Andronico’s Market

i thought Andronico’s was supposed to be a pretty nice store. This location at least was pretty dumpy and doesn’t hold a candle to Whole Foods. Aesthetics aside, even the selection was poor (at least the cheese selection was poor).

I have mixed feelings every time I walk by the empty shell that was Andronico’s on University.
In the final days, before they closed their doors, they were selling everything at 50 — 75% off. It was fun to go there and see people cleaning the place out.
Even then, they were ripping customers off at the cash register. True to form. Half of $ 7.99 is not $ 5.49 guys. C’mon…You wonder why you went out of business?
I do sometimes miss being able to run over to get some butter or salad dressing, but the convenience came at a heavy price, and there was never such a thing as «just running over to grab something quick» at Andronico’s, where I’d seen the express lane open only TWICE in the 12 years I shopped there.
I just hope that the few employees who were awesome (you know who you are), quickly found better work somewhere else.
Good riddance.

Sadly, now closed, this market was all we had in this part of town in the way of a decent grocery store. Thanks to all the haters and financial problems of the grocer, now it’s gone. I don’t own a car and need to walk/​bike to get groceries, etc. Now I don’t know what I will do. So bummed. This was a great store. Not a huge fan of Trader Joe’s but I guess that’s my only option for some items. In the meantime, time to start supporting our local mom-​and-​pop shops and bodegas.

The manager named Willy is extremely rude. I work at a small local business near Andronico’s, and we needed 1s and 5s. I went in with $ 200 in $ 20s and asked politely if I could get $ 100 in 1s and $ 100 in 5s.
The cashier seemed to want to help me but checked with Willy the manager first. The manager said, «What’s –insert business name here– ever done for us?»
The cashier and I were both startled by the rudeness. I thought maybe it was a distasteful joke, but when the cashier hesitatingly asked, «So is it okay???»
Willy responded, «No. I’m serious. What’s –X– ever done for us?»
Nevermind that our business does has bought products from Andronico’s when our stock is low on certain items.
In the end I had to run and buy something to be able to exchange the bills. Thankfully the cashier knew better and called Hoang, a different manager, for approval, and Hoang was polite.
I have no problem with Andronico’s simply telling me, «We’re sorry, but we can’t change bills for you,» but the response I got was simply unnecessary and shockingly rude.
It’s too bad Willy’s such a rude manager. I’ve never been treated so rudely in any store, but because of his sour attitude, I never want to shop at Andronico’s again, and if I do, it’ll NEVER be at this one.

Well,
I guess today is the day of the negative reviews for me…
In any case here is the establishment that has a very poor selection of products and is very, very, very and I mean VERY overpriced. I mean you can walk out with two bags of food and spend $ 150, go to Trader Joes and get four bags of the same products which are going to be better quality btw.
In any case the only thing I really loved about Andronicos was the fact that they carried farmers organic tomatoes — they were about a buck each but were really, really and I mean REALLY delicious, they came in different colors and were absolutely amazing…
Why did you have to stop carrying them? What happened I asked the Manager — no clue, I guess employees are clueless there as well…
Don’t come here… just don’t !!!

This place will always to known to me as the old Berkeley Co-​op. And like the neighbourhood, this place seems like time has passed it by. And although the selection (at least for what I want) is OK, the store itself is a little tattered at the edges and in need of an improve or sell business decision.

This place has an amazing wine selection and many fancy food choices.
That being said, I found it extremely annoying that the prices were all a bit skewed, so when I went to the register to pay I found several items were substantially higher than what I thought the price was. Very annoying!

The cashiers and deli workers are all very rude, with the exception of David, Sonya and manager Hoang who are extremely kind, respectful and attentive. The «other» workers who are clearly ignorant and oblivious to providing the proper customer service for a grocery store that supposedly prides itself on being the best of the best.
My experience last nigh was horrible. I simply pointed out to the cashier that he forgot to credit me the eco-​friendly bag credits. He ignored me, shuffled through a jar, looked at me and yelled, «do you want your money or not?!» What a jerk! I tried to make it simple, by asking him to credit me next time but he then said, and I quote, «I don’t like you, so why don’t you just take your money now!»
This is out right wrong, but then you should already know that about your employees in question.

