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6 reviews for Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market
6 reviews in English
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Review from Jocelyn B.
San Mateo, CA
1/17/2008
Fresh and easy? Are they talking about me? Oh. No. It's the new market that just opened.
Growing up in Hemet there wasn't a lot of choice in where my mom did her grocery shopping. In this hick-ville hippies never managed to open any health food stores, and the closest Whole Foods or Trader Joe's is still at least 30 miles away. So when I was home visiting during the holidays I was over-joyed to learn of the new upstart market that had recently opened on the main drag.
In the span of a five-day visit BF and I managed to visit Fresh & Easy no less than three times. My first impression was that it was clean, and kind of sparse.
Understandably this little market has a big task in front of it - make its way into the tight-fisted, small-town-minded shopping market of Hemet. And there's already an established "health food" store that opened after I left for college that F&E will have to elbow out of the way for a share of the market. So, not surprisingly, their produce stock was not plentiful, but I still managed to pull together the makings of a nice salad on our way to dinner at a girlfriend's house. The day before I accidentally-on-purpose discovered their baked goods/dessert section. Lucky for me (though not my expanding holiday waist-line) it was my mom's birthday, so I had the perfect excuse to get their Chocolate Sin cheesecake. They even had candles!
This market is an interesting mix of Trader Joe's and Stater Bros. It has their own label (like Trader Joe's) including organic options, but it also carries grocery store staples like Kraft or Campbell's.
Check out was great. Though they have plenty of staff waiting to help you, it's self check-out. The only thing I didn't like about the set up was that there wasn't a good place to put my hand-basket while I swiped my purchases across the scanner. It's the same interface you've come to know and love (or loathe) at places like Albertson's or KMart. They have a couple of re-usable bag options at checkout; heavy duty re-usable plastic bags and the slightly more expensive canvas bags, but since plastic is non-renewable, I bought the Super Cute Canvas bag - I really like their logo! It's also one of the nicer canvas bags I've bought at a market - size-wise and strap-wise.
On our way out of town we tried to hit up their newer store (this one only being a few weeks old!) But, unfortunately for us, it wasn't open yet. Not because we were there before opening-time, but because we were there before Grand Opening time. So we hightailed it back into the middle of town for our last stop at the flagship store. We needed road-food and water. We found (what turned out to be) tasty pre-made tuna sandwiches (they had a good selection of sandwiches and wraps). However, the only refrigerated water they had were the smaller 12-oz. bottles. On the adjacent shelves they had the larger 1 or 1.5 L bottles of Arrowhead. I grabbed what was cold and headed for check-out. While I waited for BF to drain the lizard one last time before hitting the road, I asked one of the girls if I could make a suggestion. She responded with a chipper "Sure!" and I explained how we were heading out of town and came in looking for large bottles of cold water, but all they had were the small ones. She thanked me and walked away. A couple minutes later I noticed she was rearranging the bottles in the fridge case and then she was stocking the newly empty space with the larger bottles from the adjacent shelves. This said to me that they appreciate customer input and are happy to implement it - apparently immediately! I thought that was really awesome customer service. Not to mention that every time I interacted with an employee they were extremely friendly and helpful.
It's a great little market and I think it has some great potential for growth - even in the stodgy Hemet market! -
Review from Reviewer M.
Hemet, CA
11/12/2011
It's worth going to Esplanade and Sanderson location instead. This location is very dirty! They are frequently out of stock on products here as well.
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Review from Jeanette W.
Hemet, CA
1/24/2011
I shop at Fresh & Easy to purchase ready made foods for my lunch.
I feel they have good prices and their staff was ok to me. I did witness a couple making fun of an elderly person. The older guy was at a checkout station two aisles over and was standing there, waiting for a clerk to check him out. Finally he got vocal about it and some the staff made comments about it and one finally helped the old guy out, in a half hearted way. (pssst if you guys are going to talk bad about the guy, at least don't say it loud enough for the other shoppers to hear, ok? ) Later, the old guy was yelling about who was going to help him bag is groceries. If the fat worker that waddled over to help him in the first place would of stood there in case he needed more help, then the old guy wouldn't be yelling, right?
I do prefer this Fresh & Easy to anything in Temecula. To shop at Trader Joes in Temecula is to swim through the snobbish yuppies that was once San Diegos trash. It's not worth it. I never understood the deal with eating healthy, yet you put so many chemicals and plastic parts in and on your body. And speaking of plastic. Last 4-5 times I did go to TJ's, I stood behind someone who had at least two credit card transactions declined and they had to dig out some third card out of their ass or walk away leaving all their crap on the table. Nice. Especially if you are running late.
So you have four choices when you want to eat healthier. 1. Take a day trip to Trader Joes and deal with the lame customers. 2. Go to Fresh & Easy and deal with the lame workers. 3. grow your own food. 4. Buy organic at Vons and pack your own lunch. -
Review from Austin R.
San Francisco, CA
1/1/2011 1 Check-in Here
Fresh & Easy says it all. Some good deals on about to expire goods. Check em out.
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Review from Heidi S.
Hemet, CA
7/14/2009
Last week (maybe a bit longer) my boys and I went in there for their fresh flowers. There was not a very good selection. I asked to speak with a manager, and he was very rude!! I even witnessed him speaking very rudely to an elderly lady as well! I will not step foot in this store again! I do hear that the one in San Jacinto is better... when I contacted corporate, no one would return my messages, but sent me this lame letter and a $5.00 off coupon off of $50.00 Very lame! Never shop at this location!
Also, when walking past the "sample" trey, the employee working that station would not let my 4 year old take a sample... This Fresh And Easy needs to take some lessons in customer service!! -
Review from James F.
Westminster, CA
12/19/2009
I love this place. I do not like shopping and waiting in lines. Here I get good pricing and am able to get in and out without hassle. The staff is always friendly and helpful.
