Market Street — Local services in Santa Fe

This is now my favorite place to go grocery shopping in Santa Fe. I drive all the way from Rancho Viejo to shop here, happily passing Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and other grocery stores on the way.

What sets this store apart is the overall shopping experience, which is positively tranquil and friendly, especially in comparison to Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, which both offer the rudest and most stressful grocery experiences ever. I don’t know if it’s just the clientele or if the crowded atmospheres generate rudeness and a desire to get out of those stores quickly, but the customers at WF and TJ’s are generally unable to act in a pleasant manner or even crack a smile. I feel as if I’m shopping in New York City at those stores. At Market Street, however, the customers have been pleasant, friendly, and able to acknowledge that there are other human beings in their presence, rather than averting their eyes or pretending that other people don’t exist.

The store setup fosters a more pleasant, unhurried experience with normal-width aisles, flooring that doesn’t amplify sound, and mellow music. There’s always a store employee nearby to assist, if necessary, and every encounter I’ve had has been friendly, professional, and helpful.

The employees here seem to like their jobs and take pride in their work. One employee just started helping me unpack my grocery cart one day, unasked. Assistance with pushing your cart to your vehicle and unloading is also always offered. The checkout clerks are friendly and professional, and happily engage in small talk.

The parking here isn’t perfect, but it’s not the “Will I get a parking space or will I be able to maneuver my vehicle into a tiny spot” sort of experience I’ve found elsewhere.

Regarding products sold, their pre-made foods are surprisingly tasty, which is something I didn’t expect, and their selection of organic produce, while not nearly as good as Whole Foods, is more than adequate to meet my needs. Their general merchandise section is quite extensive, enough so that I’ll have no need to go to Walmart or Target to purchase non-food items.

I’d gotten out of the habit of writing reviews, but felt compelled to write a glowing one for this store. Whether we like it or not, a bad grocery shopping experience can cast a shadow on a person’s day, while a positive one can brighten it up. Market Street goes a long way in brightening up the drudgery of grocery shopping. I’m a...

So I don’t normally feel compelled to make a review but today was my worse shopping experience anywhere in my life . I was having a good time in the store shopping I was looking around and liked the store was clean and things looked fresh most of the staff was pretty okay. Until I had to go to the self checkout. As soon as I got there the lady cashier came over and was trying to tell me how it worked like I didn’t know. That wasn’t even the worse part then the machine starts saying please wait out of nowhere and the lady rushes over and clicks the screen like it’s going to change and then proceeds to touch the items in my bag that’s in my cart accusing me of not scanning an item instead of asking me I told her I scanned it she finally does her job and goes to her machine and clicks something and i scan again and then she comes back as if she didn’t believe and finds in the list I scanned it twice she walked away didn’t apologize . It gets better then I’m like let me get out of here because I’m beyond annoyed and I had two fruit cups (by the way I knew the price was 2.99 for both of them) I scanned it twice and threw it in my bag she ran over in 10.5 seconds and accused me of scanning two items with different prices I helped the items up so she could see and I told her why are you hounding me? She was like I’m just doing my job (that’s not part of her job to accuse it’s also not her job to go through my bad) then she proceeded to say If you don’t like it go to the another register or she could get her manager. I turned around and breathed before I spoke and I said yes give my your manager her manager was there in under a minute which lets me know she does this alot. I spoke to her manager and he apologized and then he helped with the rest of my transaction. I will never shop in person here again maybe not even at all! This is not how you treat people and she should be reprimanded / written up! This was...

Friendly workers, helpful workers. Unfortunately, products are continually being juggled from place to place making it difficult for regulars to keep track where to find items for a quick in and out. Also, still very short staffed on the check-out registers. 13 bays, you're lucky to find 4 or 5 of them open during busy hours or holidays. When management was approached about this by a number of customers, individually, we each compared our "stock corporate" answer of being short staffed, were working on it, and we are hindered by the union. Sadly, it is the least expensive (but not by much) supermarket in the North section of town.

Change can be good IF done with studied thought. There has apparently been little thought to the traffic flow within the "new" interior design as aisles will be hidden behide a "fresh market restaurant" and a frozen food section way at the end of pharmacy aisles, with the pharmacy remaining very inconveniently located through a maze of clutter. Millions of dollars spent on extremely poor design and access. More handicap parking has been and will be in dire need.

Update: as of November 2018, things jave settled and it has blossomed into a nice upscale "market". House brand foods, lesser priced than main stream brands are comparably very good. Offerings are plenty and produce, cold cut, bucher departments are a throwback to being The real markets of yesteryear. Still a bit of an issue with the checkout aisles during busy times, but at least they are faster. This Christmas holiday season, magnificent live piano music filled the air as we shopped. Even got to talk with the pianist. So much more wonderful than the usual canned backgroumd music piped over bad public address...