Broadway Marketplace

Overpriced! Costs way too much for what you’re getting.

this store is a scam. Products are so overpriced. I was going to buy half gallon soy milk at CVS for $ 3.99 but thought is was expensive and decided to stop at Broadway Market. Guess what? the same product was $ 5.99 there. I just couldn’t believe the additional $ 2 over an already overpriced item by CVS. They charge an additonal $ 1 on greek yogurts compared to whole foods. the Haagen Dazs icecream are overpriced by 50 to 75 cents. The list goes on.
Plus, some of the black cashiers have very bad attitude. Some have been fired by new management, but there is a skinny one that works on Sunday Afternoon. She is just awful, rude. She was so bossy I wondered if she felt that she was in a position of authority.

I used to shop here fairly often, my experience was some of the staff was fantastic interact with, but some are terrible. Then I got super sick after eating a salad from here – so, I’d stay away unless you’re going to the wine store in the back.

I am a big fan of Broadway Marketplace. I live a few blocks away and walk by every day on my way home from work. I probably stop in 3x a week to grab a case of beer, some veggies for dinner, a prepared meal, or a bagel for the next morning’s breakfast. Some reviews say it is overpriced, but I really don’t think you can beat the value, especially in the Harvard Square area.
My favorite by far is Sushi Wednesdays. Almost every Wednesday morning I stop in for $ 5 sushi– usually hand made in front of me and super fresh. A great, and cheap work lunch!
On my first visit to Broadway, I went in the back area to explore the liquor store. The manager immediately got up to greet me and ask what I was looking for. He even engaged me by asking me where I was from, since my shirt said «Alaska» on it. I told him I was a recent college grad and was looking for a deal. He immediately walked me to a $ 18 case of Rolling Rock rather than trying to get me to buy something more expensive. That’s exactly the customer experience I look for, and a lot of the reason why I am giving a 5-​star review.
Overall, I love Broadway Marketplace and will continue to shop there on a regular basis. Keep up the good work!

I shop here frequently. Their 10% off promotion on every weekend for Harvard and MIT people is my favorite thing. I would have given them 5 stars had their staffs (mostly at the cashier) been kinder, more considerate of their behaviors/​manners and more enthusiastic about their work. I know it’s probably not one of the most exciting jobs to have but it can’t be an excuse for sighing deeply when you’re loading items to plastic bags, chatting with one another without even making an eye contact with customers, handing receipt like they’re doing me a favor, and most of all giving customers impression that they are not welcomed. This happens every time I visit to shop. I experience the opposite when I go to CVS (a direct competitor for the items I shop) where staffs seem relatively well-​trained. If I was the owner of the Broadway I would hire more responsible people at higher salary and train them well even if that does not benefit the market financially in short term.

The place is overpriced, but what would you expect so close to Harvard and with so few options around. So I am NOT upset about this.
However the reason I will NEVER go again despite my years of repeat business at Broadway Marketplace is their terrible and rude customer servcie esspecially at the cash registers. Its always been bad, but the other day when the credit card machines were down was the final straw. They were not telling people the machines were down until after they had rung you up and then instead of politely saying «we are sorry but our machines are down, but if you turn around there is an ATM inside the store right behind you»… they just said «sorry no credit card we wrote it one a piece of paper you should not have checked out without cash» in the rudest possible way ever and looked down on me, and every customer before and after me as if we were just there to annoy them for not having read the badly printed signs in black and white that said the machines were down. I cant really put into words how rude they were and how small they tried to make everyone checking out feel, but I will never go back out of principle. It would have been so easy to handle the situation with more grace and politeness but they chose to be as rude they they could be.
UPDATE:
I recieved a very nice email in response to my reveiw from managment at Broadway Marketplace. I have upgraded my rating. Management has proactivly taken action on the challenges mentioned in my post and I plan to go back again and hopefully I will be impressed. Their sushi really is very good and its actually very competitively priced – hard to resist for a quck lunch.

+: convenient location, variety of selection
-: OVERPRICED
Having said that, living nearby and not having a lot of time during school year to go to a grocery store further away, I do my grocery shopping here most of the time.
They have a salad bar section where you can grab quick meals, but the food is mostly fried or comfort foods like french fries, chicken tenders, onion rings, mac & cheese, ribs etc. Also, very very salty…

The yogurt I bought was expired and the meat did not taste fresh. I guess I should have checked before I bagged it but I wasn’t expecting it to be a week past the expiration date. It’s also really overpriced!

Right next to a Starbucks so it’s a good double stop.
Harvard and MIT students get 10% off which helps with them being 30% overpriced!
Convenient off street parking.

Update: Christian who makes the sandwiches rocks! I hadn’t been to Broadway since the end of February (crazy, I know) and I didn’t even have to tell Christian how I wanted my sandwich, he remembered all the details! Talk about customer service! Thanks, Broadway!

