1st Choice Fresh Market — Local services in Lincoln City

Updated Review:

One day the owners of this business are going to ask themselves "What did we do wrong?"

Let me tell you.

First and foremost, never ever let your divisive political beliefs into your company. Allowing the "End Vote By Mail and Recall Hall" people into your store has destroyed your business' reputation and will eat into your pocketbooks until you finally call it quits and close up shop.

You had one first impression, and now everyone in this town has an opinion about you that is already set in stone. I can't imagine it was worth it.

Second, who is 1st Choice for?

The people of Lincoln City talk. We know everything through the grapevine, we know where to shop depending on our needs.

1st Choice isn't 'for' anyone.

1st Choice doesn't compete on convince like McKays or the gas stations, it doesn't compete on selection and quality like Safeway, and it doesn't compete on cost like Grocery Outlet and BiMart.

You may say "But we can't lower our prices any more."

The reason you can't lower prices is because your sales volume is so small you have to justify having high prices to yourself.

Doesn't your restocking rate alarm you? I would be terrified at the rate your perishables are moving.

Have you ever wondered why your store is empty and there are more employees inside than customers? Do you tell yourself that if you keep sending out mailers more people will come? That summer tourists will save you?

You sell a pack of 6 bagels for 15 dollars. Only someone that doesn't do their own shopping and tracks how much their 401k is making daily would put that front and center at your business entrance.

You sell Indian simmer sauces at twice the price of grocery outlet, with half the selection of Safeway.

You will never capture the half of Lincoln City that shops for deals because you will never slash your prices and build the loyalty required to have them in your store week in and week out.

Your prices are completely out of touch.

You'll never capture the Safeway crowd. Safeway has a brand ID, people know what they're getting. At Safeway the frozen meat section doesn't leak water all over the floor. At Safeway the vegetables don't sit in pools of water (go touch your bellpepper shelves and tell me that is acceptable.)

You have several prominent brands in your store with lots of varied product but you don't have a large quantity of brands.

You never added any vegetarian brands like Beyond, Impossible, Gardein, Boca, Field Roast, or Quorn.

"Crav'n" is not the powerhouse your store seems to think. Nobody wants the amount of "Crav'n" brand foods you are selling.

How often do YOU eat an $8 Crav'n Macaroni & Cheese Dinner Entree. Never? Yeah nobody else is either.

I feel sorry for your employees. They're great. I can tell a lot of them are trying really hard but are probably fed up with management decisions. That has to absolutely kill their motivation.

How long will you continue to pay so many of them but not accept their feedback as needed changes instead of a suggestion?

Listen to your employees. I imagine if you sat down with them, and listened instead of telling them to 'fix this or that' they'd tell you everything that actually needs fixing and then if you ignored your instinct to think you know better than them making those changes would actually fix you business.

In a year you'll have gutted the amount of employees you have because you cannot afford so many of them. They will be unmotivated because you think you know better than them. You'll slip and slip and slip and justify each step of the way as necessary cuts.

Instead of building something awesome the whole town loves, instead of thriving and having a stellar reputation and being the business you could have been you're going to keep gouging customers.

I hope you do some soul searching and turn this around,...

