What Gets a Grocery Store a Bad Yelp Review?

Yelp is a powerful force over the U.S. restaurant market, and even a few one-star ratings can be enough to seriously harm an establishment’s reputation. But are the implications as strong for grocery?

Speaking from personal experience I would say not so much, as most shoppers have strong loyalty to their chain of choice and also favor supermarkets that are close and convenient. However, a particularly poor Yelp rating could send shoppers who are new to the area or visiting to a different nearby store.

Yes, the thought of a terrible Yelp review strikes fear into many business owners, but grocers can use it as an opportunity to determine where improvements can be made and even right wrongs that have been done to disgruntled customers.

After scouring the Yelp reviews of stores that I frequent, as well as others across the country, I noticed some common denominators among the one- and two-star reviews.

Customer service appeared to be the biggest gripe customers had, and it certainly stood out as the top complaint. Words such as “nasty,” “rude” and “inattentive” were common when discussing grocery store employees. One reviewer at the Weis Markets in Towson, Md., said the “customer service was horrible” and an employee was rude when asked a question, while others “ did not want to be bothered and seemed upset that they needed to help me.” At the Sprouts Farmers Market in Atlanta, a customer said the cashier “won't look at you and will not acknowledge you.”

“I pulled all my items out of the bag she put them in into the bag I had brought that was sitting there right in front of her. Which she would have seen if she had ever bothered to glance over in my general direction,” they continued.

Another customer urged that staff at The Fresh Market in Towson, Md., needed “sensitivity training” as they are followed or given “a particular look” whenever they shop there.

Long wait times were another common issue, with problems with self-checkout, not enough cashier lanes open and slow deli lines the main offenders.

This review of the Towson, Md., Safeway demonstrates the common frustration:

“Though a pretty decent grocery store overall, the checkout experience is consistently one of the worst I've ever encountered. They never seem to have enough registers open, which forces me to the self checkout on a lunch break. It is atrocious. Why they haven't demanded a refund from the company that installed these pathetic machines is beyond comprehension. You will NOT get through even a light checkout without multiple problems which require waiting for the overworked attendant's assistance.”

Additionally, a customer of the Fairway in Nanuet, N.Y., said they had waited 20 minutes at the deli counter because there was only one person working there with a line queuing up, while two employees stood behind the fish counter despite the fact that it was infrequently visited.

“Then, at the checkout line, l had to watch the cashier pick his nose several times (not rub his nose, PICK it),” they wrote, as the icing on the cake that led them to say “never again, Fairway.”

Cramped and dirty stores were another typical problem. The Sprouts Farmers Market in Towson, Md., was said to be “small, congested due to narrow aisles. Not a plethora of options, overpriced and understaffed.” A Safeway in Oakland, Calif., was described as “consistently the nastiest, dirtiest, most poorly stocked Safeway in the entire chain,” and a Kroger in Dearborn, Mich., was called “the worst Kroger ever.”

“It's always a mess. The restroom is a pigsty. Their recycling center is usually down and looks like a cyclone hit it. If you call customer service about it, this local store doesn't respond,” the reviewer wrote.

While problems with customer service and logistics seemed to be what ticked reviewers off the most, poor produce quality, expired items and exorbitant prices were often mentioned.

A customer said the following about Streets Market and Cafe in Baltimore:

“The quality of the produce is poor: Vegetables are kept on ice and die as soon as you bring them home. I bought milk 2 times and both times it [spoiled] way before the listed expiration date. Hot bar food looks stale most of the time and yes, the prices are much higher than Whole Foods!”

A customer had similar complaints about the Baltimore Whole Foods, citing that all of the asparagus was starting to flower, the broccoli was turning yellow and the parsley was limp.

“The ground beef in the butcher case was visibly browned and starting to look dried out,” they wrote. “However, the worst was a distinct bad odor emanating from the prepackaged meat counter.”

Businesses are using their ability to reply to Yelp reviewers’ comments and attempt to make things right more and more often, but I didn’t tend to see grocery stores taking advantage of this. One Lucky’s Market in Orlando, Fla., however, gave what I feel is a perfect response to a customer that complained a ready-to-bake pizza was too small, expensive and “the absolute WORST pizza I have ever experienced in my entire life!”

“Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us. We always value honest comments from our guests as it gives us the opportunity to improve. I have shared your comments about your experience with our store director and leadership team as well as the culinary department, so that we can look into this issue in greater detail. We'll also gladly give you a refund for the product you purchased the next time you're in the store. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to make this right.”