Shoppers

I bought my groceries here (this specific location) exclusively for 6 years (Jan 2010 — Jan 2016) before recently throwing up my hands in frustration and moving on. Initially I started shopping here because of the selection of import food and uncommon items you don’t often see at other grocery stores, things like obscure/​uncommon snacks, oddball frozen items, and their delicious deli bread. Their prices were competitive and generally the store was clean and reasonably well staffed. I’m not that picky about grocery stores generally, and I lived right nearby, so I decided to make this «my grocery store» — a position it held for the aforementioned 6 years.
Several negative incidents with checkout workers (rude, preachy, incompetent, slow) did not affect my decision to leave. I left because this SFW sells a massive amount of Expired goods, the quality of the store and the food found inside the store has declined MASSIVELY since 2010, and as of 2016 SFW’s prices are no longer competitive, especially when you take the other factors into account.
In 2015 I noticed that every single grocery run was yielding a handful, sometimes even as many as a dozen (!) items that were past their Sell By date, sometimes by MONTHS. And it could be anything, from items in the deli, to condiments, to frozen food. Heck, even canned food is sometimes out of date at this Shoppers, and that’s just insane! One time I bought sliced deli bread that had expired 3 days before I purchased it. DELI BREAD. You know, the kind that is supposed to be fresh that morning, or at the very least, the previous day. That’s why you pay a premium over shelf bread. I also found this store notorious for leaking/​split cartons of milk and juice, especially in the last year I shopped there. And don’t even get me started on this store’s fruit and vegetable quality — it’s the worst I’ve ever seen. I literally cannot recount the number of times I purchased fruit or vegetables that were 50−80% rotten, damaged, or otherwise inedible. Often they were arranged or presented in a way where you couldn’t tell how bad it was until you got home and began to prepare it. Unforgivable.
I think SFW were always a chain that took rejected pallets originally destined for other stores, sorted them out, and then sold what was not too damaged or spoiled. I don’t mind that strategy, but SFW as it stands today has two major problems with this approach:
— First, they’re selling far too much spoiled and outdated food. Period. There’s no excuse for this, and they don’t seem to care about it.
— Second, despite this strategy of «damaged/​rejected goods», their prices aren’t very competitive! After shopping at several other area grocery stores I’ve found my overall food costs have gone down, despite the quality, selection, and service at other stores being far better. I don’t understand the reason for this, but facts don’t lie. In my case I’m definitely getting more, better, and for less, elsewhere.
I absolutely regret shopping here for 6 years without consistently checking out the competition. I won’t make this mistake again, as although I’ve moved on to another store, I will not be blindly loyal to that store because of my fondness for their niche items or other barely defensible personal preferences. The amount of direct losses I personally incurred from shopping at this location run into an absolutely embarrassing amount of money.
Embarrassing because I should have said «NO!» and left a long, long time ago. Needless to say, that’s not a mistake I plan on making again.
I will never make the mistake of shopping at a Shopper’s Food Warehouse again, either.

I go here often because I live up the street and it’s convenient. I always have an OK experience but the produce is almost never fresh anymore. They used to have a great produce manager working there last year but I never see him anymore so I assume he quit. Also my guilty pleasure in life is their donuts but they never put out more when they run out. You have to ask for more and they always act like I am bothering them. I like the Shopper’s in Centreville much better.

They had plenty of sales which I thought was great until I got home. Everything that I bought had close expiration dates. I’m single so ½ my PRODUCE is going to waste. I mainly brought produce. What a waste? Definitely sticking to what I know… Walmart I promise never to betray you again!

I have shopped at the Shoppers in Lorton for SEVEN years now. I go nearly daily for the day’s food and necessities, including red wine. I typically grab my credit card and nothing else, and go in, greeted by friendly staff who have come to know me. I am 50, I fully look 50, and am known among nearly everyone who works the registers. i have been buying bottles of wine there for 7 years.
Yet on Tuesday I was denied a bottle because I had no i.d. with me, which I never do. They took the bottle away and deducted it from my total.
«We know we know you, we are sorry.»
«We have to id everybody» they said.
No, you don’t. You don’t have to id a person who is well known to your staff, a loyal customer, old enough to be your mother, and who has so far this month spent $ 385 there. (And it’s only the 11^th!)
I will find a competitor who is able to treat a familiar customer as they should be treated. And they will get the thousands a year that now goes to Shoppers.
It MEANS SOMETHING to have a store you are loyal to, know who you are, and show you loyalty as well.

