Atlantic Superstore

This place has a lot of positives. But also a lot of negatives.
Positives:
It’s huge! So much stuff; not just groceries but clothing and décor and more.
Well staffed: I’ve rarely had to wait in line for more than a few minutes.
Parking & transit: A nice-​sized parking lot and close to several bus routes.
«To go» selection: I work nearby so I’m often just grabbing something for lunch.
The Negatives?
It’s huge. It can be hard to find what you’re looking for.
The layout — I don’t know why but the layout baffles me. Maybe because it’s just different than many other groceries stores? The aisles run perpendicular to the checkout lines where I expect them to be parallel-​ish.
The lack of selection in the «to go» selection — often there is no pizza at all. The sushi rolls are almost all variations of the California roll.
If you’re a guy and want to pick up some Joe Fresh, best of luck. The section is small and options limited.
To be fair, it’s not like I’m doing my full-​on weekly grocery shopping here so maybe it’d be a different experience if I were but I don’t love this location and I’m kind of glad I don’t have to use it more often.

The way Americans feel about Target is the way I feel about Joe Howe Superstore.
I love it so much I’ve had to cut back on shopping here because I always come home with so much I don’t need. Walking past the Joe Fresh section on my way to pharmacy… obviously I need to buy matching pyjamas for my sons. Oh look, books 40% off the cover price! Are those placemats on clearance?
I’ve never had any issues trying to find something in this store, probably because I shop here so much (although I do always go to look for dish soap in the cleaning supplies aisle and not in the aisle with laundry detergent). They have a great selection of international foods and health/​organic foods, and I always find some treasures in the 50% off carts parked around the store (usually in the pharmacy section, the back corner with the toys, and up front by the cash). I can easily spend an hour wandering around just looking at things. Not just my favourite grocery store– because it’s so much more than groceries– but probably one of my favourite stores, period.

This is THE most counter-​intuitive, confusing, hellish grocery store in HRM. Hands down. I avoid this location like the plague, but perhaps twice a year I end up here because the attached LC is actually pretty nice. But I have finally learned my lesson and will never step foot in this place again.
The parking lot is waaay too small for such a large ubermart. Parking is a nightmare. There’s nothing quite like having to park at the clothing end of the store when all you want are a few groceries.
The Joe clothing line sucks. Cheap, tacky crap that takes up a third of the floor space. On one side of the clothes is drug-​store type items. On the other is the groceries proper. Oh, you say you need toothpaste and some bread? Well, they’re eight miles apart. Hope you brought your golf cart!
Nothing is where one would expect it to be, food-​wise. The cookie «aisle» is a wall of junk food in the front of the store. Milk is down by the kitchenware. This store appears to have been laid out by an inebriated first-​year traffic engineering student.
Every 30 seconds a recorded promo blares through the store. It’s so loud your options are to suspend all conversation until it’s done or try to yell over it to be heard. It’s that bad.
I can’t think of a single positive thing about this place. Too much crap, impossible to find what you’re looking for, ridiculously inconvenient layout, and of course you pay too much for the privilege. Never, ever again.

I love this store. I don’t shop here often, but when I do, I love it. They say it is the largest Superstore east of Montréal.
This week I was shopping for new nail polish, and my friend said they were having a big nail polish sale. I liked that there are all sorts of counters full of nail polish to choose from, and each bottle had it’s own tester in front. Also, there are white beauty cards there if you like to compare colours. I really like to compare before I buy, and this was the biggest selection of polish that I have seen in a while,
Also they have a great cooking school upstairs. This week, I joined a cupcake cooking class by Natasha. We made 3 kinds of jumbo cupcakes: delicious Lemon Meringue, rich moist Black Forest, and scrumptious Salted Caramel Pumpkin. For $ 18 we got to make them and then taste one of each kind with a drink. We were also able to bring home 2 of each flavour, for a total of six, in a new cupcake container. They also gave us each a cupcake corer. Natasha is a great instructor and I learned all sorts of new things from her.
Other features in this store which I like are the fresh sushi counter, the health food section, the vegetables and fruit, the Joe Fresh clothing, the sales in the housewares department, and the travel agency. I can spend a lot of time here (as I love to shop), and it is always an interesting experience!

I’m not gonna lie. I’m a Sobeys guy. I attribute that to where I was raised, where in Newfoundland there are more Sobeys’ than Superstores (where there they are called Dominion) and the nearest grocery store to my house was Sobeys (40 minutes away).
But now my grocery needs are split about ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ between Sobeys and Superstore. I am generally under the impression that the Superstore is cheaper but Sobeys has better sales but that’s probably an incorrect assumption. I’ve never actually closely compared the two.
This location is the biggest grocery store in HRM (that I know of) but they offer a lot more than groceries. They have the Joe Howe clothing line, a large self-​care, bathroom products section, kitchen ware, electronics, etc., plus drug store, eye clinic, and whatever else. Basically, it’s a pretty big store.
Honestly, for me, it’s too big. Unless I plan on filling a grocery cart with a month’s supply of food, I actually prefer a smaller grocery store. Of course this location has more, I don’t really find its variety is that much larger than anywhere else. Granted, they’re probably more likely to NOT run out of anything but I’m generally not that stuck in my ways when it comes to my grocery list.
This location doesn’t really do anything wrong that I notice but when it comes to my personal preferences, it’s not my top choice of grocery store through no fault of its own nor even within the Superstore chain.

