Spices of India & Middle Eastern Groceries — Local services in Irmo

Will never step into this store again. Thanks to the many other Indian stores in Columbia, SC. Very bad customer service. Dumped a packet of betel nut right in front of the cashier into the bin in the store, that was bought by mistake as it was not edible and was meant to be used only for pooja purposes. Would not be surprised if that was kept back on the shelves after we left. No exchange policy when the original bill and the packet was produced intact after another young girl at the counter during the previous visit told us to bring the packet and bill along the next time for an exchange. We did and the person at the counter this time feigned ignorance. He made a few phone calls to someone and then would not accept the return. Please note this was not a personal product, or something that was consumed, or packet broken. We dispatched the packet right into the bin in the store, and we walked out. It is not a matter of $4.99. We will be saving 'n" times more than that by not shopping at spices of India again. Good riddance

There is no provision to reply to the response from the owner. I think no attempt is made to understand the issue here, and the response from the owner is self explanatory. I don't understand what is education got to do here, and I do not know what you are suggesting by saying cheap. You smuggle goods from India and sell it at an exorbitant price. A case in the point is the TATA common salt this product is for domestic sale in India only and has the price marked in Indian Rupees, but you bring it to the US and sell it at a premium. Who is cheap here and who needs education????? Sorry we have no time to waste and no justification will bring us back. We have better options, and we rest...

They posted a price on their Facebook page. I called them up to confirm the price. The following day I called them again to confirm the price right before heading to the store. 20 mins later, the price went up by 50%! They didn't even seem apologetic about it. I asked the owner, how can we know the price if we cannot trust your Facebook page or even after directly speaking with you? His unapologetic reply was "you come here and find out!" Well, should have told that over the phone and on the Facebook page, if that's even an acceptable answer.

Unsurprisingly, this was not the first time that this has happened with me. Once I booked some items over the phone. Called them up to make sure that they have my item. Drove 40 mins (both ways) only to find out that they sold my item to someone else! Worse yet, it didn't seem that they didn't know what they were doing! I called them up literally 20 mins b heading out and yet they sold the item to someone else, didn't call me and let me know about it, and made me drive 40 mins for no reason!

(Google does not let me reply, so I am responding to the owner's response here: I understand that the price has changed, but they could have let me know about it since they had promised me a different price twice and I booked for that price. I still would not have mined if they said sorry FOR ONCE. They were not apologetic at all (and still are not). Also, I am not judging them based on one single experience, as evidenced by my review. Please be kind to your customer and do not take them...

It's the customers that are the nicest! For a small place, this store has a great variety. The handful of times I have been there, they always have a pretty good variety of fresh produce. I particularly love the fresh dates when they're in season. They have a lovely variety of beans, lentils, and rices in large and smaller sizes. You can get both Indian spices and a lot of Middle Eastern spice mixes (not just Pakistan, but Turkish, Moroccan, etc). One of my favorite South Asian markets in the south. I have even driven 2 hours just to come...