Tops

This was just an impulse stop. On my way to BJs from the Post Office I saw an easy parking spot and popped in.
Parking was easy because this place is not very busy. It’s huge so it was striking how not busy it was.
I was here for some produce, and found nice fresh shallots, organic radishes, nice asparagus, garlic and the last bag of fingerling potatoes. Raisins in bulk are $ 3.49 lb and you can take as much or little as you want (my Wegmans has them prepackaged only). No tarragon today, so I do have to try another place too. But that’s fine. It was easy shopping because it’s not crowded.
All in all I’ll shop here again when I’m in the area. Easier parking and much easier shopping than crowded Wegmans.

This is the massive International Tops on Maple. Speaking of massive, you should see what my Dad was working with. Oh wait, that sounds wrong. Okay forget I said anything, sorry.
I was just here about 3 days ago actually. Over the years I’ve probably been in here 20 times. I used to live nearby. It’s an international tops which makes it sound exciting, but each time I go in they see to not have what I’m looking for. I find all Wegmans and Tops to be overpriced so it’s hard to give them more than 3 although I occasionally do, but having left here disappointed that they were out of X (you name it) on multiple occasions in the last few years (and the same problem with Tops on Main in Williamsville) then I have to stick with a 2. The reason it doesn’t score 1 is because it’s clean, big, nice parking lot, and fairly nice employees in my experience.
I always liked this Tops, but in retrospect it’s not in a great location to get to from other parts of town. Also, even though I remember it having a great international section, I went back recently and it did not compare, even remotely, to the International Aisle of Wegmans. And prices are high and as I say it never has what I need, bizarrely. It always has everything I don’t need. Sod’s law. So it scores 2. It’s still one of the better Tops, though.

This is, consistently, the worst Tops in the Northtowns in terms of customer service. Today’s visit is very typical of what I tend to encounter:
1. When I entered the store, I noted that the antibacterial wipes container was empty, so as I had to go to Customer Service anyway, I mentioned the situation to «Terry.» He said that maintenance would take care of it but that the maintenance guy wasn’t there. (It was 11 am on a weekday.) A few minutes later, I saw a guy who looked like a maintenance worker, so I asked him about the wipes container. He responded that there weren’t any replacement containers in back and that the store had been out of wipes for a week. He added that he had repeatedly asked managers about the containers but that they didn’t seem to be doing anything about getting more.
2. Terry at Customer Service was less than helpful when I conducted a money transaction. Instead of giving me small bills, he insisted on giving me large ones and I succeeded in getting small ones only after I insisted on speaking to his supervisor.
3. At the checkout, I received a Tops coupon with my receipt, so I decided to use it. When I went to pick up the frozen dessert item listed on the coupon, a stock person working in that section informed me that the item had been discontinued. Why would Tops issue a coupon for an item they no longer carry?
4. The saving grace of my visit was the cashier, «Gregory.» He was polite, efficient and competent — truly an exception in this customer-​unfriendly store.

Clean, good selection, decent size.

This is my favorite grocery store thus far. They have lots of selection, good sales, and a clean store. I love the bulk aisle. It’s not a crazy bargain, but it takes me back to my childhood. For a regular grocery store, I was impressed by their selections in international foods, beer, and cheese. Their deli is not too enticing. I would recommend Wegmans for a better deli experience.
The sales and their doubling of coupons under .99cents is a huge plus for me and will keep me coming back.

Being the biggest Tops store in the chain (114,000 sq. ft.), it has an appeal all its own. Essentially you will find a lot of stuff in this store (pharmacy, big bakery, Tim Horton’s, café/​prepared foods, kosher deli, large organic/​natural foods dept, and international foods.)
The reason this store does not get 5 stars is that it honestly lost a lot of what made it good in the first place. The huge renovation in 2005 which shut the store down completely for several months and changed it from Tops International to Martin’s Super Food Store, and then back to a normal Tops seems to have done away with what made it work. No longer will you find the extensive selection of international foods or products that made this store such a draw when it opened in 1991. I was there for opening day and they had police directing traffic and busses dropping off customers because the parking lot was over capacity.
However, the store does still carry a lot of things that I need, and I would go there anytime. Maybe now that Tops is a private company after being sold by Ahold USA about 3 years ago, who knows– they could possibly bring back what made it even better than it is now.

Way back in the day, my mom worked part-​time for Tops in the pizza department to make ends meet. I developed a fondness for their pizza back then, but I thought it was just me. But the husband gets into town and insists that he has to have pizza and it has to be from Tops. I tried to talk him into the local pizza shop, but he just wasn’t having it. He wanted to cheat on his gluten-​free diet and it had to be with a Tops pizza.
This isn’t one of the biggest Tops, but I was pleased to see that they jumped on the health food bandwagon. While waiting for our gluten filled, dairy slathered and processed meat bedecked monstrosity — we perused and found a nice selection of gluten free foods and snacks, a variety of nut and grain-​based milk, and a host of other foodstuffs that we would normally have to make a separate trip to the health food store to find.
We managed to get everything we needed, including the difficult to find corn tortillas (they’re in the «international» and kosher food aisle) and check out ourselves rather quickly, but still had to wait only a few extra minutes for our big slice of debauchery.
And it was sinful. The wonderful combo of moist yet a little crispy pepperoni on top of super chewy cheese with a yummy tomato paste-​based sauce full of herbs I could taste. Yum! My only complaint was that the crust was a bit too chewy on the edges, but I was otherwise very satisfied.