Safeway

There’s a lot of stuff here, both in terms of food and alcohol. Great, great deals on wine in particular. Parking isn’t bad either. In short, it’s your standard Safeway in most regards. Where does it fall short? There never seems to be enough checkout counters open. Make sure you budget 20 minutes just to pay and leave. Unless you go at midnight – which you can, because this outlet is open 24×7.

This Safeway is located very close to my work. Except I will purposely drive out of my way to avoid it. They are no self check outs and they have very few cashiers working at any given time. Which would be fine if the cashiers were friendly and efficient. Not the case. I think they must actively seek to recruit cashiers them from The School For Slow People Who Don’t Give a Crap. They are the slowest cashiers I have ever seen anywhere. Not to mention they rarely speak English and don’t smile. Forget trying to get anybody to help at the Customer Service desk itself– where they sell stamps, smokes, lottery, etc. I’ve stood there on two separate instances and both times walked out after at least 10 minute wait times. The deli people are nice, but forget wanting to know what ingredients are in any of the premade items for sale by the pound, or the soups. One day, I had to talk to 5 different people, none of whom could locate any ingredients in the broccoli soup (there are allergies in my family). Just ridiculous, unorganized and untrained staff. The seafood department is tiny and understaffed. They also have no idea what kind of fish they sell, where it comes from, etc. There is no grocers pride going on in this building. And obviously very little to no training. What should be a convenient location for me to run a quick grocery errand is impossible at this place. It’s quicker to go 5 miles out of the way. I think it might be the least favorite grocery store I’ve ever been in. For context sake, I actually really do like shopping at Safeway company stores in general. I have a lot of choices around my house, and the Safeway there (Renton) is always my preference. THIS STORE SUCKS!

If you ever want to see how two different Company cultures co-​exist, this is your location.
Starbucks is, well, Starbucks. The restrooms are in Safeway however, as Starbucks occupies what should be Safeway’s flower shop or shopping cart overflow area.
Whatever it’s supposed to be, don’t expect any access or assistance by Safeway. At 7:15 AM — no one wants to be bothered. Keeping everything locked is easier. Just mark them all Occupied and call it a morning.
It’s Game Of Thrones Redmond edition.

I work in the business park behind this Safeway, so one would think this would be a quick, convenient stop to grab a quick lunch/​snack or stop on the way home after work for whatever I need to make dinner, but this is NOT the case. I avoid this Safeway like the plague. It is small, old, grungy, and SO SLOW. I usually only stop in this store for one or two items, and the fact that there is no self-​checkout is insanely frustrating. I do not want to wait in the ONLY open line behind three people with full shopping carts so that I can buy a candy bar. Not only is this frustrating for customers, but the poor employees hate it! There needs to be a major change in management at this store. And GET SOME SELF-​CHECK OUT LINES!

Ehh… this store has been remodeled, but the lighting is still dark and depressing. Needs more natural light. There are no self-​checkouts, and there never seem to be enough people working at the registers so it takes FOREVER to just get in and out with a couple things. I stopped in yesterday and it took me 20 minutes. To buy 3 jalapeños. At least the cashier was cool — he was like «Makin’ nachos?! Sweet, why didn’t I get invited?» Next time, guy. Next time.

This is not a well managed Safeway. I went on a Sat morning to find no meat in the meat section and nobody to help me. The manager checked my groceries and was too busy helping his staff to acknowledge my presence. The manager then kept dropping my food items on the floor when placing them in the bagging area. After the third time with no apology, I asked him to be more careful. He did not activate the gift card I purchased and when I went back to deal with the issue, no staff was available to provide customer service and there was two check stands open with 7 to 8 customers in them each. Avoid this place and go to QFC or Fred Meyer.

Wouldn’t recognize my out-​of-​state tax-​exempt status. The supposed «bookkeeper» for that location happened to be in line behind me and said it was too much paperwork. She should have just shut her big fat mouth. Will never go again.

