Kroger Marketplace — Local services in Gainesville

My review of the store overall would be three stars but for the repeated pickup problem on 1.18.25. I have to rate overall one star because of the magnitude and repetition of the problem I describe below.

DO NOT PURCHASE PRODUCE FOR PICKUP FROM THIS STORE. If you do, inspect the produce before you leave the parking spot or be prepared to be disappointed. I have repeatedly received produce that was not fit for human consumption from the pickup at this store. This was shocking to me because inside the store the produce section is beautiful with lots of options and everything is meticulously cared for and presented for purchase. However, on several occasions (amounting to more then 50% of my pickup purchases), my produce appears to have taken from the dumpster. No person would look at the produce sold to me and be proud of the transaction. In every instance the produce looked and smelled like it was rotten.

To make matters worse today, I talked to the Pick List manager who told me that the only option I had was to bring the bad produce back to the store to exchange it. That sounds reasonable, except that it is a 45 minute trip for me. I talked to the store manager who gave me the same story. I told him the only 2 acceptable solutions were to refund the money to me immediately, or to put some good produce in a car and bring it to me. He declined to do either. I asked if all the people he did business with demanded that their customers had to fix the business' mistakes. He claimed his hands were tied and had to contact the corporate office at the 800 number. This is classic "good cop; bad cop" bull. Naturally when I called, Kroger has a "voice jail" with a robot warden to separate customers from their staff. I spent 30 minutes on hold to finally talk to a representative. She immediately provided the refund and gave me a $5 credit to be used on my next purchase.

Of course this time the joke is on me, the customer in the end. I spent more than 45 minutes on the phone getting my $3.50 refunded and I still don't have my produce. So I will have to go to another store to purchase it or do without. Fortunately there is a brand new Publix right across the street.

I can only come put with two conclusions for the produce problem: (1). The staff are picking the produce from the cart that is about to be thrown in the dumpster without permission of their manager or (2) the manager is telling the staff to pick the produce from the cart that is about to be thrown in the dumpster because we pay for it and drive off with their garbage for them and the worst case is that we come all the way back to the store to get a replacement. I reach this conclusion because I've never seen produce this bad inside the store. Lazy or crooked. Neither is a good option for a company that you have to trust to provide safe food.

As to the store proper, it has a great selection of almost every product, and the isles are of adequate width for shopping (enough for two carts to pass). I've not had a problem shopping inside the store.

Like many businesses today where the employees can't work from home, the staff always appear gruff and unfriendly. However, things are laid out pretty much as expected in the store, so interactions with staff are minimal. As with every grocery store, you either (1) bag your own groceries or (2) expect a teenager to put the canned yams in the same bag with the bread and a bottle of bleach. Apparently nobody trains people how to bag groceries. When I was a kid, the head "bagboy" was a prestigious position that the staff worked toward. Those days are as gone as a...

On multiple occasions I have had poor experiences with employees at this store (other stores are quite nice). Today for the third time I had a horrible experience with their self serve register worker, middle aged man, who decided that stepping out in front of someone with a medical assistance K9 to stop their shopping and start trying to interact with the dog while quizzing his handler (my wife) about him (see photo to observe all the patches and warnings not to touch or interact with him that were ignored by a literate man). All of these things are not only frowned upon but technically against the ADA laws which protect medical alert and service animals in public. Considering that the alert dog manages a social anxiety disorder that can cause fainting and seizures in his handler when she is spooked or forced into social situations that aren't solicited it was extremely uncalled for. Add this to the fact that this guy will leave you waiting for an ID check for 5 minutes while he "helps" someone ring out everything they have at self serve and I am starting to look for another supermarket.

The employees here are consistently either being rude, refusing to help with tasks like "Could you help me find this product I don't seem to see where it would be on the shelf?" to which I got a "if it isn't there we don't have it" instead of actually confirming that the thing I couldn't find wasn't on the shelf (even though it lists in stock in store online, apparently they just claim everything is in stock and do replacements for everything as a standard regardless according to another even less accommodating employee) and the management seem to be indifferent to it all or even promoting it.

Serious employee education on the rights of an ADA protected medical alert dogs are in dire need. The next handler who is harassed may file suit with the company instead of just leaving a bad review as it is well within their...

Not why I’m even bothering to write this because it’s obvious this store doesn’t care. We came in to the deli at 7:06 pm to get chicken tenders. The sign says “serving dinner 4 pm-8 pm”. We walked up to the counter and all 4 employees walked away. One began pulling trays out and never spoke. Another walked up with containers and began packing up chicken. Still have not had a single employee acknowledge us. Finally we asked are they closing and Sarah very rudely said “yeah it’s 7:00” We said but your sign says 8:00. She again very rudely said “no we close at 7”. I didn’t ask for her to make fresh tenders but they had an OVERFLOWING tray of tenders. I get it that stores are short handed. But when you have 3 more employees in the back just standing around talking and customers are clearly wanting to pay for your products, it seems like you should take some initiative. What really gets me is how extremely rude she was and acted like we were stupid because it was 7:00. Your sign says you close at 8:00 and you had probably 5 plus pounds of chicken there. Yeah makes sense with how customer service has clearly become non existent. After we checked out with a couple of items and asked for a manger, Cierra came over and she pretty much gave us the same reaction. Really couldn’t care less that 2 customers were treated so rudely. I will gladly take my hard earned money elsewhere even if it means it costs more. This store used to be great. Now it’s terrible and gets worse every time we go in. We use them on a regular basis but it’s time to change to a store that actually knows how to...