This location used to be the best Superstore in town in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. Then they pretty much doubled the size of the place, added a whole bunch of general merchandise and clothing, and basically wrecked it.
I go to Superstore to buy groceries, not all the other stuff that tries to make them a junior Walmart. Unfortunately, by trying to compete with the department stores, they ruined the grocery shopping experience. Now the grocery aisles are oriented side to side on the left half of the store, and if you want to buy milk you almost need to pack a lunch to make sure you survive the trek to the rear of the store.
It seems to me that when they added all the other merchandise they actually reduced the grocery selection. That may be a perception more than reality, but to me the shopping experience now is decidedly inferior than what it used to be. I now avoid this place generally.

I don’t know what MBA type crap they are pulling. But they rarely have more than one or two cashiers working. Even with the lineups going back 20 people the manager comes over and tries to get people to use the crappy robo-​tellers. Those things just don’t work. I program computers and build electronics and I just can’t get through an order without it yelling for help. At first my policy was that if something didn’t scan I just dropped it on the floor and left it behind but my new policy is to not go to this house of horrors.
Then to top it off when I asked the manager to open up new lines she said, «That isn’t our policy anymore.»
My guess is that some MBA who wanted these machines to be a success is setting up impossible conditions for the managers and the customers.

I don’t often shop at Superstore but my gym is located in this one so sometimes I stop by when I need something on the way home.
First thing you should know about this Superstore is that it’s big. No, wait, it’s HUGE, which can make it tricky to find things if you’re unfamiliar with their layout. But the large size gives you lots of selection — from clothes to household goods to, wait for it, groceries!
The huge-​ness aside, this Superstore is pretty much like all the others — you can get a range of what you need and the prices are pretty good. I’ve had trouble using coupons here once or twice, but other than that little issue the staff is courteous and attentive. They usually have a great fresh selection area (salads, fruits, etc) so I’ll often stop there to pick something up for lunch.
Overall, not a bad place but I still prefer Sobeys.

BAD! BAD BAD BAD BAD! BAD!!!
Out of all the places I’ve ever been, this is the sketchiest out of them all. It just so happens to be closest Superstore to where I live and my boyfriend read the Superstore flyer saying there were lots of sales on stuff we needed so off we went. I thought we were headed to Barrington but no…
When he pulled into this store my reaction was «Seriously? This is the worst store ever!» and his reaction was «I doubt it. It’s huge!»
Well, after searching for the things on our list forever, finding where things should be but are unavailable and half the stuff not carried in the first place when other Superstores have it, and then sorting through the green and blue meat, my boyfriend finally openly admits: «this store is horrible!»
We ended up going to a different Superstore for the majority of stuff on our shopping list.
Can’t say I didn’t try to warn him. I had experienced all these things when my friend and I went the time before. We left empty handed and in a hurry to go to a different store then too.

Its big, and beautiful!
It always has the veggies I’m looking for and really nice staff!
The gluten free section is HUGE and full of fantastic food!
One stop shop!

This is one big-​ass store, but I like it because it has all of my favourite things: Natural Foods section with tons of Gluten-​free food, a rockin’ Joe Fresh section (sometimes I have to avert my eyes because I love Joe so much) and a great housewares section.
Cashes can sometimes have long waits, especially on the weekends; even with lots of the lanes open, you’re guaranteed a 5 – 10 min wait. Oh well — indulge in a gossip mag or two.

The Joe Howe Superstore has the best selection of gluten free items/​health foods of any store in the city, as well as the best price points. I go here to pick up granola bars, cereal, and other allergen-​free products that are easier to buy than make.
It can be a little challenging to navigate the aisles, but I think that’s because it’s laid out differently than the other Superstores in the city.
Joe Fresh is also a plus. Super cheap and cute pjs are a great pick me up.

I can never find anything in this superstore. Maybe it’s because I only go here for the Joe Fresh, so I’m not used to it, but the aisles never make any sense to me.
There are a lot of checkouts, but it always seems that only two or three are open.
I love/​hate where the cookie/​candy aisle is. It’s right across from the checkout, which is sneaky and way too tempting.
However, they do have Joe Fresh and I’m willing to forgive a lot for that.

Outside of the excellent selection of groceries, the Joseph Howe Drive superstore is my favourite supermarket due to three factors:
1. It hosts a gym, pharmacy and cooking school, all of which I have taken advantage of. The cooking classes can be found upstairs, are an
excellent value and are a great option to explore something different.
2. It has an excellent clothing and house-​ware section which have proven to host some amazing deals. My wife and I always take a quick second to check out the clearance section prior to shopping for some groceries.
3. It is in a convenient location and has a gas bar (which allows you to accumulate extra PC points when paid for using a PC Mastercard). The points can then be used in the store for anything!
Overall, a grocery store with added features which make it worth switching for.

