Ralphs

Usually the people at grocery store checkouts seem to be in awful moods based on their RBF, but it was a pleasant surprise to see a cashier that looked like she didn’t hate her job and she made me laugh a few times! Thanks for changing up my view on the life of a cashier Coleen!

note– this is specifically about the Ralph’s on Foothill and Second in Arcadia.
I do want to start out by saying that for the most part the staff are friendly and helpful. The meat department, on the other hand, is a completely different story. Several months ago they switched from carrying their own freshly ground beef to bringing in some prepackaged, old (and OLD TASTING!) stuff that they are charging $ 7.99 a pound for. They have signs all over the meat case: don’t see what you want– we’ll custom cut it for you. So I pick up a chuck roast and ask to have it ground. The first time the butcher grudgingly took it and ground it for us. Each time the attitude got worse. He would tell us it was going to take 20 minutes. That’s OK, we’ll wait. He would give excuses like they started cleaning the machine already. 3 hours before closing? One time the 3 ¼ pound roast came out weighing less than 2 pounds. When we questioned it, he said he trimmed it. I didn’t ask for it to be trimmed. You took ½ my roast and charged me for it. Last night we talked to the manager (s) about it. One said he would look into it, the other tried to smooth it over. Quite frankly, it’s too late. For one thing, I’d be afraid of what this guy would do to our meat in the future if we do asked to have it freshly ground. And there is no way I am eating that over priced, horribly old tasting prepacked stuff. We will be driving past this Ralph’s to go to Pavilions from now on.

My bf lives in the area (I do not) so I was staying at a hotel nearby and since he wasn’t with me to help me navigate this unfamiliar territory to me, the hotel desk clerk gave me directions here. It was late and I only needed a couple of things. Store is spacious, incredibly clean, and has somewhat of a decent wine selection. I don’t have one of their loyalty cards, and after trying a couple of phone numbers of people I thought would have their card (I had left my phone in my hotel room or this would’ve been avoided, as I would’ve looked up my bf’s # and he could get the gas points and I get the sale) the checker just grabbed a new card out of a stack but didn’t offer me the opportunity to sign up or keep the card. It’s not that big of an issue, as the nearest store to my home is 30+miles (five miles from my work though) but I spend a lot of time in areas (like this one) where Ralphs are the commonest of stores. Note to self: ask bf where the nearest trader joes is and get there before they close)

Ralph’s Arcadia– When employees fail to work together as a team, goals become more difficult to attain and the surrounding workplace environment can become negative and disruptive. This is not only my observation, but I have heard Ralphs employees make negative comments about their working situations on several occasions. I am a customer and can feel the negative energy. There is a lack of strong leadership.
On more than several occasions, I’ve asked questions and given curt answers. I had, potentially, a huge deli order and was put on hold and disconnected twice and placed on hold, for a third time, for 8 minutes before hanging up. I called again and spoke to the manager only to have a response of excuses. Ralph’s did not get my business.
Ralph’s — -you need stronger leadership. Manage the team in a positive manner. This will foster a positive corporate culture.
Until then, my business will be at Trader Joes where their customer service is outstanding and Whole Foods, where freshness is excellent.

Necessary evil. Prices are always wrong. Check your receipts! They tried over-​charging me a number of times. Meat is not always fresh and you can tell the employees hate it there for the most part.

There’s definitely a reason this place has 2.5 stars. I purchased a salad that was bad before the date. This is the third time I have been dissatisfied. I don’t even want my money back. I will no longer shop here.

Oh boy — they’ve got the new credit/​debit card chip reader going again. too bad the clerk was such a jerk, had to process the thing 3 times because the clerk could only grunt. His remark «there’s nothing wrong with the device». Thanks — I’ll be sure to steer toward Vons next ime.

The casher and the manager are very rude. And lack of understanding of calculation and use of coupon. The manager has no common sense and very bad in basic math.

With several stores closing recently, this is one of the few left in the San Gabriel Valley. There is still a good variety of produce and staples and a good selection of flowers and it opens at 5:00am!

Just moved to the area a month ago had been visiting this Ralph’s for my weekly grocery shopping. Staff is always friendly, lines are taken care of quickly, and even though the store is very busy, I am always able find what I need and get out quickly.

I’m a bit bummed out on their deli… its not too eye appealing… Like other Ralph’s stores
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Rude workers. very rude workers. mostly the females. They have very bad attitudes and never say anything. They give ugly looks and i always feel threatened when i go.