In comparison to other Shoppers this one is by far the cleanest and most well organized that I have ever seen. The aisles are wide and do not have a bunch of junk displays overcrowding them. My wife and I ran in on Sunday to grab some items for my wife’s Mother’s Day dinner. Fruits and veggies were well organized and as fresh as any other mid-​level market (Giant, Safeway). We also picked up some bone-​in New York strips for the grill and they were nice and thick and again as fresh as you will find in any mid-​level market. They were also very tasty with little fat or gristle. The store was pretty crowded with last minute Mother’s Day shoppers grabbing flowers and dinner items but there were many check out lanes open and we did not have to wait. We typically do our large shopping trips at Walmart but I would not hesitate to return to this Shoppers if I was in the area and just needed to grab a few things.

Go here for their great selection of healthy frozen dinners.
They are one of the few stores that still carry the Kashi brand microwave Steamer Bag, the Sesame Chicken is worthy trying.
They also have the Lean Cuisine microwave steamer bags.
Over all great variety.

I do stop there for items that cost more at other stores. I think that this store is an overstock/​cleared to move type of store. I suspect that they may buy items that higher end stores pawn off to keep prices low. I think that if you keep this in mind, shopping can be strategic in what you look for. They being new items in, but those taper off as they seem to get it for a bit of time and then stop. The produce is always decent and I like to check out the frozen foods. They have nice deli, seafood, and bakery departments. The customer service is the best around and I always feel protected by the staff there especially at night.

You never have what I need these days. I relied on you for my diet sun drop. Now you dont have it anymore. So you have no advantage over any other grocery stores in the area. i hate to do this, but im breaking up with you. At least until you bring my sweet, neon green nectar back. Then we’ll talk.

I have only been to this location one time but I can say that the Shoppers in Manassas was much nicer. I had to run in quick to grab a few things for my wife to fix dinner on my home from work. The produce wasn’t bad and I grabbed a loaf of fresh French bread that smelled great and was delicious as well. The other items I grabbed were reasonably priced so I can’t complain about that. I did not however buy meat. I am now afraid to after reading other reviews. I typically shop at the Commissary at Ft Belvoir but this Shoppers is the closest store to my home so I imagine I will stop in again for some items here and there.

I don’t like shopping there but it is the closet supermarket to my home. I picked up a pork loin and hoped to cook it for dinner. When I opened the package it smelled terrible. This is the second time that I have purchased bad meat from this store. I am so done with them.

Cashier was too busy talking to her manager about her weekend. Fruit was dripping when she kept trying to absent mindedly ring it up. After exclaiming it was leaking she put it in my bag with other groceries and I had to ask for it to be seperately bagged. Then she kept asking if she could close her line, although someone was behind me. Good selection of food and prices are pretty fair, hopefully there is better customer service next time I visit.

Precious likes to go to Panera’s on weekend mornings, and this place is in the same shopping center so we tend to go there a lot. I like it. It has a big produce section. It has a lot of meats. You’ve got your chicken, pork and beef, but they also have things like duck and goose and goat that people who want to make their meals interesting look for. We’ve gotten some very good meat at this place.
What I also like is the self check out lines. When we shop there is always an open line. You can usually breeze right out of there.

Being the closest discount grocery to my house I tend to go there alot. The parking spaces are very large and you can usually park very close. It is a smaller store compared to other SFW, but the lines still get long during «off» times, and if you’re looking for a new product they probably won’t have it.
The largest problem… I ROUTINELY find out of date items here. They do have a «guaranteed fresh» policy so it would make you think that someone would roam the store once in awhile and just glance at dates. Be especially careful around the deli area– chips, cheeses, and packaged meats seem to be a big problem. I still go for the price and the convenience, but if I have time I will plan the drive to Wegmans.