Midtown Market

Ugh, first the beer was 6 months past the expiration date (see photo), and now we get home with the parmesan cheese I bought here and there’s mold on it (see other photo). WTF?!

So a friend of mine thought it would be nice to bring me some junior mints (my favorite). Unfortunately they unknowingly bought them at midtown market.
OF COURSE they were SO STALE I couldn’t eat them.
I reached out to Tootsie Roll industries to find out that these were produced OVER A YEAR AGO, well past their shelf life. I couldn’t count on Midtown Market to do the right thing and refund me. BUT Tootsie corp. did provide a refund and didn’t like hearing that a local retailer was SELLING their old, stale, inedible expired goods.

Midtown Market is a family owned business in Brisbane they are the best. The owner and his wife are great friendly. Products in the store are great and always a good price. They have the best rolls in town and talking about fresh daily.(there the bomb) always stop by daily to pick up one thing or another and you find it there. Great for being a only grocery store in brisbane. The customer service is great too. Like Like Like this store. Mr Chew you are the best.

SKIMMERS!!! What I mean by that is that the workers there will «accidentally» ring up a higher wrong price on top of the already ridiculously high price. In my latest case, Heidi rang up a $ 3.99 bag of cookies as $ 4.99, then she got VERY upset with me when I calmly pointed it out and asked for the difference. She tried to give me 98 cents back, and got even more bent out of shape when I told her «No, you owe me one dollar.» When she slammed the additional two cents on the counter and barked at me, I got a huge whiff of her strong alcohol breath. The kicker happened when I got home and went to eat one of the cookies and found that it had a bad odor and taste. That’s when I checked the expiration date and found that the cookies had expired a month earlier. I hope that I will not have a problem when I return the cookies tomorrow. I will avoid the store after that, which makes me sad because I love Brisbane and want to patronize the local businesses.

If I could give this place ZERO STARS, I would. I’ve been living down the street from this place for 2 years and have given it MULTIPLE chances as it is conveniently located by my home… BUT I am never spending a dime at this establishment EVER AGAIN for many reasons.
1) Customer service is HORRIBLE! No one ever knows how much anything is at that store. They literally MAKE UP THE PRICES AT THE REGISTER. Who hires these people?
2) Speaking of prices, the products that do have a price are ridiculously OVER-​PRICED! You’re better off at a regular grocery store.
3) Their food is SPOILED!!! I’ve bought cheese that had mold, chips that were expired, a box of Oreos that were stale and avocados that was nearly rotten when I went to use it. You shouldn’t have to look at the expiration date when you’re shopping, but it’s a MUST at this establishment.
I have given this place so many chances and wanted to support a local business which is why I came back so many times, but TODAY was the last straw. — I came to buy some ice cream. The total of my purchase was $ 4.97. I handed her my debit card and the cashier informed me purchases must be at least $ 5 to use a debit card. I told her to just go ahead and charge me $ 5. She said she could not do that, and she would get in trouble. IS THIS A JOKE??? They make up prices all the time and she can’t change me another 3 CENTS??? Instead she made me purchase something else so I could use my debit card despite my logic of just charging me another 3 cents! So aggravating. That was my last purchase I’ll ever make there. I’ve given this place more chances than it deserves. Sorry, Midtown Market, you’ve lost a whole household of customers!

This place is sort of surreal. It’s famous within the tiny town of Brisbane for its eccentric, clueless operators, and its very kind, gracious and long suffering employees. Check the expiration dates on EVERYTHING. Ignore the stench of rotten underflooring and/​or failing refrigeration, as you are inevitably there only for a convenience purchase of something you need in the moment. A convenience for which you will no doubt pay dearly for. I’ve personally experienced some of the worst customer service of the last 20 years there, but only from the owner himself. The deli section is operated independently from the store, and is usually a good bet. Ultimately, there is no other grocery option in Brisbane, and Mr. «I am the King» Chu, knows this.

I wouldn’t do all of my shopping here as it is too expensive. Make sure you check the expiration dates. The prices aren’t always consistent (depending on who is at the checkout counter) but it is convenient if you run out of eggs or bread.

Midtown Market has a decent (but sometimes incomplete) selection of goods. This is definitely the kind of place you go for items you forgot to buy when you went to the «real» grocery store.
I would never in a million years buy meat, produce or wine here, however they have a pretty decent selection of beers (Leffe, Firestone, Anchor Steam) and condiments. They even have obscure stuff like Kimchi, oyster sauce, and other Asiany delights.
Be sure to check the expiration date of what you buy because there’s a good chance it’s been on the shelf for a LooOOooOong time (especially if in a jar or can) and be sure to check prices because some stuff is INSANELY expensive (like Ice Cream, $ 10 a bucket, WTF!).
Other than that, the staff is nice enough and they are open on all the American/​Christian holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas & Easter.