Never coming here again. 5 manager types all wandering the floor while the line got 15 people long

I’m a big fan of Safeway and their prices. This location is a bit lacking though in that it doesn’t have self-​checkout or a Jamba Juice. A little behind the times when compared to my hometown Safeway. Same great prices and service you’d expect though. The parking lot is a bit funky, especially along the main road which can lead to some tense moment when trying to get in and out. Not sure why the property owner though it would be a good idea to do it how they did. One plus about this Safeway compared to some others is that the attached Starbucks is it’s own attached location. It’s not just one of those large booths.

They have a really suck return policy on baby items, as they explaine about some state law. Ok but that is for open items, mine are not. Store manager is MIKE CHANG or SHIT like that was very rude, i won’t shop with them anymore. Customers service is blaming to him, they all same shit .They r not the only store, it just closer to my house. I will spend that on gas to go the store far instead of them. THANK YOU FOR TAKING TIME READING THIS.

This is 2011, why does Safeway look like an old grocery store?
Ugly, depressing. Kind of feels like your walking in a hall of a mental institution. Produce never looks fresh, meat always looks old. I find safeways very depressing. QFC isn’t that great either but at least they try.
Cmon Safway, stop trying to look cheap, its not gonna make me thing your prices are super low. And stop saying my last name, its annoying.
I just want to leave when I pay but you stare at my reciept trying to figure out my last name. I don’t care. Not impressed that you can read.

Pretty standard as far as Safeway’s go as they have pretty much everything you would expect from the chain except for no pharmacy. This location is right by my work so there’s the convenience factor if I just need to pick up some basic items and they do have a pretty good selection of organic items with their clearly defined «Organics» store brand.
There is a Starbucks and a US Bank in the store for your coffee or banking needs and there is also a Rite Aid in the same shopping complex which makes up for no pharmacy in the store itself. Generally clean and well stocked, I have not had any issues here except some slowness in the checkout lines on occasion.

The staff is always good to me when I go to the Safeway on 24^th St. They have chicken nuggets that are alot healthier than the pre-​made stuff I buy at Trader Joes, both incredients and alergenics-​wise.
It’s very clean in the isles and is layed out well. So, I give them 4-​stars.
UNSAFEWAY.
However, what kind of a message are they trying to send with their scarry bathrooms. It’s like a cattle corrall in there. Their poor employees wash their hands in there – and then it’s, no towels to dry their hands on! Unless there is a secret compartment for employees-​only to get towels out of. Or maybe they could select some towels from the handy assortment of used ones on the floor?
Customers shouldn’t be confronted with a choice of washing their hands and actually getting dirtier by doing so, or not washing their hands. ‘Hmmm, let’s see I coughed in my hand twice, and went to the bathroom. OK. I’m not washing because I’ll pick up and spread more germs by washing my hands and then having to open the door without a paper towel. Lucky there aren’t any paper towels, where would I through them away, anyway?‘
GROSSery Store
So, this means these food handlers are really kinda dangerous. And that pisses me off. Why do car dealerships and karate schools have such clean bathrooms. The board of health NEVER checks on car dealer and karate school bathrooms. But, Safeway’s bathroom on 24^th St, earns them the following unSafeway Grossery Store moniker in my book.
Board of Health, you should be ashamed of yourselves! And it was like this long before the economy dropped so don’t cry «lay-​offs».
So, 4 stars for the seemingly clean front of the house and the no artificial ingredients chicken nuggets and for the organic veggies and fruits.
1 star for the bathrooms
total = 2 stars

I stopped here the other day to pick up a birthday cake. There was not a great selection of cakes and all of them were so feminine and topped with flowered icing. I finally decided on one and waited and waited for someone to come back to the bakery. I asked for someone in another department to get someone to the bakery and waited and waited. Nobody came so I just left without any writing on it.
The cake was dry and the frosting was way too sweet. I was disappointed!

Not really of a Safeway shopper, more of a QFC and Freddie’s shopper. Though when there are some items on sale at Safeway that I want to pick up, I would go here. The Overlake branch looks almost like a carbon copy of the 140^th Ave NE location Bellevue location.
The prices at Safeway seem to be a bit higher, so I kind of bundle it with Uwajimaya as a place you shop occasionally, but not for your everyday needs. Though I got to say that I love their fresh made bagels, which would be the one thing that I would come here if for no other reason. The store is laid out reasonably, though I would prefer a self checkout option. This and proximity are probably what holds me from giving a four.