Giant Eagle Supermarket — Local services in Columbus

Admittedly, I am one of the people who waits in line for allocated bourbon. I do try to be as respectful as possible to minimize the space I take up in the store, but at the end of the day I still have to wait in line because I'm just a graduate student at Ohio State (so if I want to collect bourbon, I have to buy these products at retail price because I don't make enough money to buy them in other states for secondary prices).This past Saturday, I was excited because I could wait in line to purchase a bottle of High West's Mid-Winter Night's Dram (hereinafter MWND). To ensure that I would be able to purchase a bottle, I arrived at this Giant Eagle at 4:00 am. At this time, I was 4th in line. The weather was in the high 30's and it was raining fairly hard. It was a miserable experience waiting, but the thought of acquiring the MWND kept me going.

The OHLQ website showed MWND as 'in-stock,' and the day before Saturday when the allocated bourbon is released, I went to the store to inquire about its availability. There is girl who usually works in the liquor store who is about my age, and she is probably one of the nicest people I've ever met. Whenever I've gone to this store, it's always been fun to talk to her about bourbon, and she's kind and understanding to my plight! 😂 She did not directly confirm the availability of MWND when I asked her, but she told me that it was an allocated product and that all allocated products are released early on Saturday mornings (of course!).

Anyhow, by the time the liquor store opened at 9 am, I had been waiting in line for 5 hours. A frazzled employee (who by his own admission infrequently works in the liquor store) fumbled his way into the liquor store and asked us what we were waiting to purchase. The first few of us replied, "Mid-Winter Night's Dram!" He went into the storeroom and looked for it, and wheeled out a cart that had allocated products that are a bit more commonplace (e.g. Eagle Rare, Weller Special Reserve, E.H. Taylor, and Buffalo Trace). I might be a bit smarter than the average bourbon hunter, but not even the dumbest among us would intentionally wait in line for 5 hours for any of these products. We insisted that there was indeed MWND somewhere in the storeroom. He returned to check and came up empty-handed.

A girl that I had never seen before started getting visibly frustrated and raised her voice at us, asserting, "It's NOT back there!" and "I don't care what you heard, the website is wrong and we don't have it!" Not wanting to provoke her to anger any further, the first four people in line disappointedly bought an extra bottle of whatever junk was on the counter and walked out sadly. At this point, we had all waited 5 hours for nothing.

After I left the store, you can imagine what we all knew had happened. This is a one-star review after all. They magically found the MWND and sold all five bottles to the people who were behind us in line (you know, the people who slept in and got in line around 7:30 after the store was open). The person who was fifth in line reported to me that he had bought a bottle of EH Taylor and was there when the manager 'discovered' the MWND, but the employees refused to sell him a bottle because he had already bought a different allocated product. 😂

I am trying to see this situation from the employee's perspective as well. Surely, a bunch of overweight men who blur the line between (i) a genuine business invitee and (ii) a loiterer are not meaningfully contributing to Giant Eagle's revenue. Selling a case of MWND probably yielded Giant Eagle a profit of just $30, if that. But removing myself from this perspective, it seems perfectly unproblematic to collect bourbon, and it is really frustrating to be so excited about a new product, and to dedicate your time to this project, when rude employees subvert your legitimate desires by incompetence. I've tried to support Giant Eagle in other ways (e.g. by buying groceries and gas), however, I do not foresee myself continuing to give my business to Giant Eagle after...

It's closest to home. So, it is on the way home after work. It is ok. The bakery is always closed when I go. They dont have the sale items in the meat department when I go. They are nice and friendly most of the time. but the people in the meat department will look you right in the eye and still turn away and not see if you have needs. I would go to a different one, if it were close, over this one..

6/26/2024. UPDATE. This Giant Eagle is the most dishonest store I have seen in a long time. Bait and switch is alive and well in this store. I went in for the sales. I picked up a few other things (and of course paid more than I would have at other stores). And they didn't even have the sale Items they advertised. No, they did not run out. They didn't have them, period. They also lie and put stuff on display that is supposed to be on sale and it isn't. You don't figure it out until the sale is completed. Giant Eagle was eunning a sale on Popsicle brand popsicles. They had the sugar free popsicles in with the regular popsicles that were on sale. Not an accident. They were supposed to be 2 for $4. they were $4.99 each after the card was applied. this is not the first time they have done this. I shook it off the first time it happened a while back, thinking I made the mistake. But not this time. I looked at the sale ad, the display, and the surroundings to make sure it wasn't me. I have sent an email. This place needs a wake up like Dollar General for the price lying. I have changed my previous review to One star. I will go to another Giant Eagle if I ever go again. Giant Eagle is not cheap, Screwing customers over is not in their best interest. Especially when Lucky's is right across the street and Kroger is close, too. The consumer has options. I will be utilizing those options...

Hello! I am reviewing this Giant Eagle location in terms of accessibility for those who may be disabled. Overall the location is very accessible, but a few minor changes could make a huge difference. They have six handicapped parking spots in the front of the parking lot very close to the door. The door ways are wide enough for someone to get in easily with a wheelchair, walker, or scooter. They do not have scooter grocery carts available in the entrance of the store. The aisles are relatively wide making it easy to maneuver with a wheelchair, walker, or scooter. The aisles also each have signs with large writing indicating what is in each aisle. However, many of the aisles have produce or boxes in the middle of the aisles making it much more difficult to maneuver. If the aisles are crowded it would be difficult to fit multiple people with carts going both directions. Today I went around 6 pm and it was not too crowded. Some of the produce is much too high to reach. However, I have always found the employees at this Giant Eagle extremely helpful and efficient when I have needed help finding an item, so I am sure that the workers would also be helpful and efficient if someone needed help getting an item off the shelf. The checkout at Giant Eagle is much different than other grocery stores. The majority of the check out lanes are mostly self-check out, which may be difficult for a person with a disability. At the self-check out, you scan and bag all of your groceries. Today they had three lanes of non-self check out open as well. This process just may take longer since the majority of the lanes are self-check out. I also want to note that the Giant Eagle website has a phone number and email address if a part of the store is not found to...