Big Y — Local services in Old Lyme

I've been coming here for about a year and a half as my main store and it has a good selection for a smaller store. You can usually find some nice deals especially when using the offers/coupons in the Big Y app. It may not have all of the fancier options that a larger location might have, but all of the essentials are here. The staff have all been friendly as well, even when the store is swamped during tourist season.

Unfortunately the produce tends to be rather lackluster. There's not as wide of a range of options for fruit compared to Stop and Shop in East Lyme (the other bigger option within 10 miles), but again the basics are available and there's always a massive selection of apples.

The vegetables aren't always as fresh as I'd hope with entire selections being difficult to pick through on occasion. I often find the green peppers (sometimes all of the bell peppers) wrinkled or damaged and the leafy selection on the far right side of the showcases (like kale) tend to be so drenched with water that they're beginning to rot or are otherwise unusable. The organic selection usually seems to be in better shape. I periodically get my garlic home to find out it's already growing sprouts inside as well. I thought it would be a seasonal issue or due to shopping at off hours, but it's something I've noticed throughout the year at various times of the day on different days.

Overall, it's a decent store for a small town like Old Lyme, but I think a little more competition would do it some good. It's easy to get in and out in 30-45 minutes if you know what you need, but sometimes meal plans have to change once browsing the produce if the ingredients are going to sit in the fridge for a couple of days. My advice is to have a backup recipe in mind in case you have to make an...

Nice store overall but stay away from ordering a pizza. They obviously have no clue what makes a decent pizza. First of all, it's way undercooked. I order mine in the store while I do my shopping. They tell me it will be ready in 20 minutes but I can't believe it's in their oven longer than 10 minutes. Also, they are very skimpy with the ingredients There's barely any tomato sauce, barely any cheese, and any toppings are few and far between. It tastes like dry cardboard. I will never buy their pizza again, which means I will never shop there again because it was the pizza that brought me to the store. I tried their pizza a few times to give them the benefit of the doubt thinking that maybe they're having a bad day. But each time is the same. The only good thing is that their pizzas are low in price, which in this case is not a good thing. I guess you get what you pay for but I'd rather pay more for a decent pizza than...

Big Y, I want to thank you for removing the last incentive I had to walk into a Stop & Shop! Adding Boar's Head cold cuts to your Deli offerings means that I no longer must walk into Stop & Shop Old Saybrook where I am followed around by a googley-eyed robo-cop collecting data on my shopping habits only to be met by rude cashiers who can't be bothered to say more than "Stop & Shop Card" in a tone equally robotic as their shopper stalker. I would give you 5 stars if the Big Y bakery in Old Lyme had the same level quality offerings as the one in Old Saybrook with its delicious, fresh baked baguettes and ciabatta loaves. This is all to say, Bravo! Keep it up! And please, please promise you'll never add a "shopper stalker...