Harding's Market — Local services in Coloma Charter Township

I've been patronizing this small local food store for over 30 years that was once called Hilltop and now Harding's and have never had any concerns or issues with this store in all that time. However, the health climate in the country has changed, we now have a global pandemic that has the potential to seriously affect us all. As of this date 6-18-20, Michigan currently requires all persons that occupy enclosed public spaces to wear a face covering. Big box stores such as Menards, Home Depot etc. enforce that requirement (everyone that I've seen in those stores was wearing a mask)... Harding's in Coloma has signage on the entry doors that indicate face coverings are required, but they don't enforce that rule. While all employees appear to be wearing face covering's and most customers appear to be as well... about a third of the customers in the store do not. In addition, a fair number of folks in the store do not observe CDC recommendations for social distancing either. I talked to the Store Manager this past Sunday, 6/14/20 and a gentleman from their corporate office in Plainwell on 6/18/20 regarding this issue and both indicated that Harding's does not enforce the Governor's order for face covering's. And to be fair... the Governor's Order comes without criminal penalty... However, I have a fair amount of experience in the medical field from a practical and legal perspective and have personally known several people who've lost their lives after contracting this virus. While genetics, age and general health and well being play an important role in who may and may not contract this virus... I assure you this is not something you want to contact and bring home to your family. Personal experience, as well as conversation's with employee's in other retail establishments indicates that the overwhelming majority of customers DO comply when asked to wear masks. Some may grumble about it... and some may walk away, but most understand the necessity for doing so. Store employees, especially cashiers, are in reasonably close contact with customers throughout their shifts and perhaps Corporate should ask those employees how they feel about customers that don't wear masks... With that said, I understand (from the Store's perspective) that tension can occur when enforcement is attempted... but if Corporate was TRULY concerned with the health and welfare of their employees as well as their customer base they would take stronger steps to enforce the Governor's order and require ALL patrons entering the store to wear face coverings. Something for everyone...

We usually only shop here when we need something because the next closest store is about 12 miles away. Their produce is especially bad and we have returned several items like packaged salad mix because it was bad before the expiration date. My wife bought a bag of cranberries a couple of days ago and when she went to use them today about half of them were bad . We had thrown the receipt away so I diidn't expect , or ask, them to make it right. I took the half bag of bad berries back just to show them what kind of garbage they sell and walked out. Someone needs to open a decent store in this area.

I would add this to the reason I rate this place one star and only shop there when I have to. This has happened more than once before and I let it go but decided today to call them on it. I bought an item that was marked $2.49 but rang up $2.79. I told the clerk the item was marked $2.49 and her response was something like "they can't change the price unless someone tells them about it" . Because this wasn't the first time it happened I went to the service counter and told them about it. The lady refunded me the 30 cents difference. I told her I think the law is if I report an overcharge for an item under $5.00 the item is free. She indicated she was aware of that and then refunded me the balance of the purchase price. Someone still needs to open another grocery store...

I went to this store for the first time on 7/22/23 around 10:45am. The bagger that was working there made me so uncomfortable that I will never return. He put my groceries in a separate cart, which is normal. But when other stores have done this, they usually hand me the cart and take mine for the next order. He instead put two bags in my cart and then just starting taking the other cart out the door without saying a word to me about what was going on. He never asked if I wanted help getting groceries to my car, but instead just started following me to my car. When we got to my car, I asked him if I could put my groceries away myself. He didn't say anything. I said, I never asked for help and again asked if I could put my groceries in my car myself. He responded "eh, sure." Then proceeded to stand next to me and stare at me while I put my groceries away. He then took both carts and left also without saying a word. No thanks for coming or even a goodbye. He had zero customer service skills and did not get that I didn't want a random guy following me outside. I didn't see any other baggers taking carts to customer cars at the time, so not sure why this happened to me. PLEASE do not let your baggers follow girls to their cars without their permission. I understand some stores think it's a nice gesture, but there's plenty of people like me who prefer to do...