Bottom Dollar Food

Good prices but a little messy and not enough cashiers.

I admit, I was drawn in by the Piggy Bank radio commercials. Boy do I find that little pig charming and funny for some reason!
But I can’t imagine the cute little Bottom Dollar Food Piggy Bank Pig *actually* hanging out in this store, because it’s just so… sad inside.
I’ll say this: the deals really ARE pretty good, for the limited selection that they have. Most things are $ 1 – 2 cheaper than you’d find them at Giant Eagle, and if you get their store brands, it goes even lower.
However, there’s just an odd sadness that seems to hang in the air. It feels like you snuck into a warehouse whose power went out and now it is operating on just one little generator. It lacks the bustling «HEY GUYS EVERYTHING HERE IS DELICIOUS COME EAT IT ALL!» feel of Trader Joe’s, even though the prices are comparable.
Also, having never been there before, I didn’t realize they expected you to bag your own groceries. It’s just weird. I had like 5 items, which I was carrying (no cart), and the cashier put them into an empty cart at the register, then pushed the cart at me. I was terribly confused. The cashier also never asked me about a loyalty card, which I found out after shopping there that they apparently have.
Should you go here? Sure, absolutely. The prices are good, if they have what you’re in the market for. For me, it’s on the way home from the gym, so I can see myself popping in from time to time if I need something, but the other reviewers are right: this place doesn’t look or feel anything like the commercials, and a little customer service would go a long way!

Bottom Dollar is a strange and curious place. For being a newly opened business in a newly renovated space, oddly, nothing about it really feels new. I enjoy the refrigerated produce section, but when you are in there with other shoppers, plus some carts, it feels very tiny and it’s difficult to reach anything, or move for that matter. I don’t feel like the prices are drastically low, but I do like that they do carry some name brand items. You certainly wouldn’t want to do all of your shopping here, as I feel like they don’t carry everything or a wide variety of items. You have to bring your own bags, which is fine, or pay a nominal charge for bags. Just like at Aldi’s, the cashiers don’t bag your items for you, but the provided bagging area is only large enough to accommodate two people at best. The lines have always been very long or slow moving for one reason or another. And despite being open for a number of months, the cashiers all seem new (i.e. they don’t seem to quite know what they are doing). It’s an okay place, but I won’t be a frequent customer, as I typically only stop in to buy bananas on my way home from McKnight Road shopping. I prefer Aldi’s when discount shopping.

I checked out BDF on the way home from a doctor’s appointment, thinking it might be a good idea to go more if it was worth the savings. Most of the food is really discounted, which is nice — like $ 2 cheaper than Giant Eagle discounted. But the store’s ambiance kind of left a lot to be desired. It looked nothing like the commercials, which show this big, brightly-​lit regular grocery store. Instead, it reminded me of a baby Costco — food was displayed in cardboard cutout boxes, and had a very warehouse-​y feel.
Also, there were no baskets to carry things in, just carts, and you need to bring your own bags, something I didn’t know. I had to buy a couple, but at 5 cents it’s no big deal.
All in all, I’d say take it or leave it. They have good prices, but their selection is really limited, and if you don’t live close by, it’s not worth traveling more than 10 minutes out of your way for.