Pilgrim's Market — Restaurant in Coeur d'Alene

I will never return to this store. My family friends and I have been coming to this grocery store for many years-almost 20 to be exact. What finally did it for me today was how rudely one of them cashiers treated a person experiencing homelessness as well as another cashier I -up close in line-witnessed straight up humiliating an older gal after the gal didn't have the extra 2-ish dollars to pay for her purchases. The poor gal was 3 people in line ahead of me, obviously embarrassed; continued to apologize whilst rummaging through her tattered purse after politely asking the cashier if she could possibly take one of the more expensive FOOD items off her order....the snotty younger clerk basically ignored her at first, then, she stated loudly and with a very condescending attitude and unnecessary dramatic emphasis: "Well, it says right here you have a balance owed of 2.69 and I can't take anything off cuz your FOOD STAMP CARD already went through, and it's REALLY hard to take anything off now" Mind you, this gal had already managed to dig EVERY nickel she had out of her purse....I would of paid for her entire order if I had a balance above 100 bucks on my debit card. I'm on an extremely fixed income and hadn't yet paid for the few items I had in my cart yet... What REALLY makes my blood boil is this: There were customers and staff alike chuckling and GAWKING at the gal/situation!! The poor low income gal appeared to be on her lunch break or something, as evidenced by the uniform she wore. Anyways...this sad infuriating tale DOES have a little bit of brightness to it! A sympathetic, Earth Angel (whom seriously spared me the wasted brea/time of verbally losing it on all the cruel gawkers- A gal in line got the attention of the cashier and said quietly to her, "Please stop. Just add the balance on to my order or take it out of this 5" Then this wonderful woman whispered to the poor gal, "No worries we've all been there, Merry Christmas" By by now the low income gal had a beet red face and tears in her eyes. She thanked the lovely kind stranger and whispered through tears, "Merry Christmas to you too. God Bless you". I also thanked my new hero, and told the rude bully of a cashier, as well as the STILL gawking assortment of employees and customers alike that they should all be ASHAMED of themselves!!

I also got out of line, since my tolerance of HOLIER-THAN-THOUGH BULLIES is 0%!! I put the 4 items I WAS going to buy back on the appropriate shelf, parked my little cart then proceeded to make the drive up the road a few more miles to another grocery store which carried the items I needed without the pecking order mentality! It was worth the 15 min drive!! I will happily make the minimal commute from my home in downtown CdA from now on.

I believe VERY strongly that it's my duty to inform not only my family and friends whom are scattered throughout CdA and Kootenai County, as well as other surrounding states,AND the general public whom seeks HONEST LOCAL GUIDE REVIEWS that although PILGRIMS MARKET may appear to be promoting all things positive, spiritually uplifting,organic, inclusive, etc for this community, Our Mother Earth, and other such crucially important values, The carefully cultivated image doesn't pass the sniff test so to speak!

This humble, polite customer who LITERALLY didn't have a nickel left to cover the 2-ish dollar balance remaining on her 53.ish SNAP card purchase was picked on to the delightful of the cashier and others either employed there as cashiers themselves or a few of the customers in line who joined in. Reminder: This gal is a PAYING CUSTOMER!! and MORE IMPORTANTLY, A HUMAN BEING!! Directed at y'all who behaved like a pack of pretentious wolves in your faux fur sheeps clothing!

I am willing to stand up to any scrutiny or naysayer. My aforementioned eye-witnessed account of this event. I'm still upset by the way this gal was humiliated for no reason. And... for any ignorant individuals reading this, it's NOT considered libel, because it's completely TRUE from an...

I have no idea what has happened to this store, but as a 15-year customer who has spent $$$$ in there, I don't even recognize it anymore. To say they are overpriced is an understatement and everyone knows that. I remember going in and seeing my favorite maple syrup (usually around $23) up to ALMOST $50!!!! Are you even kidding...

The deli started going downhill YEARS ago, the hotbar in particular. The quality went down and as a celiac person I can't count how many times I ate their "gluten free" items and got hit anyway. Then they switched to not even acknowledging "gluten" and only went to "wheat", so if there was no warning on say, barley soup, if you didn't inherently know barley had gluten you were doomed. Gluten should have still been acknowledged because that's the model they have created. There was never any indication until recently that items could be cross-contaminated, I would know because I always look for disclaimers, warnings and only being "gluten friendly". It wasn't until the past few months a sign was posted that items are made in areas with other contaminants. I assumed enough people had complained so they finally put out a disclaimer. I also assumed based on their price point, business model and effort in labeling the food should be considered "safe". Clearly I was wrong. So, if you have food allergies don't assume the hot bar is safe, as you can see in the owner's reply below (asking me to remove my review), it clearly isn't.

Then the employees in the deli mostly have two speeds: slow and stop. They will see you and still loiter (look at you and not even acknowledge you), hoping someone else would take the customer at the cash register. I was a regular and this happened all the time.

In the past two weeks I have purchased a loaf of GF bread made there for $8 and when I got home it had mold on the inside. Then Friday I brought home the GF morning muffin made there and my husband's had a hair in it, which of course he gagged and spit it out. We were both done with muffins at that point.

Now the grill is shut down, the juicer is gone and they are on a skeleton crew. The salad bar is often not refilled, or items just aren't there (clean empty containers), tongs are mixed up, missing or just laying in the lettuce with multiple other tongs, it's gross and clearly no one is staying in top of it like they once did. I used to live off this salad bar and it never felt germy to me before, but it totally does now. I don't know anymore...this used to be my favorite store, I used to joke I was going to have my mail forwarded because I was there so much...now I seek out my healthy shopping just about anywhere but here. Feels like the end of...

I’ve been a Pilgrim’s shopper for 4 years, and love the selection in the meat and fish department - better than most local stores.

Normally they have trimmed tri-tips for sale. If not, I’ve asked for custom cuts from the butcher, and the product has been re-labeled according to the correct weight.

This week I asked for a trimmed tri-tip and the butcher gave me the old label on the product - which is not the correct pricing for the weight. When I asked for the updated label (assuming oversight) I was told “no, that’s how my boss told me to do it”. I asked again and received the same answer, so I left the store and contacted the manager.

The manager told me that Bob, the meat department manager, was not on site and would call me back.

I spoke on the phone this morning with Bob, who doubled down that it is indeed policy to charge an incorrect product per weight price because “what am I gonna do with everything I trimmed off”.

There aren’t separate price codes for trimmed or untrimmed product - it’s just “tri tip”. This is also a per lb product - if I was in the deli case, I would be charged per pound of product received. Or produce. Or dry goods. Or any other department.

When I told him that’s possibly illegal, he said “I’ve been in the business for 55 years” and that I don’t know what I’m talking about.

Not only is this not good practice, it’s likely not legal. I come from a fresh produce background with familiarity in USDA regulations - you pay by weight at point of purchase.

Most concerningly, when I brought up that I’ve never had an issue with this before, and that other employees have given a correct and updated price per lb label, Joe said those employees would be “reprimanded”.

Reprimanded for what - giving a correct label on a product?

I know this store has a lot of senior, fixed income and customers on a budget. This might not affect me much, but this does affect them. What’s the point of having a butcher station if you’re overcharged for cuts?

Extremely disappointed and not interested in remaining a customer at a store with...