It is indeed overpriced but I tried not to think too much, because it is so close to Harvard yard and the products are OK. However, the two young lady cashiers have some attitude and are obnoxious. Pardon me being straightforward. I asked a question about the proper license, when buying alcohol for the first time in the U.S. They said it was the law, which I know and is the exactly the reason I asked. So I asked again what kind of ID would they need. They just saying IDs and then joked about «are we trying to be Harvard students». Not only in front of me, but so many customers who are students here… that is very unprofessional and rude

Uses its convenient location and lack of nearby cornerstones to overcharge. Went there frequently as CRLS student, drink, bagel plus candy would cost me near $ 6. Delhi and self-​service was even more overpriced. Allright, a tick above competent but no where near good enough (say as nearby Darwin’s) for their prices. Also, nasty and confrontational management who falsely accuse students of shoplifting

This place is ridiculous and shouldn’t be in operation. The prices are so over-​the-​top (marked up 100% oftentimes) for really subpar food and groceries. The last time I was at the store, these are some of the unacceptable (and frankly unsafe) things that happened:
1. My boyfriend’s salad had a piece of plastic/​glass stuck in it. Talk about unsafe and unsanitary!
2. A custom sandwich we ordered came half-​made. That’s right, bread, lettuce, tomatoes, and meat with no sauce. And the packaged Caesar salad came with lettuce but no Caesar dressing. Who does that?
3. The staff are the rudest people I have ever encountered. They make you feel like helping to check your stuff out is the biggest favor they could ever do for you, and in my experience they are especially rude to college students. I am a GRAD student who went to undergrad at Harvard nearby, and when they carded me this time they asked me if I was a freshman (which I’m clearly not) as if that were a crime.
Shame on you and your management, Broadway Marketplace. I have never written such a negative review in my life — in fact, I don’t write reviews in general but feel the need to warn other potential consumers about this horrid establishment. If they hadn’t grabbed a nice piece of real estate convenient to Harvard, they wouldn’t be in business, period. I know it seems convenient and that’s why I have found myself there on several occasions, but do you really want to support a place that preys on students and operates around borderline criminal food safety and customer service practices?

2 stars due to the rudeness of the staff (this place is also obviously overpriced, with not so fresh produce). Despite the fact that I’ve been a customer for years, the staff is unfriendly, inspects my ID like it’s a fake every single time (I’m nearly 30) and occasionally stares at me like I’m a shoplifter… Honestly, what? Surprisingly low rent.
Only upside is Steve in the wine section who is a nice guy and makes good recommendations.

If you’re going to charge outrageous prices for your produce, at least make sure the quality somewhat reflects the inflated cost. My boyfriend picked up a beautiful yellow pepper on his way home from work yesterday. Upon cutting it open I found half the interior to be moldy. So disappointing. Especially since this is the third time this has happened. When we used to live closer, we would make more frequent visits out of convenience. On one of those occasions we picked up a mango, which we discovered was rotten on the inside. Since we were right around the corner we brought it back and got another one — also rotten!
But two stars because the people who work there are friendly (especially the guy in the alcohol section) and handle mishaps like these well. The location, weekend student discount, and great alcohol selection also help.
Overall, it’s a good place to go if you live close by and really need that one ingredient you forgot at your regular market. Just watch out for the occasional rotten apple…

It would have been ok if the food they were selling was slightly low par, which it is, but the prices? The prices are a joke. If you’re on a budget to, oh I don’t know, survive; then this is not the place for you, or me, or anyone with a sane mind.

As many of the other reviewers have said, Broadway Marketplace is not the store you are looking for if you want to stock up on basic groceries. The selection is small and the prices are much higher than other supermarkets in the area. But they are a good specialty market to check out once in a while if you live between Harvard and Inman.
They have a large, reasonably priced selection of prepared foods. The sushi is fresh and tasty– and only $ 4.99 on Wednesdays. I keep meaning to try the hot bar and the salad bar, but the sushi always tempts me away. They also have cold meals in the refrigerated section next to the deli that are pricier than but far superior to a Lean Cuisine if you need a quick heat-​and-​eat meal. For breakfast-​type foods, there is also a nice bakery section with bagels, muffins, etc. brought in from the local Iggy’s Bakery.

This review is for the market’s sushi, which is wonderful. When I went to school in the area I was a regular at their sushi station. The sushi was always fresh and exceeded my expectations for ‘superkarket’ grade sushi, which is often rough and chewy. They have half priced sushi on Wednesdays.
The market itself is good for groceries in a pinch, but overpriced and definitely not a place to get weekly food. The staff has never been what I would call friendly, but never rude.

So Broadway Marketplace is a decent location for a market due to accessibility sort of between Harvard Square and Inman Square. It sort of resembles a normal supermarket, except due to its limited selection and limited volume of customers, it has literally a 25%-50% markup on most items. But if you need something within a block or two of your house, I mean go for it. I would just take the hike to Central Square and go to Shaws. It has the essentials and has a pretty great wine selection in the back of the store. There is also a pick up and go section if you’re too lazy to cook and not in the mood for take-​out. This section tends to be convenient. So if you’re lazy, this is the spot for you.
Take-​Away Message: Overpriced, but good location!

I really dont get all the bad reviews. First you have to know what to expect when you come to Broadway. It really should not be compared to a Shaws, Stop & Shop or even Whole Foods. It is an independent grocery store less than half the size of even the smallest Whole Foods. Yes prices are high, but there is literally no other grocery store that is walking distance in Harvard Square let alone trying to carry back groceries so Broadway is the only option for many. I come in here at least three times and week but only buy select items that do not have a huge markups such as fruit, milk, vegetables, and bread. One reviewer below called it «a large convenience store» which is a perfect description and one should expect convenience store prices not the Walmart low price guarantee.
They also have a salad bar, hot food bar and a deli (that makes an assortment of items plus sandwiches), but be aware these «features» shut down about an hour before the store closes which is somewhat disappointing. They also have a full liquor store in the back which is reasonably priced and I always see them handed out free samples of wine in the evenings.
Let me finish by saying there is no way I could do all my grocery shopping here so I would suggest to either rent a zip car once a month and stock up at Walmart or do Peapod and then supplement with Broadway. Its a pretty good combo.