Willow Glen Resident

News

Shoppers unhappy with freshness and quality at curtner safeway

By Mayra Flores De Marcotte

Competition makes for better business, and Willow Glen residents wish that were the case when it comes to their choice in supermarkets.

Willow Glen resident Debby McCarty lives around the corner from the Safeway at Curtner Avenue and Almaden Road. The lack of choice of grocers in Willow Glen frustrates her. She said her frustration, is compounded by the lack of fresh produce and how frequently she finds expired products on the shelves.

"We don't have within our world another store to chose from," said McCarty, referring to the Safeway at Curtner. "This is why when these issues come up, the neighbors are always up in arms."

When a heated discussion on the conditions of this particular Safeway grew on a local e-list, McCarty decided to send some of the complaints to Safeway via e-mail.

"I just got a canned response," she said.

The e-mail apologized for the inconveniences and promised to do better in the future, McCarty said.

McCarty isn't the only one dissatisfied with the store's service. Willow Glen resident Michele Baker also sent the grocer a compliant.

"It's very hard for me to understand," Baker said. "It kind of seems like when stores have a captive audience, they tend to put their worst stuff in there. The produce is rotten or too green to eat. The store is dirty. I feel like this Safeway's attitude is, 'You have nowhere else to go, so you'll buy it.' "

Baker has frequented the grocer for the last three years because it was the closest to her home, but wishes she had other options.

"When I first moved to Willow Glen, I spent the first six months just driving

around looking for a decent, upscale grocery store," Baker said. "I was amazed. I don't know why there aren't any upscale grocery stores in an upscale neighborhood."

Her concerns about the store drew a slew of responses from others who frequent the neighborhood online chat forum. The store's cleanliness and lack of stock were part of a heated discussion and have prompted neighbors to file complaints with the grocery store.

"You feel so all alone on these things," Baker said. "You get a form letter from the website basically saying the same thing--'We will do our best,' 'We sincerely apologize'--but nothing's changed. Everyone has gone through the paces of getting it improved, and it's just going downhill."

Baker contacted the Santa Clara County Environmental Health Department to report her complaints.

"I reported that the store was really dirty, as were the checkout stands, and that I thought I saw rat droppings near the checkout lines," Baker said. "It looked like for the past 20 years, whoever was mopping wasn't getting the corners because there's this layer of black gunk. It's disgusting."

The complaint was answered just three days later by Santa Clara County environmental specialist Lisa Lopez.

"They were great," Baker said. "As soon as she did her report, she called me back. I'm really impressed on how well they handled it."

Although there were no citations issued that day, Lopez did find that the grocer was in violation in one area and asked management to rectify the problem.

"Bottom line, there was some accumulation of discarded packaging and food debris, most of which were found behind displays and store shelving," Lopez said. "It just looked like they were being overlooked."

Safeway management was instructed to remove the excess debris and to do whatever was necessary to prevent this from happening again, she said.

"We consider this a minor violation because it is not directly impacting the quality of the food itself," Lopez said.

With a grocery store of this size, Lopez said she tries to go out at least three times a year for routine inspections, but if a complaint is filed, she stops by within seven days to check it out.

"When we go back for the routine inspection, we check to see if they have done what was asked during the first inspection," Lopez said.

Safeway's Northern California director of public affairs Espe Greenwood said she wasn't aware of any complaints at this particular site but that complaints go through a separate department.

"We want to work on providing the very best products and maintaining the highest level of cleanliness at our stores," Greenwood said. "If it's a matter of talking to the managers, we will do that and have them address any issues or concerns."

Willow Glen resident Andrea Hunter has lived at her Creek Drive home for the last 27 years and said the problems at Safeway have been persistent.

"I just can't believe it's gone on for so long," Hunter said. "All of my neighbors have had the same complaint about it."

The Almaden Road and Curtner Avenue location has always been a "stepchild of sorts," she said.

"It's just substandard in the way it's been kept up, as far as being cleaned and stocked," Hunter said. "I basically avoid it."

She said the conditions at the grocery store are like a yo-yo. It gets bad, then it's cleaned up and then it goes back to the previous substandard conditions.

Hunter finally became fed up and contacted Safeway headquarters to file a complaint.

"I spoke to a customer service person, and she was very receptive," Hunter said. "She said to get other people to call. That this was the only way to get changes made."

Hunter also spoke to the Safeway management at the location. After that things began to look better a month ago, but then the store's cleanliness and stock began to slip again.

"The people that work there are very nice," she said. "It's just not a place I really like to frequent. You go there and are always disappointed."

Instead, Hunter does her shopping at the Safeway at Hamilton and Meridian avenues.

Hunter hopes upcoming renovations by a 24-Hour Fitness moving into the shopping center will inspire a similar revamping at the Safeway.

"It would make it more of a destination rather than the last option," Hunter said.