November 22, 2009
Store Manager
Stop & Shop
60 Everett Street
Allston, MA 02134
Dear Sir or Madam,
I like your store for several reasons: it is the closest supermarket to my house; I like the “Scan It!” system; and you give five cents back for reused bags.
Unfortunately, these positives only go so far, since your inventory lacks many things I need. Today, I walked out of your store empty-handed when I found that you were missing so many items that it wasn’t worth my time to ring up a purchase, and I went to Shaw’s and spent $137 there instead.
You simply don’t stock some things I need; other things are usually there but missing when I go to buy them. Tonight, I knew that there were several things on my shopping list you do not stock, but I was willing to tolerate that for the sake of the advantages listed above. What propelled me out the door was the fact that you were out of something that you usually stock, and I needed to buy it this week. In particular, I found no 72-count boxes of Sabbath candles, a product which I’m pretty certain you usually stock, in your Kosher aisle.
Here are some other items I buy on a regular basis that you don’t stock but Shaw’s does (I bought all of these today at Shaw’s):
- large bottles of Smart Balance cooking oil (I’ve seen them in the store on very rare occasions, but most of the time you stock only the small bottles)
- Osem “mini mandel” soup croutons
- Kosher beef hot dogs from a brand other than Hebrew National (we are among many families in the Boston Jewish community who do not consider the Kosher status of Hebrew National to be reliable and therefore can’t purchase that brand)
- Kosher boxed macaroni & cheese (either Fould’s or Wacky Mac)
I would shop at your store more often and spend more money there if you stocked these items and did a better job of keeping things in stock.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Kamens
Actually, I stopped shopping there (except for emergencies) because at 8:45 am any day of the week, when I was coming back from dropoff at school, they would be “out” of skim, 1%, and 2% store brand milk ($3.69) and only be carrying Garelick ($4.29, and spoils within two days of purchase) or Hood ($4.69).
I also have complained to Boston’s…don’t remember, either ISD or BoH…because some bags of candy I was looking at on the discount/damaged items shelves had unmarked holes. My recent experience with a mouse infestation caused me to recognize the holes in the packages. The clerk’s reaction, when I called her attention to it, was a “so what?”
And that’s why we have competition.
I admit that I can’t stand the self-scan lanes. It always seems to take me five tries to scan every item, which gets very frustrating very quickly…