Brookshire's — Local services in Athens

I am extremely disappointed in the Brookshires in Athens. We buy about 80% of grocery items from Brookshires and the other 20% from Walmart. We buy about 95% of our gasoline from Brookshires. The remodel job has brought with it new checkout stations that are more like a discount grocer which trades customer service for lower prices like a Walmart. The scenario for a customer was to approach the check-out area with your basket of groceries when the cashier reaches out for your basket and pulls it the rest of the way to the cashier area, then opens the "gate" on the cart and pulls the groceries over the scanner and a bagger/carry-out person stands and bags the groceries and places them in a cart and when the transaction is completed follows you to your car and places the groceries in the car. That's service…and you would expect to pay more for it. NOW...the new check stands makes the customer unload his own groceries out of the basket which is much higher than the old checkout stands. There isn't enough room to conveniently stand before the basket without a lot of effort...just like Walmart. The other day was the first time that a cashier asked me if I wanted help out to the car and actually allowed me to push the cart out to the parking lot without a manager running out to assist me and retrieve the cart. The worst change happened a few minutes ago. I checked out and slid my card as usual (bought only one item), pressed “cancel” because I wanted to use my debit card as a credit card (like I always do) and it went back to a start screen. The cashier said it didn't take and I needed to slide it again. I did and told her "credit". She said that I have to enter it manually. I said, "What do you mean?". She said I have to enter the CC # myself. I said, "No I don't...you can". She said they aren't allowed to do that. So I had to enter the full card number, then the expiration, THEN the CVV #. I got miffed and said, “what's going on, is this something new? She said it only takes ACTUAL credit cards. I said, “Why do I have to do all this?” She said that they have been getting fake cards. I said, “It's not my fault, why am I being punished?” She didn't respond. What happened to the great service with the higher prices compared to Walmart. There is absolutely no more reason for me to trade with Brookshires any more. It is not worth having to be treated like "cattle" and dumped on because some customers use fake cards. I'm going to make sure and get the word out about this. I'm going to write corporate and complain. The thing is...Athens has only two grocery stores, Walmart and Brookshires. Everyone knows that you get NO service and have to do most everything yourself at Walmart...the trade off is that it's cheaper than Brookshires. If you go to Brookshires, you pay higher prices you get MUCH better service and a pleasant experience. Now...that's gone. The experience at Brookshires is now EXACTLY the same as...

I have recently moved from San Diego to Athens, Texas. It is quite a shock to see such a lack of ORGANIC products in your store, mainly fruits, vegetables and meats. I thought I'd surely be able to buy ORGANIC MEAT, and I was very surprised when I found NONE at all.

It is also surprising to experience your prices as compared to even San Diego. If I thought you had super duper shopping charisma, charm or novelty, like a WHOLE FOODS, or a TRADER JOES, I'd probably be ok with the prices, but sadly, you do not have any of these. In my opinion, you are a plain old mom and pop type establishment that is very unsophisticated in the world of super markets.

You do have a friendly staff and I did find some good wild caught fish, but that is about all I found that would cause me to return regularly.

Too bad for those of us that live out here in the country, that you and Walmart are our only choices. It would seem to me that you have a great opportunity to set yourself apart since you seem to have a strong foothold in the East Texas area. My advise as a consumer: grow up and change with the times, or you won't be around for another long run. The world has changed while you have been focused on a status quo, and lots of outsiders from other states are moving into your area. We are sophisticated shoppers of food. We cook healthy meals and we want to know what is in our food. We reject the main stream food supply as pretty much filled with lots of products that harm our bodies and those of our families.

We have discovered Tyler and the DFW area, and even though it's a longer drive, it is worth it to us to have ORGANIC choices in our food purchases, so we will be going there as much s possible and avoiding your store until we see some changes. I realize that I am only one voice out there, and for what it's worth on this review, my advise is this: Get with the program that is sweeping the US and enter the 21st century. Lots of people, especially the younger ones and enlightened/educated folks are fed up with hormonally enhanced beef and chemically laden produce. We are a nation of sick people, and everyone wonders why. Only when we change this in our own communities can it ripple out and change the world. As a beacon for our food source, you have the opportunity to really make a difference. AND, yes, I did visit your flagship store in Tyler. It is a step in the right direction, but I still question why your prices are so much higher than any other grocery store?

In closing, I'd like to point out that I read recently that COSTCO just became the largest seller of ORGANIC food products. That ought to tell you something about what you are...

Further update: Someone responded to my review and assumed I am a man. I'm going to assume just like this person did that they didn't fully read my review. Especially since I wrote I have a husband in my review. Not that I can't be a man and have husband but the fact that this person just assumed I'm a man. This was offensive.

Update: We just realized they also didn't give us a 12 pack of sodas we paid for...

To start off the "personal shopper" wasn't all that pleasant and lied to me. It says on the FAQ that if you miss your time slot they will hold your food items until they close which today is at 2200. The email I received said we could text the shopper and let them know 15 mins before that you're on your way. My time slot was 7pm-8pm and I was cutting it close but my husband was going to be there before 8pm. So I text at 1943 responding to their previous message that my order was ready, "Thank you! I'm on my way." The shopper responded with, "we close at 8". Rude. I said, "ok, thanks". The website says they close at 2200 today so I'm not sure why this person lied. I guess I'm not welcome and maybe they got off at 8🤷. I chose to order curbside pickup from Brookshires because I was ordering produce. I had read that the "personal shoppers" pick fresh produce as if they are shopping for themselves. Well they must like spoiled produce or at least the shopper we got does. 5 out of 8 produce items were incredibly soft and dented. My grapefruit had teeny holes and is soft. I included pictures but you can't tell how soft they are from a pic except for the watermelon which you can tell has a big dark spot where I'm sure it's about to start seeping goo. The silver lining is that some opossums around here are getting a mini buffet. One funny thing was the pic for the bananas on their app shows a bunch of bananas so I thought that's what I was paying for but I was wrong. I bought one lonely banana. 😅 Their pic is a bit deceptive. I gave 2 stars because it's not the owners fault or other employees(who are usually polite and helpful). Also everything else was fine. Lesson learned. I'll continue to shop at Walmart as usual and pray...