B was like- what's with the interest in this market? I wasn't THAT interested, but I was a little curious.
We went inside and you can't even just get in. You have to pull up your Amazon account, click through to the in-store QR code and scan it to have the gate open. Also, you have to make sure that the default payment credit card that it would charge is the one you want to use or you have to change it before you depart the store. They have a couple of regular check out stations but they don't tell you that prior to going in. I didn't know I had a choice of a regular check out. It was very confusing.
I had brought my own bags, as I have like thirty. I definitely don't need more. But there is a display right in front of you when you go through the gate with green reusable bags that has signage saying, "Take one and fill your bag as you shop". I thought taking their bag was part of the process- that you HAD to use their bag. There was no sign that says the bags cost anything. I took one of their bags.
There are hundreds of little hanging cameras everywhere. Somehow, the cameras seem to know what you're picking up and they know who to charge for each item. If you take something, then don't want it, you need to put it back where you found it or you're going to get charged for it. You really don't want to touch anything for fear it's going to somehow end up on your bill. I can't even imagine coming in there with a child under, like, twelve.
I don't know if they just weren't prepared or it had been so busy in there that they didn't get a chance to restock, but I'd say they were out of 35% of the items that should've been on the shelves! There was nothing at the olive bar. Nothing at all at the hot bar. A few, like literally, FIVE items in the refrigerated bakery section- like where cake is supposed to be. B wanted frozen pizza. We saw they carry the Whole Foods 365 brand. There were maybe three different choices available. That's not because they don't carry more choices. They just didn't have the freezer stocked. Again, I don't know if they had these items on the day they opened and they're having restocking issues but it seemed more like it's a soft opening vs just being open now on the daily.
In our mind, we were going to pick up food for dinner and dessert. Normally, we'd go to Shop Rite in Wyckoff. That Shop Rite in particular is stocked with prepared food. This Amazon Fresh store had shelving for prepared food- there just wasn't any available. Same with dessert. There were display stands that had a few store baked goods on them, but there were literally just a few clear clam shell containers with some sad looking croissants in them. B grabbed a container with some mini chocolate croissants but that's because it was either those or some processed baked goods like Ring Dings or Twinkies.
The only "prepared" food he could readily access was the salad bar. He said there wasn't much he was interested in but he'd get some of that. We didn't understand the pricing but soon realized that the containers come in small, medium and large. He had just luckily grabbed a small container on his first try. He filled it as best he could with the things that were available to him. A small container costs $6.99, no matter how much it would weigh. I don't remember what the medium costs and the large costs $12.99. Remember, you also better not make a mistake and pick up the wrong size container, because you get charged every time you pick up a container.
We'd picked up blueberries, a party size Pringles, a 365 frozen pepperoni pizza, a twelve-pack of small gatorade, a mouth wash, the salad container, the croissants, two Lean Cuisine meals, and something else. We had a coupon for ten dollars off twenty dollars. When you get to the gate things at the end, you scan your QR from your Amazon account and your coupon(s). Then the gate opens and you can leave. But unless you have a photographic memory and the ability to add it all up mentally, you have no idea what you spent. Then it takes HOURS for you to know, and to get a receipt emailed to you. We left the store at six o'clock this evening. It's almost ten o'clock tonight and I just checked my email. The receipt came to my email at 9:41pm. About an hour ago I did check my Amazon account online and saw my purchase and the amount owed, but I'd looked a few times prior to that and it wasn't there until hours later.
I tried to get reimbursed for the reusable bag before receiving the receipt in my email. I could pay the $0.78 or whatever, but it was on principle that I felt duped into taking it. You can't do any refunds or credits until you get the receipt.
Was this food shopping experience any less expensive than other supermarkets? NO. I know the prices of food like The Price is Right. In fact, some of it was more expensive. Pringles are usually like $1.99 in Shop Rite. They were more in here. Blueberries were around $3.50. I feel like they're usually on sale in Shop Rite and Stop and Shop. Sometimes $1.99 a pint or buy one, get one. They didn't even have the ones I really want- the Driscoll's special giant ones. I didn't see any watermelon at all, but maybe I just missed it. The produce all looked decent, but I didn't feel like buying any besides the one pint of blueberries I got.
None of the prices of anything seemed that great that I was compelled to buy. Shop Rite has so many sales, I almost never pay full price for Lean Cuisine. They were $4.69 each. That's high for Lean Cuisine. However, they did actually have a much larger selection of Lean Cuisine than Shop Rite and I was able to get an entree I really like, that I haven't been able to find at any other supermarket.
I can say confidently, that I will never go back there. It isn't convenient for me to go there. They don't have the general selection of Shop Rite, and for being an Amazon store, which online, has EVERYTHING, it was a huge disappointment. I don't like feeling like I can't change my mind and put something back without fear of being charged incorrectly for it. I mean, it's great for them, because essentially they don't have to do much cleaning up to close at night, because I have to assume most people don't want to be charged for stuff they didn't actually take with them. So they're going to be careful about putting stuff back where it belongs.
It just wasn't any better than Shop Rite, and as a brand shopper, that's way more important to me than being able to check out with my Amazon account. In fact, that's annoying because I'd have to change my default card every time I went in there and have to remember to change it back when I leave. Worse yet, whenever you change the default, you have to re-input the whole card number in to verify. I do know both card numbers, but sometimes it takes me a few minutes to remember. It's a giant pain.
So my rating, if it was school grading, would be a D. I won't give it an F, because it was interesting? It's an interesting concept. But I also don't see how older people are going to do this. There's no way someone as technologically inept as my mother-in-law would ever be able to figure this out. It's not that it's SO difficult, but there is more thinking involved than should be in a supermarket trip.
**I just went into my items and the only option for the reusable bag is to return it. I'm not driving to the UPS store to return it for $0.78. I'll just keep it, but I'm annoyed.
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