I had the worst experience in this particular Superstore! I was at the check outs and I noticed that one of the Rubbermaid containers that I was trying to puchase, was coming up the wrong price. I told the cashier and she literally said ‘what do you want me to do about it?’. I almost fell on the floor, I couldn’t believe it. Anyways, I told her to call down to the department and tell them there is a sign that says they are on sale. So she did… it was the incorrect price on the sign, but that is their problem, not mine so they matched the price. But… they follow the ‘scanning code of practise’ procedure so if the price is wrong, they will GIVE you the item up to $ 10.00. When I tried to advise her of this, she got really nasty and told me ‘you’re already getting a good deal on these, what more do you want?’. No exajuration, this is how I was spoken to.
When I told the Manager, he told me he would call me back, but didn’t. Great customer service, especially from the Manager.

I really like this Superstore. I recently had to go here to get another BDay cake. The make a wonderful, pound cake with butter frosting.
We went there and there was this beautiful cake with rich colours of purple frosting and then airbrushed with lime green, with a sparkling green butterfly as and accent and roses of course. It just jumped out at us.
Of course the lady said this was done for Mother’s Day and all the extras would be put away. But, she said she would save the Butterfly and make the cake for us.
I really like the customer service here!

In my world, groceries are a necessary evil. I would be happy ordering groceries online and getting them delivered if it meant I never had to step foot in a grocery store again.
That being said, the Superstore on Joe Howe Drive is by far the best supermarket I’ve ever shopped in. The layout is intuitive and makes it easy to plan a shopping trip from start to finish.
I may be a bit compulsive, but I always write my grocery list in order from entry to cash registers. This Superstore — for the most part — keeps things in the same order. Every once in a while, they’ll change up the center aisles, but since we do most of our shopping on the perimeter, this isn’t too much of a hassle.
This Superstore has consistently fresh produce and has the cheapest milk in town. The bakery offers a wide variety of both breads and sweets, with custom cake orders available with enough notice. Forgot to call it in? The staff here will write on a pre-​made cake if you need it.
Don’t forget to stop by the Joe Fresh and beauty departments. The selection of clothing available here is excellent, with a bra and underwear section to rival anyone.
If you’re in the market for groceries — and who isn’t? — check out the Joe Howe Superstore.

This is definitely my favorite Superstore location. It has the largest selection of… well…everything. It also seems to have the freshest of everything too. From fish and seafood, to meats and produce, I always know it’s going to be fresh. Produce from this branch lives longer at home, not to mention the expansive choices not found elsewhere from peppers, to herbs and greens like bok choy, Swiss Chard and Kale.
The staff are very helpful. Recently I needed fish bones to make a stock and they put in a special order for me. Unfortunately the policy had changed and they no longer provide the service, but the staff actually called me to tell me that they wouldn’t be getting any to save me a trip.
I love the Joe Fresh line of clothing and this has the best selection in town.

This is my favorite Superstore in all of NS for a few reasons, but mostly because the of the store’s huge Joe Fresh clothing section. I love Joe! The clothing is good quality and the prices are very reasonable. What separates this Superstore from the others is that it’s one of the select few that have full Joe Clothing departments for men, women and children.
In addition to its great clothing departments, this Superstore also has a huge selection of house-​ware products; it has an NSLC attached inside, and a gas station in the parking lot — making the store extremely convenient for one stop shopping.

This is the biggest Superstore I know of in Halifax. At the very least it is the largest that is also closet to downtown Halifax. Of course it can’t be right downtown given its size but they have put it as close to the Halifax Shopping Centre as they could. So given its sheer size I would expect their new clothing brand «JOE» to be larger, their electronics section to be more than a part of an aisle and their overall selection to be four times what I would get at any other grocery store. And I am pleased to say they have met all my expectations! If you can’t find what you are looking for, you won’t find it in any other grocery store. This one literally has it all.
I love their JOE brand of clothing. It is well stitched and has similar pricing to Wal-​Mart for example. No longer do I need to shop for groceries, then go to another store to buy a polo t-​shirt. I can get everything here! Their electronics section is also quite impressive. I even bought a printer at this particular Superstore before. With the Mail-​In-​Rebate, I purchased the All-​in-​one printer for only $ 30! Not a bad purchase if I do say so myself. Another great thing about this particular Superstore is that they have their own Gas Station. Yes, they have their own Gas Station. That is what I said. So this really is a grocery store that takes care of all your needs.
The customer service is average. They have never blown me away with a personal touch I might find from a local grocery store. And if there is one thing I see a lot is long lineups at this grocery store. So be careful if you are going the same time as everyone else. Or at least be prepared to buy a magazine because it will be a long wait to get through your groceries.
This Superstore is fantastic! I love shopping here because I leave with no question as to whether or not I should have gone anywhere else for my grocery needs. Of course I do worry when it comes to stores this size and their environmental practices. So that, mixed in with average customer service is why this Superstore doesn’t get five out of five stars. But for the best selection, great pricing and a good location, they definitely deserve the four out of five.