TOPS — Local services in Town of Lansing

After my previous experience (see below), I contacted Tops' home office and asked to forward my complaint to management at the home office, not to the store. On one of my next trips to Tops there was an upper management person working with the local staff and I spoke to him. It so happened, he is the one I contacted at the home office and since I sent my complaint, Tops in Ithaca has been 100% improved. There is always a staff member at self check out who is very responsive. I mean very responsive and I am a happy customer to be buying more groceries at Tops. I hope other people are having the same good results at Tops.

My Previous review: Tops, triphammer road,, Ithaca: Food and selection is good but my main issue over and over is the difficulty with machines and personnel on checkout. I have no problems with self checkout at target and wegmans. At tops, I put my bag down and it says remove item and scan first. I remove and scan, and it says place it in bag area when it is already in bag area. It calls for help and after staff fixes it, it starts problems again and freezes. There were 3 staff 3 feet from me and I needed to call their attention because no one was looking at customers. They were talking among themselves and not interested with customers. One said to me, "your machine" froze" and they did nothing. They didn't say they would help or they didn't know what to do and would get help. So I left the machine and went to a cashier station who was talking to another cashier on another line and proceeded to put 10 cans of vegetables plus a half gallon of milk plus a quart of cream all into one bag with the cartons of milk lying on sides under cans. It was about 30 lbs. And he continued to talk about personal things to another cashier. Never would that happen at wegmans! The self checkout machines aren't calibrated at Tops, the staff aren't trained and it is management's fault. Don't tell me they can't get good help. What they can't get is good managers who train people properly and who show how to work hard and smart by modeling. Oh. This cranky old man writing this complaint was manager of sales training at a large...

Been shopping here for 20 years and for the most part it is a good store. Sometimes not always the best prices - but usually very competitive. Produce section is rather small in comparison to other places (like Wegmans) but they have all the basic essentials. I will say, however, there is one employee in particular who is always grumpy, always talks in a rude tone, and is not very helpful at all. You can usually find her sitting near the self checkout lanes. Other than this one employee ALL my other interactions with other employees over the course of 20 years have been very friendly and positive. This one employee sticks out as the exception. So much so that I am surprised she still works there. I get it that work isn't always a great place to be -- and I get it that dealing with customers can be annoying and frustrating sometimes. But to ALWAYS be in such a sour mood -- it is just very off-putting. After one particular interaction with her that really got me fuming, I now try to avoid her at all costs. Previously whenever I dealt with her I tried to be extra friendly toward her to try to counter-balance her rudeness and moodiness. I'm pretty sure everyone knows who I am talking about. She's not happy working there. And she shouldn't be in a customer-facing role. If you aren't going to fire her, at least reassign her so she doesn't have to deal with people -- she's clearly irritated by us customers. It tarnishes the rest of the store and the employees who have always been extra helpful and extremely friendly. She is the...

That paints a pretty gnarly picture—like the produce section moonlights as a compost pile. If the fruits and veggies are consistently that bad, it’s a huge red flag. Not only does it show poor inventory control, but it signals a lack of pride in what the store offers. No one wants to go treasure hunting just to find a decent tomato.

Sometimes calling out the issue with store management—or even in a review—can lead to better handling. But if the rot runs deep, it might be time to switch grocery lanes altogether.

That’s a whole vibe—and not the good kind. A store should feel like a place where you’re welcomed, not silently judged by zombie staff who act like smiling might void their warranty. When the cashiers can’t muster basic friendliness and the manager seems programmed to deflect concerns, it drains the experience of any humanity.

It’s wild how much a simple “hello” or a genuine smile can change a customer’s day. Instead, sounds like you got the retail version of a brick wall. If enough people feel the same, a detailed review or feedback might push for some retraining—or at least wake them out of sleep mode.

Is this the kind of place that’s convenient but soul-crushing, or do you think it's worth finding...