The only reason why I am giving this store two stars is because the staff was friendly. The staff in the deli was very helpful the only problem was that my order for 200 pieces of chicken was an hour late. I didn’t complain because things happen and I’m sure they were busy. We go check out and our cashier Sabrina was very nice. We had purchased 8 10 lb bags of ice, Sabrina asked if we would like bags for them and we said yes. The MANAGER Linda starting grabbing our bags of ice and throwing them on the counter. Every time she put a bag of ice back in our cart we said thank you and she said nothing. Just the look on her face you can tell she had a really bad attitude. Finally I had told her «thank you Linda you have a great day», sarcastically, she finally replied. She definitely needs some training on customer service.

This Ralph’s has excellent organic produce at a far price. It’s not quite as good as ur local farmer’s market, but it is pretty close and available almost at will as opposed to waiting for the weekly farmer’s market event.

I love this Ralphs. I’ve been coming here for over 20 years. This location is convenient with lots of parking. I always park on the left side of the market.
The selection is wide and customer service is great. One thing that does irk me is that they sometimes have solicitors outside the market. Love the self check out lanes!

I want say thanks for your GOOD help to make my sandwich today! Am I something wrong? I just want to get a sandwich and I didn’t say anything about your work? Why you are so rude to me? I am so confused! The guy who work in the food area ! OMG !

Surprisingly they are really friendly and helpful here.
Clean and I like coming here when I am close by.

1 star for being very cleanly ran operation.
2 star because there is never a shortage of great looking women to shop with.
3 star because carts are provided for your use in the store.
4 stars because they have everything I need under one roof.
5 stars just because.

Stopped by this Ralphs location with my husband about an hour ago after our dinner because we had to stock up on our produce. We also ended up purchasing a few other things because of the digital coupons I added to our Ralphs’ club card. This is our first time using digital coupons so I wasn’t exactly sure if it would go through.
So after we found all of the food items that we were here for, we went through this one older gentleman’s cashier line. He was not friendly and seemed to not care that he was there at work (but not a big deal to me). After my digital coupons did not work, I asked him about that and just tried to get rid of us and told us to go to the customer service desk. Since no one was there, I just told the manager of my problem (he was actually really close by so I did not have to go out of my way looking for him).
The manager was more than helpful, along with the sales manager in helping to fix our problem and we were able to use the digital coupons no problem. Just for the customer service from these 2 managers alone is worth a high rating.
But aside from our experience, one thing I noticed about this Ralphs is that this location seems to me smaller than some of the other Ralphs stores that I have been to. But there are 2 Redbox kiosk machines by one of the front entrances and we were still able to find all the items we came in here for.
Overall, a pretty nice store off of Foothill that I would come to again if I am in the area.

As far as most people are concerned (mom always told me to «Keep some, tell some») I’m a fairly positive person. I dance between the optimism of a glass being half full and the reality/​pragmatism of «it’s a drink of water or a place for a small bouquet.»
Yet for some reason, I walk into most BigCorp supermarkets with a chip on my shoulder. I expect one or two registers open with long lines and inconsiderate cashiers, I expect loss-​leader marketing campaigns that surreptitiously make up the difference on complementary goods (save 30¢ on mustard, then pay $ 2.50 more for hot dogs than the WalMart price).
This particular Ralph’s has given me a bit of therapeutic support to break that terrible cycle of self-​fulfilling prophecy. It’s the usual fare, but the setting is somehow more intelligent. There isn’t a gauntlet of random services (Starbucks, sushi display, a bank, etc.) to navigate with your cart when you walk in. Aisles are wide and clean.
The produce selection is good– fresh fruits and veggies, and a smattering of organics, exotics, and «Asian» veggies, perhaps in response to the neighborhood demographics and nearby competitors like 99 Ranch. The service staff at the deli does a nice job, too! I recently went in for some kale salad (don’t get it unless you enjoy drinking olive oil as a beverage, by the way) and they offered me a sample, gently pushed their self-​service soup station, and bid me a very nice rest of the day. Good training, there.
There is a weird angular aisle turn at the back of the store, and it seems that is where they chose to put the meats. Things get a little cluttered in the northeast corner with laundry soap just a hop away from the kefir. But when you’re a stand alone building, you do what you can with the layout I guess.
There are plenty of self-​service checkouts and there is an attendant. Two or three registers are open at all times, and they are much more responsive about calling for help over the intercom to open more registers if lines start snaking into the ice cream aisle.
I much prefer shopping at smaller stores (equally corporate, I suppose, but with different customer service and product positioning models that appeal to me) but in a pinch, this Ralph’s can take the Pepsi challenge with those places. It won’t win, mind you, but it doesn’t have to forfeit and invoke the Mercy Rule.