Haggen Food

As a visitor I like Safeway better than Haggen’s. Safeway prices are better. Perhaps this is a better choice for the people who live here. However, I have my doubts; the parking lot was empty whenever we drove by.

I have been very disappointed in the change in ownership of the former Safeway store. I was never under the illusion that it was a great grocery store to begin with but the location made for convenient and reasonable shopping. Since Haggen took over the prices are substantially higher and the freshness and quality of meats and produce are visibly lower.

So, Haggen is a Washington state based grocery chain that just recently bought out a bunch of Safeways and Albertsons in OR and CA. They recently renovated and moved into the old Safeway on Siskiyou Blvd. I have to say that I was initially excited– Safeway was where I shopped when I needed to grab just a few things and I was too lazy to drive to Shop n Kart. It was an average grocery store that had limited items because it wasn’t a very big store, physically. I liked having a Safeway card, it gave me the illusion that I was somehow saving money, even if it was just an illusion.
So, I got a flyer in the mail the week that Haggen opened and it promised local, organic fresh food. So, yeah– I was excited.
A week or so after they opened, I went in.
I have to say I was pretty disappointed. Aside from some basic décor changes, it seemed pretty much the same. Then I went to buy my normal items and I was shocked that everything was, on average, $ 1 – 2 more than I paid at Safeway.
Wow! That hurts right in the wallet!
Their organic produce section is a little nicer and they have more organic meats available, but that’s it.
They stopped carrying some essential things that I was used to getting. And probably the most disappointing thing is, Safeway used to have great, cheap flowers– the flowers are now much, much more expensive! So instead of buying flowers weekly, I buy a bouquet monthly, if that.
Did the Haggen people really think this small town was NOT going to notice the dramatic price increases?
Interestingly, I have noticed that while Safeway was pretty much packed any hour of the day, I don’t see the same amount of people shopping at Haggen. Perhaps the word is out.
The only thing I like so far about this new store is they don’t close one entrance at 8 PM like Safeway used to. They also kept most or all of the Safeway employees, which is pretty cool, but when you ask them how they like the changes, they seem hesitant to be really honest about it– like they are being monitored. Hmmm.
So, unless it is un-​doable to drive to Shop n Kart, I won’t be shopping here much.

This new place is, as far as I can tell, equivalent to a Safeway. It delivers basic goods at reasonable prices.
The produce I’ve tried has been pretty good. One (late) morning i came in however and there literally wasn’t a vegetable/​green in the store. It seems there had been a Vegetable Apocalypse of some sort during the night. I inquired about this and the clerk replied vaguely about a «new store and growing pains». Ok, I’m down with that.
That said, you can generally get what you need. I recently needed a gallon of vinegar and a six-​pack of beer. Well, Haggen came through! My pal needed a tub of lard and a package of Fritos. Ditto!
Nice enough staff. I haven’t witnessed anything dire.
They’ve got loads of cheap cat food. Not that I have a cat, but I thought it worth mentioning.
One suggestion to Haggen however: please please do something about your egg display. That is truly the sorriest egg display I’ve ever witnessed. Just one variety? All white? Stacked haphazardly with broken shells and some cases leaking? I think this is one area where you can join the 21^st century (free range eggs?) and improve your presentation. Also it would allow you to connect with a key local demographic. Lots of crazy chicken people in Ashland, you know.

I must say, I have not been very impressed with my overall Haggen’s experience since the store took over Safeway. When I came in last Monday, the day after your opening. I went in for a second time tonight, and here’s what I have to say so far:
–Your lettuce prices are absolutely outrageous. I used to be able to get 11 oz. of mixed greens for $ 2.99. You charge twice as much for half the amount. Ashland is full of students and hippies. Neither of these groups have $ 6 to spend on a tiny tub of lettuce. This is an egregiously greedy money grab. For lettuce.
–Crostinis. Delicious the first time I bought them. In the bag I bought this week, not only was there less in the bag this time, but they were frankly kind of gross. Completely saturated in so much butter they were no longer crispy. Also tasted stale. I’m pretty sure the bag I bought tonight had been sitting right next to the bag I bought last week.
— Had the misfortune of nearly purchasing expired deli meat. The prepackaged roast beef I picked up had an expiration date of ⁵⁄₁₅. Today is ⁵⁄₁₈. This is pretty disgusting. For a store that has only been open for a week, they’re already having a real hard time keeping track of shelf life.
–When I went to checkout, I had to wait for the girls at the counter to stop giggling long enough to scan my items. Girl bagging groceries lollygagged and giggled the entire time I was in front of me. Other girl barely said two words to me and never made eye contact.
So far, extremely disappointed in this store. When do we get Safeway back? Or better yet, a Trader Joe’s?

so very disappointing… might as well have stayed a Safeway. Same dirty dark store with high prices, crappy deli food offerings… Are you kidding Me… didn’t you guys check out the other stores here in Ashland… we demand better… so good luck with this store. You need to look more like your ads. which looked really exciting… organics and a Trader Joe’s feel… but sadly, that’s not what was delivered and also sadly was that this seems good enough for you. I’ll try back in a couple of months to see if you’ve ‘caught on’ to the ‘vibe’ here in Ashland. or not. Hope you change and get ‘with it’…instead of the buzz kill currently felt going into your store…

Underwhelmed, as near as I can tell Safeway could have stayed here for all the changes.
The Coop, Market of Choice and Shop-​n-​Kart have nothing to worry about.