This place is like a bigger 7 – 11 (they definitely price their items like one) with more selection and a meat market attached.
This place is good for buying those things you forgot to buy at safeway or a last minute beer run. Definitely not a place to do all your grocery shopping at but at least there’s a market in town.

I have nothing negative to say about this place, because this is a small town and I like living.

they got almost everything you need, and customer service is great, love the employees here, just not that meat shop =P, and gotta watch out for the frozen items lol, otherwise there good =]

Too bad Midtown can’t or won’t do sales, it might help Brisbane shoppers AND the owner? I suggested this to the owner, but he just smiled at me. Nice to have organic items, but they are very pricey. The meat market does a great job in catering to customers. It is a seperate business and is like the old fashioned meat market. The butcher will cut special for you. Seems as if the butcher has a good business in this store.
YES, watch dates on everything, cause evidently they are not checked. AND wear warm clothing in the winter time, the owner does not want to turn the heat on. He even wears a heavy warm jacket.
It is good to have a store in Brisbane, too bad prices aren’t more competitive. The Rossi Brothers had prices so we could shop there and weekly sales. We miss them!

I moved to Brisbane less than a year ago. If you live here, you are probably well aware that you have to drive 20 to 30 minutes to get to a supermarket. This is not too big a deal for me and other residents since they can easily pick up food at a convenient supermarket on the way home from work. But having a small grocery store within walking distance to where I live is a big help during times when you forget to buy milk for your cereal or even bread for your morning toast. It is what it is. Midtown Market fills a need that no other business is able to provide within Brisbane. I agree that it is expensive. But it’s the one and only. Plus, in my mind, stocking organic food and other unusual grocery products helps make the prices a bit more acceptable. Customers absorb the cost of products that don’t necessarily sell fast but provide great variety to make the customer experience a tad bit more interesting than, say, a trip to Lucky or Safeway.
I have also experienced buying bread that is already expired. But you just learn to read the stickers more carefully before rushing to the counter to make your purchase.
It does not claim to be what it is not. It does not pose to have the best service or products. It is a god-​honest small grocery store that opens early and closes late, supplementing the grocery needs of its 3,500 residents when there just isn’t enough time to run to the big stores.

I’ve been frequenting the Midtown Market for 10 years. They’re the only small grocery store in Brisbane, and I’m sure that monopoly helps them. However, they’ve got all the basics as well as a lot of eclectic organic stuff.
It’s not uncommon for them to run out of certain specialty items for weeks at a time. Luckily, if they’re running low on a favored product, you can take it up to whoever’s manning the store and tell them, and they’ll go out of their way to restock it as soon as they can. I’ve even brought empty packages from my house and said, «you need some more of these!»
It’s true that the prices are high, but it’s the cost of convenience and supporting a small local business. Unilocaler «Stuart Y» advised that you check expir dates on the products, and I’ll second that. I’ve unwittingly bought stale cereal several times.
All in all, better than «the only grocery store in town» needs to be, and I’m happy to patronize them.
Note: Don’t be the first one to use the cash machine in the morning! It almost always fails on the first few tries, and Mr. Chu will politely insist that you keep trying each time he futzes with the machine.

I really only want to give this place two and a half stars as I sort of have a love/​hate relationship with this place. I grew up exactly one and a half blocks away from this market so it is full of childhood nostalgia buying comic books and cheap Made In China plastic toys.
However since childhood, ownership changed to a Korean family by the name of Chu who have operated the market –to put it diplomatically– creatively. I personally like the Chus, but Mr. Chu in particular has been described as a penny pinching piece of work.
The Good: The market itself is very nicely kept and maintained and convenient for Brisbane residents like myself. They actually (and this is surprising considering the way Mr. Chu runs the rest of the market) have a decent selection of organic products. Also, we thought it would never happen, but Mr. Chu actually put in a new freezer! Oohhh! Ahhhh!
The Bad: Most things are over priced and can be gotten at a lower cost at most other markets. But that’s the price for living in the hills of Brisbane and wanting convenience. Sometimes the most mundane of products aren’t stock. No unsweetened baker’s chocolate???
The UGLY: Check dates. Seriously, check dates! It is not uncommon to find foods in the frozen section six months to a year past the expiration date. Rumor has it that someone once recently found frozen burritos from 1986! So check the date to determine whether it’s edible or collectible.

Wow. I love this place. Reminds me of my favorite neighborhood place in Hayes Valley (Nick’s Supermarket.) They’ve got a little of everything. Household goods, spices, cereal, dairy, bread, lotto, wine, produce and meats. It’s also not convenience-​priced, either. I’m not saying it’s a bargain but it’s certainly not painful to shop here.