Market Basket — Local services in New Bedford

When this place first opened, i stayed away because i figured they had a few loss leaders to get you in the door, but the rest of the stuff was the same price as elsewhere. Boy, was i wrong. Everything is cheaper. Coffee pods that never go on sale for less than 11.00 anywhere else are priced everyday at 6.95. They always have great baked goods from the in-store bakery are fresh, plentiful and cheap. Lots of prepared foods (including a damn good sushi bar for a supermarket) at great prices. Meats, deli, produce, canned goods - all in plentiful quantities and much less than Stop n Shop or Shaws. I honestly don't see how the others survive. Do you get the idea that I love this place??

Now i still hit the local markets and fishmongers for some things that I cannot buy at MB, but for a big store they have a lot going for them. I know I am eating better for what i pay.now

Check it out. I think you will become a fan too.

09/2012: I'm revising my rating with this additional note. I have found that it is very important to not only pay attention to the pull date of any kind of fresh foods or meat, but also to make sure you cook or freeze it BEFORE the pull date.

Most other stores set their dates to allow at least a couple of days past the date on the label. Normally, as long as you transport and store it properly, the date indicates when the store is going to pull the item from the shelf; it's not the deadline for freshness.

At least 4 times recently, I have purchased meat at Market Basket that I tried to cook either on the pull date itself or one day in either direction. In all of the cases, the food was spoiled and rancid, even when it was not yet the date on the label.

I am used to shopping once a week for fresh items and feeling comfortable that I can prepare most things right up to the pull date or on the next day after it and the food will be still fresh and edible.

Not so with Market Basket. I have to prepare or freeze within 1-3 days from the purchase date or expect to have to return the items because they'll be spoiled.

To the store's credit, they have never given me a hard time exchanging anything or even getting a refund if I have the receipt. It's just the inconvenience of having to shop more than once a week and then still sometimes having bad meat that must be returned.

I had given the store 3 points for quality and am lowering it to 1 point...

Nice store, good parking, decent prices, clean with exception to the coffee shop area, tables aren’t tended to very well. Reason for only three stars: they bring in new products that sell out almost immediately but then don’t bring them back. If it sells well it’s because people want it! New items are rarely ‘on sale’ as a close-out item. They stock the store during the day when customers are there and it blocks access to needed goods. It’s not one employee with a shopping cart restocking a few things, this is flats full of huge boxes so they are hard to move for customers to gain access to products. English is required to be hired but trying to ask floor staff where to locate a product and getting ‘no habla ingles’ then being ignored is not how to treat customers. Understaffed deli, people waiting in huge crowds for more than 30 minutes for service is poor management of the area. Paper-thin cuts of deli meat isn’t very smart either. No one wants to make a sandwich with shreds of meat, they want a slice, not a mess. Don’t shop on Tuesday or Thursday because you’re going to be blocked from access to needed items due to huge stock piles in the isles, those are their delivery days. They want to save money by not having people work at night doing restock like most stores, but it’s actually costing them, not saving. You lose customers this way. I’ve seen people just walk away from their carts full of goods because they can’t get things they need with all the stock in the way. I’ve heard people talk about shopping elsewhere when this happens. When they bring in new items that sell well and then never bring them back is another complaint I’ve heard. I’m guilty of that myself, I’ll go to a different chain to buy it because I can find it there. Don’t offer great sales on things you can’t keep stocked. Either stock in those items well or don’t put them on sale, standard marketing logic. Another option is to say this item is on close-out so people understand it won’t be returning and stock is very limited. And please, please, please…. Honor your flyers! I see things on the flyer I would like to get but this store seldom carries it, even during the sale dates. ‘We don’t have that item’ or ‘that sale isn’t for our store’ is common. If it isn’t chain wide, don’t put it on the flyer without a note that it’s ‘only at select locations’, like they do with...

This location is alright. So first im gonna talk about the products then the people theres gonna be a bit to unpack here.

So first market basket has everything you need realistically and is wayyyy better then walmart ever would. If your looking for something specific they have it for the most part. Me i drink allot of liquids and eat allot so i normally tend to eat at the kitchen wich has some of the freshes food you can eat in terms of "Fast Food" i normally go for a burger with these amazing fries n normally i tend to fill it up. The burgers and hot food items are large in porportiin compared to eating at a place like burger king or somw other corny fast food place.

I used to work in this location and customers pay attention to sales and hot items. If you see something you want def go right away becuase it will probably run out if enough people get it and normally they do. I personally go to market basket for Arizona teas and stuff like that when i game and youtube and the one drink i cant find anywhere else i can find in market basket in the local area (also its jones cane sugar soda) they have huge selection of goods in every isle.

Now the meh part of the review. Becuase its such a hot and poppin place theres too many people and i notice no one know how to coordinate thru isles or people correctly. Like seriously good luck trynna navigate thru a maze of people bumping each other and carts everywhere. The majority of people u see are allot are elderly people and famlies. If you save some time,energy and heartache dont go during the weekend. Lines to check out are really long and your gonna be waiting a while if your someone whos impatient or get anxious then just go thru mon-friday. Saturday and sunday are the most busiest.

Other then that its a...