IGA - Montauk — Local services in Town of East Hampton

IGA is convenient because it is one of the only larger grocery stores for food in this region of Montauk. It has a decent selection and is right next to beach parking, which makes getting food for the beach easy as pie.

However, the customer service experience our group had was confusing. We went to buy a bag of potato chips, and asked to use the bathroom. An employee of the store pointed us towards a general direction, and we went to look for signs for a bathroom. After not finding it, we showed another employee the chips we bought and asked if we could use the bathroom. We were told to go across the parking lot to a public bathroom and that no bathroom at IGA was available. It usually isn't an issue, but one of our colleagues had a more urgent need.

Overall, the store is a net benefit for the area it is in. However, I would be wary to rely on this IGA for anything other than food to buy. The aisles are made to fit as much inventory as is possible so that you can get the food you need, that is a strength.

Of course, it is difficult to deal with beachgoers looking for bathrooms, so it might be good to look elsewhere for anything...

The store is lucky that Montauk’s location provides it with an essentially captive market, because it is dreadful. The "fresh" fruit, for example, often proves rotten when examined beyond the skin, and must be trashed. Customary items are frequently out of stock. Perhaps worst of all, the store no longer has human cashiers during many of its operating hours and customers are forced to use its new automated checkout system. The absence of a human option is bad enough, but the operation of the automated system is generally so idiosyncratic that it is necessary to seek human...

The Montauk IGA is the only supermarket in town. It's cramped but relatively well-stocked -- but lines for check-out during the summer months can be brutal. Prices are, as you would expect for the tail end of the island, quite high. Senior citizen discount is 10% off the entire order every Wednesday! It doesn't even have that "home town feel" of a community store - store clerks aren't particularly friendly or particularly inclined to care about your beach glow. But, it is usually well-stocked -- and that itself is a feat, if you realize how very very far out...