do so for themselves. Suffice it to say, I do not feel safe shopping at this store in the future. Also, I will always say something when I see someone being treated unfairly, as...

I do love the store because I got the chance to find something different than other supermarkets, and I like the whole fresh product & environmental packaging “ farm style” environment.

However, the cashier mislabelled my fruits and used the higher unit price for the different types. I felt disappointed afterwards because I tried to avoid using paper bags to separate them in different bags and shouldn’t it be cashier’s responsibility to identity the correct type?

Also there was a male security guy walking around the whole time which made us feeling really uncomfortable considering this is a relative small supermarket. ( Apologies if this was a just random guy in store instead of security)

Overall I do recommend the store,although the price is higher but you get what you paid for( in...