Goodbye Andronicos!!!
You cannot compete with the new TJ’s up the street.
But you should have tried !!!
You could have improved your staff’s attitude, lowered your prices, turn down the music, listened to my complaints over the years, cleaned up a bit. But no, you went on your own path to failure.
I felt sorry for you, and went in to buy a few items yesterday. For nostalgia, I purchased some It’Its (you know the Ice cream sandwich things?)
The check out line was quite long. Only one counter was open.
I thought, my ice cream is going to melt by time I am through here.
And, sure ’ nuf, by time I got home, a ten minute walk in the cold Berkeley afternoon, the it’sIt had melted.
Expensive little things they were.
Goodbye Andronico’s.

Welcome to the face of the new Andronico’s! They cut a bunch of prices so it seems less like Whole Foods and more like Walmart, with red and white price tags waving around everywhere. In the old days, you never had to wait in line because who could afford (or want to) shop here, especially with 10 other markets within walking distance? But now, the deals abound; you just have to look (and look and look). Before, the only reason to go was for the great hours (7:30 to 11) and to gawk at all the overpriced eccentric items.
This will never become my primary market, but it’s my new place for deal hunting. The key is to get things that are on sale, or even better, discontinued! Some things that we’ve gotten for a buck recently: a corn scraper (13 bucks on Amazon), gourmet organic BBQ sauce, Kashi cereal. Especially the discontinued items go fast, so you have to snap them up (I saw a normal $ 14 olive oil for $ 1, but it was all gone). Apple cider is currently ¹⁄₃ the price of BevMo.
It’s almost as fun as going to grocery outlet! But with this now all the lines are longer, and they still have this lame credit card system where you have to wait to swipe your card. The cashiers and baggers are still pretty friendly though.

I changed my mind. It doesn’t matter that it’s spitting distance from my apartment.
This place SUCKS.
It’s overpriced and you have to wait a million minutes to get out here because they only have one check out open at a time.
I’ll hit the markets pn San Pablo from now on. They are carrying organic groceries these days and at a fraction of the cost.

So let’s get this straight. They have to charge a 300% markup over other stores’ prices, but can’t replace expired items, keep this location clean and well-​lit, or provide enough cashiers at checkout?
Shouldn’t they just realize they can no longer compete in the grocery business and close up shop? With any luck, if the recession doesn’t drive the nail into their coffin, the opening of Trader Joe’s on MLK and University (which I’m sure they lobbied the city to fight as long as possible, along with Safeway’s renovation plans) should do it.

Two stars for location, being open late, and a decent selection. It’s close to my apartment and has a lot of organic and vegan products.
BUT, almost everything at this store is incredibly overpriced — like more expensive than Whole Foods and Berkeley Natural Grocery for many of the staple items! That is ridiculous!
I really want to like Andronico’s because it is a local chain, but there are much better locally-​owned grocery stores in Berkeley.

Its UNANIMOUS! This place is overpriced and overrated. I avoid it at all costs (because it costs co much to shop here).
When trader joes opens down the way this place will be crushed.
Nuf-​said.

There is something strange about this Andronico’s and I can’t exactly put my finger on what it is…
First off, they have a ton of samples… They were serving chicken (it was only so-​so…), watermelon slices, orange slices, grapes, and random yogurt. I was kind of hungry so this was a nice gesture but still seemed a little out of place…
I randomly decided to buy a couple bananas and some ginger trail mix as a snack. The $ 2.44 price was really reasonable but I was somewhat surprised that I couldn’t find anything to tempt me more than bananas and trail mix…
The employees that I talked to seemed a little strange too… just sayin’…