I LIVE IN NEWPORT CITY AREA AND I HEARD ABOUT THIS NEW MARKET OPENING UP IN LINCOLN CITY FOR A FEW MONTHS AGO WELL I FINALLY WAS ABLE TO GO THERE YESTERDAY 9/5/25 APPRX 230 PM WELL I HAD A BITTERSWEET REVIEW I WILL SAY IT WAS VERY CLEAN AND ALL THE EMPLOYEES VERY NICE AND FRIENDLY AND HELPFUL BUT I WAS THERE FOR A FEW THINGS AND ONE WAS FOR THE FRIED CHICKEN AND THEY DIDNT HAVE ANY ON THE DISPLAY AND SHE TOLD ME THAT WOULD TAKE AN HOUR BEFORE THEY COULD MAKE IT I WAS VERY DISAPPOINTED SHE SAID THERE FRYER BROKE DOWN AND I QUESTION THAT SINCE IT ONLY A FEW MONTHS OLD BUT SHE TOLD ME IT WAS AN AUCTION FRYER SO IT BROKE DOWN BUT A FEW MINUTES LATER SHE TOLD ME THEY GOT IT UP AND RUNNING BUT WOULD TAKE ABOUT 15 MIN BEFORE THE CHICKEN WOULD BE DONE SO I WENT TO GET MY OTHER ITEM I CAME FOR WHICH THEY DIDNT HAVE IN THE STORE EITHER SO I JUST BROWSED AROUND THE STORE LOOKING WHAT ITEMS AND PRICES I DID NOTICE THAT THERE WAS NOT ALOT OF PEOPLE IN THE STORE I FIGURED FRIDAY LATE AFTERNOON ON THE BEACH LOTS OF PEOPLE SHOULD BE THERE BUT IT WASNT SO I GOT MY FRIED CHICKEN BUT WAS DISAPPOINTED WITH THAT AS WELL ONCE I GOT IT HOME MYSELF I THINK IT WOULD NEED ANOTHER 60-90-120 MORE SECONDS TO COOK BECAUSE IT WAS PINKISH INSIDE THE CHICKEN SO ONLY ATE A FEW PEICES AND THREW THE REST AWAY BUT ITS NEW PLACE AND THE KINKS NEED TO BE WORK OUT ALWAYS WITH NEW THINGS SO I WONT CONDEMN I WILL BE BACK TO TRY IT AGAIN IN TIME I DONT GO TO LINCOLN CITY MUCH BUT I DO GO ONCE N AWHILE SO I DID GO TO SAFEWAY AND GET MY OTHER ITEM THERE SO IN SHORT OVERALL MY VIST AT FIRST CHOICE MATKET WAS LESS THAN HAPPY BUT I AM WILLING TO GIVE IT ANOTHER GO IN THE FUTURE BUT ALSO I WOULD LIKE TOO ADD SAFEWAY WHICH I REALLY DO NOT LIKE AT ALL IS VERY HIGH PRICE FOR THERE CRAP THEY SELL BUT I NOTICE THERE CHICKEN WAS ONLY 5.99 AND FIRST CHOICE MARKET FRIED CHICKEN WAS 8.99 SO IT MIGHT BECAUSE OF THE TARRIFF I DONT KNOW BUT THE PEOPLE OUT THERE DONT CARE BUT WANT TO SEE LOWER PRICES OVER ALL ALSO SAFEWAY WAS SO PACK WITH PEOPLE THAT THEY HAD LONG LINES AND FIRST CHOICE MARKET HAD NO LINES WHATSOEVER AND AGAIN I REALLY DONT LIKE SAFEWAY SO THIS IS...

I went in this morning, curious to see how many of the 15 items on my shopping list I would find at this new store. I came away with 6 of them. The rest were just too expensive -- nuts, olives, and meat in particular. Produce was on the higher side as well.

The only boneless skinless chicken thighs I could find were small organic ones for $7.69 a pound. I don't need organic so I'll go to Safeway and get the ones at the butcher counter for $3.49/lb.

It seems that this store is focusing on higher-end products rather than affordable ones. For example, I wanted basic canned olives. They only have fancy, expensive jarred ones. I'm not sure how this will play out in an area where a lot of people are struggling financially.

Also, my checkout took a lot longer than it should have, because the cashier couldn't find the right codes for my produce, which had been an issue with a person ahead of me as well. This is not the cashier's fault. This is an inadequate training issue as well as an issue with their system, which apparently is not user friendly or well organized. They have to search through categories and many things are not in logical places. It shouldn't take two people several minutes to find the code for potatoes.

I hope that the managers are receptive to this type of review and make adjustments to serve their community. I will try again, but after they've had some time to get things running smoothly and perhaps make...