Kroger — Local services in Chester

Have you seen or heard the Kroger commercials that are blasted all over TV and radio recently? They’re all about the company guaranteeing freshness and touts that only the freshest, best produce is selected for each store. This store did NOT get that memo. I remember when this location first opened. It was the equivalent of Chester getting a Wegmans. The store was immaculate, the produce super fresh and the butcher counter rivaled local shops. The store is now unrecognizable. My last few trips have been extremely disappointing, but it was my most recent trip on a Friday night that sealed the deal for this being the last visit.

I fully understand we’re still in the middle of a pandemic, which means shipping delays and staffing shortages. I don’t hold it against the company for not being able to keep the shelves stocked. However, I do expect the items that are in stock to be fresh, free of mold and not riddled with flies. The produce department was probably one of the most disgusting produce sections I have ever visited. Many of the items I needed were not available, and the products that were available were not consumable. There was a bin of jalapeno peppers that were wrinkled, smashed, moldy and swimming in a puddle of mush. It was literally gag-inducing. I moved on to the packages of grape and cherry tomatoes. Every pack I picked up produced a swarm of fruit flies and/or gnats that came flying out of the containers. There were two bundles of parsley left on the shelf, but the leaves were all brown and slimy. The worst part of this wasn’t even the extreme nastiness of the products, but the fact that there were two employees hanging out in the produce department just chit-chatting. I walked past them several times and was never greeted or asked if I needed assistance. They weren’t cleaning out the nasty bins, stocking the items or doing anything about the deplorable state of the produce section. I gave up on the rest of my produce list and moved to the meat section ….

Again, many items on my list were out of stock, but I picked up a few packages of pork chops, a tenderloin and a pack of country ribs. Is anyone surprised to know that when I got home and opened the country ribs and the tenderloin, they were both ROTTEN?! Both had sell-by dates that were over a week away and the color of the meat looked fine. However, rotten egg/ammonia smell almost knocked me out. Not sure that the store would have known to pull these items; they easily could have been carried around in someone’s cart and then put back after being stored improperly. But after this awful experience added to the last few mediocre trips to this store, I will not shop here again.

The only reason I’m giving 2 stars instead of one is because the checkout associates are always friendly. None of the employees on the floor ever speak, even when I make eye contact, but the front-end staff is...

There are 2 Kroger in Chester and this review is for the original older one on Jeff Davis. Some of the pictures on here are of the newer nicer store about 10 minutes away. This store is what I call the dumpy Kroger, the produce section is no where near as nice as the newer store, as if they know the other store is bigger and nicer and dump the lesser quality produce here. Items being out of stock is also a common problem but the most annoying problem is prices not matching what is in the computer which must happen to me about a third of the time I go there (I can walk to this one , which is the only reason I go to it so often) They leave sale signs up past their end date, they put items on sale but don't change it in the computer and one time put 2 completely different sales on the same item. I do most of my shopping at Aldi and Wal-Mart and this does happen at other stores too, but much less often. Some Kroger brand products are genuinely excellent, they do have some great sales, but this particular store comes across as the Kroger no one cares about. If I didn't live right behind it , I would never go to it. Wrote my original review more than a year ago, still continue to have bad experiences at this store, but I live right behind it. Ladies at customer service are always nice and helpful, today dealt with Lucy who was great. Jeff who works in stock and also a man with a white beard who works in stock are also nice, but some of the women cashiers and counter workers are awful. Woman at the self check got nasty when I asked her if the eggs were 99 cents (rang up as $1.18) , snapped at me "No they're not" and as it turns out she was wrong and rude about it. The eggs were 99 when I bought them on Monday, were still 99 cents today, how did they get into the computer at $1.18 ???? Lucy confirmed they were 99 and refunded my money. Why should you have to go through this while shopping for groceries ? I live within 10 minutes of 7 grocery stores, you would think they would care, but this place stays so busy , I guess they don't . Please hire the type of people you use in customer service and not these nasty women. My original review goes back about 3 years ago and this Kroger is as awful, maybe even worse. I go here when I'm in a hurry because I live behind it. Went in today and had an argument with 2 people over a digital coupon. Their own app said I could use it again. Yet they insisted the their own app was wrong. Right in front of their face I showed them it said "CAN USE AGAIN". Finally took my purchase to customer service where the one nice woman agreed with me it very clearly said , Can use again and I was issued a refund. The store is always a dirty mess and half the the employees have an attitude that indicates they hate their job. The other larger, newer Kroger is exactly...

I went to Kroger on 6 June 2025. I picked up two (2) Petunia plants (1 large, and 1 small). I proceeded to the self check out. When I scanned the large plant it was around $29.99. and I didn't want to pay that price, so I got the attention of the self check out attendant, and had her remove it. I scanned the smaller plant, and it was $13.99 so I purchased it.

I placed the plant in my front yard on a plant stand. When I looked at the plant last week, it was dead; however, I didn't immediately reach out to Kroger because I was extremely busy that week.

Today, I contacted Kroger, and spoke to a young lady in the floral dept. I explained to her I was trying to speak to someone to ascertain their policy on returning plants. I relay "I've had my plant for over a week and it's dead."

The young lady replied she "didn't know," and would need to ask a "manager." The young lady placed the phone down and about three (3) minutes later she came back to the phone and relayed I would not be able to return the plant. I asked why? She relayed "we don't know how the plant was when you purchased it!" I chuckled, and asked "so you guys are selling defective products? She replied "we sell mark down products."

I was taken aback because #1 no manager came to the phone, #2 I was not asked if I had my original receipt (which I do), which would clearly show if I purchased a mark down item. I also still have the bar code tag info on the plant pot, which would also clearly show if it had any annotation on it as being marked down.

If my documentation had been looked at it would have clearly shown I purchased a live plant at full price, that only "lived for about a week. At the bare minimum, Kroger should have offered to either refund my money or afforded me the opportunity to pick out another plant at the same price.

Shame on you...