I only come here when I absolutely need to. They sell a lot of stuff I would never use. They do sell the everyday common brand name products I would use, but at an outrageous price. Usually about $ 2-​$ 3 more than I would pay at a more common grocer.
Their fruits are really good, but I can never really afford them. When they happen to be on sale I make sure to grab some.
Their soup is really good, but also pretty expensive since it’s priced by weight. Their sandwiches are pretty darn good too. They have some amazing looking fruit tarts that I keep swearing I’ll try one day and keep hinting to my boyfriend that I want for my birthday.
They sell the Everett and Jones BBQ sauce, which is a huge plus for me. I’m not sure where else I can buy it besides Everett and Jones.
They have a decent selection of beers, ales, lagers, and the like. Stuff that more common grocery stores don’t always carry.
Other bad thing? The lines are always so long, and their credit card machines take a few tries to work.

Not much good I can say about this place. Except that it’s the closest grocery to my house. Oh, it’s open later than the Bowl or Monterey Market, but since they close way too early, that’s not saying much. If I need a last-​minute ingredient, I might go to Andronico’s. But not to buy dairy (see below).
Much bad I can say:
Way way way overpriced. They’d sell repackaged Velveeta for 19.99/lb. Do *not* buy produce here; it sucks *and* it’s overpriced.
Numerous times I’ve gotten bad (yes, as in rotten) refrigerated goods — hummous and dairy. The date was still good, but the food had started to ferment. This should be a very bad sign in anyone’s book. Who is managing this place?
Terrible customer service. Hella slow and inconsiderate.
Okay I was going to give them only one star, but they do have a good selection of wheat-​free merchandise (my sister-​in-​law went wheat-​free for a while) and they do have good hours. They get a consolation second star.

Andronico’s is okay if all you need is something quick to eat for lunch. I used to go here all the time for sandwiches. There is sometimes a line but it usually takes less than 10 minutes. To the right of the sandwich counter is the hot foods section and they would always have yummy things like pulled pork or mac n cheese. The little container could cost up to $ 4 but sometimes it just seemed really worth it. Plus, the lady at the counter always gave away samples. To the left of the sandwich counter was the bakery section. Not many good things to choose from there. Sometimes I’d have to buy an office cake and I’d always end up with the same tiny chocolate ganache cake from Just Desserts. The soups in the middle are okay but pretty pricey as well.
My only two real complaints about this Andronico’s is that there are no tables to eat your lunch and the parking lot is a mess. It’s not that there are a lot of cars taking up space, it’s the fact that people are always driving in the wrong direction. For some reason, they just can’t grasp the concept of why arrows are painted on the ground. Honk honk!

When driving from SF over to The Greek for a cool band, this is the most convenient stop for picnic munchies
However, this location does not offer the selection that other Andronico’s offers — especially in the prepared food section
Basically there is NONE so don’t expect any & you won’t be disappointed… seems to be more catered towards the boxed, generic, staples than über-​fru-​fru-​gourmet
Extremely small cheese selection — located in the fridge section — not even an actual counter w/​someone who can help like at other Andronico’s or Whole Foods
(But that being said, Andronico’s offers the BESTEST Stilton cheese *evar*…Stilton w/​White Mango & Ginger… OMG)
People checking out actually rolled their eyes at me b/​c I didn’t pick up on the fact their credit card reader didn’t read my card 1^st time around & I needed to re-swipe…ewe! How awful of me!
There is also the most ingenious homeless person outside the doors — which is fairly irritating in itself — he will ask as you’re entering, to spare him some change as you’re coming out — getting the buy-​in before we even go into the store to come back out & give him money… he must be a millionaire
(I did not succumb to his shenanigans)
So while a good convenient stop w/​yummy things to offer, there is little variety, snarly checkout people & Einstein-​Homeless to deal with

Dingy, poorly lit, poor and surly management. Health inspectors, where are you? Their other locations are better, this has become like a bastard step-​child of the mini-​chain.
Warning: if you do shop here, make sure you watch the register and check your receipt. A lot of mistakes are made at check out.
Andronico Family, where are you???