Is it really a safeway to shop? (Safeway)

Member Name: Emma1973

Product:	Safeway
Date:	08/02/04 (376 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Bargains

Disadvantages: pooey salad

There are some perks to my job, not many, but some. Often the best comes with ?desensitisation? work, that is helping people overcome their anxieties by gradual exposure to their problems, in my line of work usually the community.. This could be going to the supermarket, café, using the bus or even a walk in the park. It is for this reason I find myself finding an inordinate amount of time in the Safeway in Fishponds in Bristol. However my service user is now at the point where she can go around the supermarket on her own and I can go and sit in the café, thus observing Safeway in its entirety.
Lord alone knows what the staff think as this big 5? 8?, bright red haired pierced woman trailed around this little old lady! At any moment I expected the security to come and clap me on the shoulder, accusing me of getting ready to pinch her handbag! But this way I get to observe her from a distance.

The first impression I get whilst walking into Safeway?s, particularly this one, is one of complete and utter chaos! As you walk into the ?foyer? you are greeted by a big panel of swipe machines (more about them later), a broken pay phone covered with sticker, a rack with a bike chained to it, and another rack with ?free? magazines. Its crowing glory is stuck right in the middle and it?s a pile of bakery products, usually with a few empty packets as less than scrupulous people seem to regard them as a freebie as they leave. When you finally get into the supermarket it looks like an assault course! The dry cleaners/photo booth is to the right, alongside fridge units containing drinks, sandwiches, etc. To the left is a massive display of hot cross buns (a bargain at buy, one, get one, free), right in front of you is a huge rack and display of flowers, bulbs, and seed, etc. The ensuing crush usually reaches its peak at lunch times with the office workers coming in.

But then you get past the hustle and bustle, its like stepping into an oasis of calm, clean wide
aisles stretch in front of you, all see able clutter is behind you.

Obviously all branches of supermarkets are different but this is a large store so the stuff in it has to be very typical. The fruit and veg section is quite varied with a small range of organic goods. What I?m beginning to really dislike are these open salad bars, and Safeway has a great one which includes a wide range of olives. Its just that people like to dip their fingers and taste the produce, as the toilets are by the entrance to the store I don?t know where they?ve been! Some covers would be appreciated!

As for the lazy buggers who cant be bothered to cook is a curry ?bar?, freshly made pizza (not on site), and again the rotisserie which seems to be springing up in all stores. I?m always astonished at how my idea of a large chicken differs with theirs! They have a large delicatessen counters, which is sadly much underused. A large amount is taken up with exactly the same produce that is in the salad bar, they have some impressive pies though! The cheese counter is quite pitiful, a wider range would be appreciated, a much underused, valuable space. They do have an instore bakery, which makes better use of its space, a good range of breads and cakes can be found here. Unfortunately its not a continuous baking process like Asda so by the end of the day some of the bread can be a little too ?crusty? Their little donuts with the chocolate covering are absolutely divine!

There is a good raw meat section, although they could probably do with a butchers in store, there are a lot of elderly people living in Fishponds and since the local butchers a lot of people come here, unfortunately all the produce is sold in packs of two or more, putting a lot of people off.

There?s the usual cooked meat, cheese, yoghurt, etc. In fact there is everything you want to see and buy in a supermarket so it would be ridiculous just to list them all. So I?m going to talk about some mor
e pertinent things you look for when you go shopping.

Firstly prices and quality of their own brands. The prices I have to say are on a par with all supermarkets, except Somerfield who are more expensive. But it?s the bargains that are especially appealing! A 6 pack of Wotsits for 39p! An 18 pack of Walkers for 99p. 2 packs of Chicken Kiev?s for the price of 1! And the list goes on and on! These are a supermarket that does place a restriction of how many of the products you can buy at one time, its usually 3 though. But nonetheless its an excellent place for bargains. I have to be honest and say I only have limited knowledge of their own cheap brand, I?m not impressed, watery beans, toilet tissue is a bit scratchy,( at least it doesn?t fall apart in your hands!), but then I?m one of those people who prefer to pay the bit extra for what I know is a decent good.

Next, the store itself, well you have these wonderfully bright bits, very neat, very clean and tidy, then you turn a corner or into an aisle, and its goes a bit crap! At the end of each aisle is the ?bargains? that can be had, unfortunately they are usually piled up in their cardboard boxes, so the place ends up looking like a scrummage at Lidls. Some parts of the store are also completely neglected, with goods and seconds piled up, even Aldi wouldn?t stand for it! The checkpoint also look a bit of a muddled mess, with good piled up, and the cream and bright green of the checkpoints obviously don?t get cleaned very often so end up looking a bit grubby, in fact a lot of the store looks like it could do with a lick of paint and a good tidy up! The cigarette counter is another such area, a lot of the shelves have things missing, and although its very popular usually only 1 cashier as other people there usually have reams of paper work spread out on it. Its also difficult to find the customer service desk because of all the crap piled up on it!

But of course, you could bypass all this by
opting for the handheld swipe thingy, the idea behind this is that you would go around and swipe all the goods yourself, then go straight to the till and pay, thus cutting out all the queuing whilst poor other souls have to wait and some really slow cashier swipes the stuff for you, how this deters people from not paying for some of their goods I have no idea. So you?ve rushed round, swiped it all and then gone to the ?special? till, just one problem. There is never anyone on thee tills, so you then have to get the attention of one of the customer service staff to come over and do it for you, sometimes these new gadgets just aren?t worth the bother!

The staff are either really helpful or just completely disinterested, Safeway has a fully inclusive recruitment policy which I support whole heartedly. The security is very lacking though, you?d be hard pushed to find a security guard and when you do he?s usually got a mobile phone glued to his ear. I do find this quite surprising in an area like Fishponds, I don?t wish to generalise, but Fishponds doesn?t have the best reputation in the area, its also very close to some deprived area and the shoplifter do like to make a quite bus ride up to the place. It doesn?t help the local Social Security office is just down the road so when the junkies cant scam the money to buy drugs they just come up to Safeway to nick food and handbags to sell instead, never a good idea to let your bag out of your site.

And lastly the café, the only really positive side to it is the staff who are really helpful. Unfortunately like the rest of the store, its beginning to look old and tired, certainly the windows that run alongside it don?t look like they?ve been washed in years, the tables and chairs are faded and many slightly wobbly. But it?s the food that is the piece de resistance..because its awful, I don?t mind a cup of coffee and a slice of cake, but there?s no way I?m setting a fork near that grey cottage pie and watery
vegetables, I?d rather have a nice tub of poo infested salad! The staff do try and keep the tables nice and clean though, although a few extra mops of the floor wouldn?t go amiss!

I?m still not sure on Safeway?s, I don?t think I would go for the things that have been touched by other human hands, salad bar, deli etc and definitely not the cage. BUT the bargains sometimes outweigh my negative thinking, I wouldn?t do my weekly shopping here, but I?m happy to pop in to see what bargains they have. The best thing to do with this store, is close it down, refurbish and revamp the whole, and the brand new Lidls being built right next door its something they are going to have to think about pretty damn soon!

Summary: