Smart & Final Extra!

Great store with the right Manager. Friendly people and fast service. But I have talked with store before about Employees parking up front taking the close to front door parking spaces. Employees should not take up the good parking spaces. They should park alittle ways from store. Just this morning at 9:45 am in very first space in front of door ! Prime spaces should be for Customers !!
Tom

Clean and inviting store. This store used to be a Vons a few years back and thank God it got remodeled. The thing that I’m reviewing on is the lines. The wait is a disaster. The 5 times I’ve been here I’ve had to wait longer than 10 min in line. Workers have to deal with EBt and my personal favorite that takes up the most time. WIC. My Gosh stay clear around peak hours. Come early in the morning. You won’t find any baby mamma drama.

This smart and final grocery store is different than your typical smart and final. This store has plenty of stuff to buy from when it comes to groceries and obviously buying in bulk is best.
I would still rather go to trader joes or sprouts for my every day grocery shopping but, this is the place to go to for bulk buying, for parties, and bigger families. Buy more and save. :)
Good selection and pretty organized.

I’m sorry to say that they appear to be actually reducing their craft beers rather than expanding them. This has also apparently become a cashier training store. Every time I go now its all new faces and takes a long time. This is exactly how it began with the Albertsons formerly on the site. Shortest honeymoon in retail history.

Good variety of fresh produce, but 19 customers in line and only 3 registers open including express?!? What’s the point in having 6 registers if you only open 3? This happens more often then not unfortunately. 3 starts for friendly service and a clean store.

Having a family of 6 that also entertains a lot of guests, I am always looking for an affordable place to get groceries. This was my first visit to S&F «Extra». I didn’t know what extra meant, boy was I pleasantly surprised. Typically Smart & Final has bulk items and is a good place to get party trays. «Extra» offers this and fresh foods — organic produce yay! They also have a great selection of bulk grains, nuts, seeds and snacks with prices a lot better than Sprouts. The layout of the store was easy and everything was clearly labeled. I did notice their prices on the paper goods were a little overpriced. However, the wine selection was large with pretty good prices.

I’ve been to this newer location quite a few times now, due to work. And I can honestly say that I have never had a horrible experience at any smart & final location. However today, I came to this location for specifics, top sirloin and shoulder, and few other things for the business. I figured it’d be more convenient since its on the way and since its a bigger location than the one in Lemon Grove they’d probably have everything I was looking for. They had everything else, but no top sirloin and shoulder meat. Ruben from the meat department checked to make sure they were all out and even asked around to see when they’d have their next delivery, he went as far as to calling the location in Lemon Grove to make sure they had it there before doing the drive there. Ruben was courteous and truly made me feel appreciated as a customer, I was glad he made the phone call to the other location, and even asked for the employee to hold the products for me to pick up. Upon arrival to the other location my products were held as promised and ready for me to pay for. Its employees like Ruben that truly make a difference and have us coming back.

Our first impression was positive! Of course we went on a Monday morning around 9:00 so the parking lot wasn’t crowded nor the store. The aisles are wide and the store is very clean! I can’t wait to run out of food so I can go there again next Monday! Its about 4 miles from my house but worth the drive! My dad told me that it used to be a Vons.

How hard is it to give exact change when the cash register tells you? Maria shorted me $ 1.00 in change. I waited once it was brought to her attention. Thinking she would make things right, she began to check out the next customer. Waited thinking she had to wait to open the cash drawer, nope! I had to tell her she shorted me and I was waiting. She asked the cashier at 2, for the $ 1. I had to tell her because she shorted me the $ 1.

You can find a lot of different things at this store like matcha ice cream, different chamoys and hot sauces. If you love vons, I feel like this place is way different and a little more pricier. It’s a lot more fancier though. Good place to shop when you want packs of items.

What a difference than the Von’s that was there. This place is super clean, sunlight actually let in unlike vons, and friendly. They have sale items but even their regular price items are inexpensive. Every time I go in I hope they haven’t upped their prices because of their growing popularity. They have dries good bins like Sprouts does. My total grocery bill is way lower than albertsons where I used to shop. Just a little bit less selection than albertsons but I don’t mind. Their rotisserie chickens are huge and soo good, better thancostco and sams and same size. Sometimes they run out so get it first thing as you walk in. The grocery checker is also the bagger so lines are a bit slower but they have several cashiers.

Came here to check out produce … bought strawberries & blueberries for my morning protein shakes … they were fresher than what i tend to find at VONS or Ralphs and less expensive. The store was clean and the employees nice and helpful.

