Meijer — Local services in Lexington

I write this for people such as myself that were Meijer curious, but didn’t really know what to expect. This is my two month review after shopping here almost exclusively.

So, the good things. Clean, b i g aisles, wide variety of products that you would expect, some different offerings of products you already like if you’re used to going to a particular chain all the time, pricing pretty much seems to very closely mirror Kroger which is fine if you’re used to spending those amounts or bad if you’re looking for a cheaper alternative. Staff is always either friendly or indifferent to me which is ok, because I don’t need or want to talk to anyone anyway.

Anddd the things that annoy me. Replenishment is not great. If something is out one week, it will still be out when you go again the next week and I have proven that time and time again with multiple products.

Any pre-packaged perishables are always seemingly within a three day margin of expiration, and it’s not uncommon to find things that are less than a day from expiry sitting there not marked down so you can unwittingly purchase them for full price which is a terrible practice. I don’t even want these things for less money, but I also don’t want to have to be hyper vigilant to be confident I’m not potentially getting ripped off. This is just not something I ever need to worry about at other stores.

Front end staff are samurai masters of passive aggression. I know that this is probably a directive from on high, but they are very diligent about offering you help that you don’t need when you obviously don’t need it. “Do you need me to scan that for you?” No. “Are you ready to check out?”. I don’t know ma’am, it seemed to me I was walking full speed with my eyes forward past a bunch of closed checkout lanes to go to the other end of the store, so what exactly about my body language prompted this question? Nobody is fooled by these thinly veiled ‘offers of assistance’ and it just rubs me the wrong way.

Lastly, the Mrewards program is nothing special or particularly worthwhile. The rewards are mostly limited to money directly off your total or fuel but you have to spend roughly a billion dollars to get any notable discount. The fuel discounts are generally in line with what you might expect from Kroger fuel points, but it’s kind of diminished by the fact that they overcharge for gas as a base, so take that as you will.

Overall, I’d say it’s worth checking out if you haven’t, but they have a few glaring weaknesses that will become more and more evident over time if you’re in a direct comparison mindset, but, I realize not everyone is me, so it may be...

I have an auto-immune disease so I always come in for my one or two items between 11:50pm and 11:55pm because they close at 12am (less contact with people) and I’m always out at 11:59pm. There are always still people checking out well after I am in my car. Well tonight a female employee decides to lock the door early at 11:55 PM saying it’s against their policy to wait until 12am. I asked her when did that start? I Told the lady I only had a couple of things to get and I always come between 11:50 and 11:55 because of Covid and I’m always out by 11:59. All the time while speaking to her a man walks by and say hey “I just have to pay for my girlfriends stuff”, she lets the man in; then a woman walks by and I said why did you let her in? She said, “She works here.” I said OK. Then another lady comes by with pajamas on and said something to her and then she let her in. I told her, “she doesn’t work here.” All she said was, “I’m sorry, it’s against our policy to leave the door open.” I told her, “you closed the door before 12am and I always come at this time.” I don’t know what her reason was. I hate to say that it is because I am black because everyone she let in was white or because I walk with a cane and she didn’t want to wait for me to finish. And after all of that..... she had the nerve to tell me to have a good night after how she treated me.

I don’t know what the problem was:-( all I know is, she locked the doors before 12am and it wasn’t right!

I have worked in the service industry for years, from retail to patient care and I have never treated a Patron like I was treated tonight. Whoever is appointed to read Meijer reviews, I am suggesting that better customer service training should be implemented so this doesn’t happen to anyone...

I love shopping here in person. I’d say they have the friendliest employees of all the area stores, and my kids have a blast riding the toy horse. If you don’t have a penny for the horse, you can ask the self-checkout clerk, and they will give you one. The store is always well-stocked and has some fun products. The girls always want to go look at the fish in the back, and while we’re there, I check out the clearance markdowns and find some good deals. I like their produce and bakery selection, as well. I took off a star because the meat and seafood counter area smells a little pungent, and an aquarium smell usually pervades that part, which doesn’t give me confidence in the food’s freshness or Meijer’s ventilation; I’ve never bought anything from there because of the smell. Also, the online ordering is a fiasco. I’ve ordered online multiple times from various Krogers and Walmarts without incident, but every time I order from Meijer, they mess it up. There are some “Online Exclusive” coupons for high values, but they don’t end up working, and then I don’t get the $8 off (or whatever the deal du jour is), and then I have to try to sort it out at customer service, and it’s just a pain. I don’t even bother with the Online Exclusive coupons anymore- too much of a bait and switch,...