Beautiful new store with lots of space and wide aisles. I was immediately impressed by the produce section walking in: everything looks so fresh and abundant. The organic section and bulk foods are even reminiscent of your more high-​end health food stores. The prices are fair as well. I noticed the 8-​packs of Yoplait were almost $ 4 cheaper than other grocery stores.
The customer service here is outstanding. I’m greeted each time I enter the building and engaged in friendly conversation at the register. During one visit I asked where to find a certain item and was pleasantly surprised when the employee walked me over to the section I needed instead of just telling me an aisle number and going back to stocking the shelves.
This location puts the Lemon Grove Smart & Final to shame! Definitely bookmarking.

A few weeks ago my husband and I decided to check out this new location. Normally we go to the store in Lemon Grove. The service at that store isn’t bad, but it isn’t anything to get excited about.
This new location of course is larger, which allows for a much larger selection to choose from. It definitely impressed me. But what impressed me the most was the customer service. Every employee that walked by, no matter what they were doing, asked if I needed any help.
By the time we went to pay, the lines were LONG. It looked like there were only 2 registers open. I thought, «uh oh.» As we got to the front, the cashier was pleasant and apologized for the delay, explaining that they were short staffed. Now she didn’t have to say anything, but her just acknowledging the delay was nice. The other thing I liked was another person opened another register and it looked like a customer came from the back of one of the lines to his register. This cashier spoke up and informed this customer that he would have to wait behind the customers who were already ahead of him waiting patiently. Bravo! I always hate when customers cut ahead like that and the cashiers don’t say anything.
So, because of the GREAT customer service, I have and will continue to frequent this Smart & Final location. Your management and staff are doing an excellent job! Keep it up!

Great craft beer selection! Thank you! Prices could be better and the lines could go fast so that’s what made me take a star away.

love it, this is my new go to store. they offer various organic products at a great price.

I’m so glad that we finally have a Smart & Final here in Spring Valley! Now all we need is a Walmart, a Home Depot, and some quality family type restaurants.
Anyway, I don’t miss the Vons that was here before only because you could tell it was on it’s way out; because they never remodeled like the other Vons Stores in other areas.
I like this Smart & Final because it’s brand new. The only thing they need to watch out for is the freshness of their produce section. I bought some apples here that looked nice and red on the outside, but inside they were already turning brown.
Other than that, I give it 4 stars.

I stopped in this newly opened Smart & Final Extra after work on my way home to pick up some water, but as usual, I left with more than just the water.
The store was very well organized and moderately busy when I arrived. I really liked their black carts, because they were very sturdy and had very good wheels. I was able to pick up a couple Crystal Geysers 35 packs of 16 oz water bottles at $ 3.50 each. They had some great prices on paper goods, so I picked up some bowls and plates. I also picked up some chicken legs and ground pork at a very reasonable price.
This store has a very nice meat department, a great produce department, including an organic section, and a large wine selection. Their prices are very competitive, but as in any store, you need to shop to find those great deals. Also, you do not need a membership, so anyone is welcomed.
Customer service at the register was very good. The lady was a good spirits, she was quick, and I was out the door in not time.

We have been living next to this place since about 1982. First it was a Safeway then a vons. we were sad to hear vons was closing since we had shopped here for so long we knew where all the items were located. I was blown away when I stepped in the smart and final. It reminded me of one of those home remodeling shows on TV where you step out and return and your home has been renovated. Great selection, great prices, I hope it continues. I told my wife we may have to let our Costco membership expire.

A new Smart & Final opened up in Spring Valley. A warehouse store to buy items in bulk at a cheaper price, without requiring a paid membership. To top it all off, it’s a Smart & Final — Extra! What makes it Extra?! Good question. I had no clue, so I’m taking a quote from the Smart & Final website:
«Much larger than our traditional warehouse stores, Smart & Final Extra! combines the high quality fresh produce of a farmer’s market, the low prices of a discount grocer and the large club size products of a traditional club store.»
Fancy words for «bigger store and they got more shit.» Lol. They definitely have more goods to buy, both in bulk or not. Surprisingly, they also offer more produce. There’s also an unimpressive organic selection. For my health-​conscious, clean eating friends, don’t expect to stop shopping at Sprouts, Jimbos or Whole Paycheck.
From a cost savings standpoint, they do have great deals and for the stuff that’s not on sale, prices are fairly reasonable. I occasionally like shopping here because I can stick to my shopping list and not break my spending budget, unlike Costco, where I spend 2 – 3 times more than I planned and buy crap that I don’t need.
The location is conveniently off SR 125, for those living in southeast San Diego. As of right now, the store is new and clean. We’ll see how long that holds up, especially when you compare it the other Smart & Finals located in south county. Sitting next to a KMart, the parking lot they share is a little janky and, sometimes, so are a few of the customers. With that warning, don’t be surprised if you get shoved aside for that 69 cent/​pound Foster Farms chicken or whatever bulk sale item you’re grabbing, especially during the week of their grand opening. Hopefully, this won’t happen to often… unless the deals are a steal! =P