Marc’s

First of all, one must wonder why the hell you have to give a REVIEW of a grocery store. Secondly. Why the hell would a grocery store NOT ACCEPT DEBIT CARDS? WHO WRITES CHECKS ANYMORE?! the prices are HIGHER than Walmart to begin with, being as it is, that’s not a reason to only accept cash, check or discover. The store is disorganized and employees rude, so no perk there. They only have a few brands of items so no large selection. Drive the extra mile and go to Walmart. You’ll save money, convenience and hassle.

Let’s be honest, shopping at Marc’s is awful. But alas, I still find myself there because it’s really close to work and the you can’t beat the prices. Marc’s is just so damn cheap which is good because I’m pretty damn cheap too. There usually isn’t anything wrong with the quality of their groceries and I get a kick out of browsing the close-​outs, but there is just something about the Marc’s shopping experience that makes me crazy.
First of all, if you go to the store for 10 things there is a good chance they will only carry about 6 of them. They have the most inconsistent inventory ever. They employ a lot of High School kids… I’ll just leave it at that when describing the customer service. But the absolute worst part is check out. Previously mentioned under-​age employees can’t ring up their own alcohol so you often have to wait for a manager to come scan it for them. They accept cash, check, EBT and Discover… which means slow moving lines and more manager-​approval wait time. Not to mention there always seems to be approximately 3 lanes open during peak hours. And what the hell is up with their bags??? I usually try to be a good citizen and bring my own reusable bags but when I happen to forget them their bags are so thin that they usually have to double or triple them up. How is that cost saving? Search me.
In sum, Marcs – the necessary evil for the cheapskate shopper like me. I will continue to moan and groan but I will enjoy saving money on the basics.

Note that even though I give this place 2 stars, I still do my weekly shopping here. That is because of two main factors that outweigh everything I hate about this place: 1) It’s close to where I live and 2) It’s so cheap!
With that being said, this review does not apply to all Marc’s stores, just the one in Lakewood. They obviously have not invested in this store in quite some time. It lacks conveyor belts at its checkouts and the counters where you place your items are so small you have to pretty much wait until the person in front of you is completely done before you can even start unloading your cart which makes checking out agonizingly slow. The freezer units are also often not lit so you can barely see what is inside.
They have the maddening habit of never having any carts so you should probably just grab one on your way in. They always seem to be stocking their produce (which is subpar in quality) without actually having anything on the shelves. They will literally have five giant carts full of produce just sitting there blocking everyone and everything with no one unloading them. They always stick displays in every aisle which makes it impossible to move around the place when it’s busy.
The choice here is less than great, and I usually have to go by Giant Eagle on my way home.
The thing that really gets me about this place is the staff. I have had to tell the cashier on two separate occasions that they gave me the wrong change (in my favor). Once was a girl who must have just started and I suspect it was her first or second day. The other was a middle aged woman who was so busy complaining about how much she hated her job that she couldn’t seem to count my money correctly. I have had to tell cashiers what my produce is and I even jumped in to help out a customer who was asking an employee about the various types of ground beef and the employee had no idea what made 80% lean ground beef different from 90%. They also tend to hire a lot of younger people who cannot ring up alcohol. If you get the one person in charge as your cashier they will constantly have to leave to go ring up alcohol or EBT transactions. The most times I’ve had a cashier leave to help another cashier while ringing up my groceries was 4 times. I almost just started scanning everything myself.
So if you are able to be patient and just go in expecting your shopping trip to be terrible, you’ll be alright. At least you’ll get your money’s worth.

Closest location to my house. Watch when you go to use coupons. Shady girl ringing me out gave me one total, I handed her my money and all of a sudden the total went up by a 1.50. I brought it to her attention and she acted like she didnt know what happened. The register wasnt taking the one coupon and instead of figuring it out she just deleted it and my total went up. I know how registers work and sat there watching the whole thing go down. Manager came over and never even tried to rectify the situtation… just gave me that BS, passive aggressive retail manager fake smile. Being blown off is a sure way to piss someone off when they were not in the wrong. Needless to say, I just wanted my money back and after 10 minutes of that mess I was walking out with the same money and none of the stuff I came to buy. Dont bother contacting Marcs corporate care online either, they showed as much attention to me as the manager did. Peace out Lakewood Marcs, you suck…

This Marc’s has been here forever. And, that being said it’s not the cleanest or most well organized. But, it does have good prices that beat out Giant Eagle most of the time. So if you’re looking for a budget price on the near west side, this might be the place for you.

Marc’s is the place to go if you want to save money. Just remember to bring your Discover card, your checkbook or be prepared to hit up the ATM because you will probably find more things in there to buy than you planned to get. (Marc’s currently does not take Visa or Mastercard.) However, having been to a couple of Marc’s locations, I have to agree with the other ones that say this Lakewood location isn’t as good as the others in terms of product selection, presentation, or cleanliness. This just drives the shoppers like me who are going to Marc’s as much for selection as to save money to drive out to a different Marc’s where there are likely to be more baked goods, gift items, household gadgets and other stuff to make my shopping trip more worthwhile. Yes, you can save money buying at Marc’s over Giant Eagle but when the selection is poor you end up going to Giant Eagle anyway because you can’t find everything you need at Marc’s, and besides I get points to save on gas when I shop at Giant Eagle and I can use my regular Visa and Amex cards and not have to hassle around with a check or Discover.
Also, this particular Marc’s has got the slowest checkout lines I ever experienced. Last time I went there was to grab some quick groceries like cereal because we were out. There was only one checkout line open and it was being operated by someone who was taking a long time to do each step. The guy ahead of me was buying about 30 bottles of wine because they were on sale, and honestly I have seen people buy a new car in the time it took to complete this man’s transaction, including checking the price, getting each bottle past the scanner (he had 30 of the same bottle, this should not have taken so long), bagging every bottle, getting his payment, getting a manager over to check something, etc. After that I resolved to never again go to this Marc’s if I was in a hurry, which unfortunately is a lot of the time — plus this Marc’s seems to be closed a lot when I go to this plaza to shop at the other businesses like Boston Market, UPS store and the pet supplies store.
I think Marc’s is a good addition to the Lakewood shopping landscape but they have to step up their game. When I go to the Westlake Marc’s there’s always multiple checkout lines and a much better selection of everything, and it’s cleaner there too.

Fantastic service (with a smile) and plenty of items to choose from. While it may not be as popular as Giant Eagle or Target, it allows the local to shop quick and shop efficiently.

I was harassed in the parking lot by a uniformed attendant, since i had unknowingly parked in the lot and grabbed a snack from robeks nearby before heading back to marcs. I understand it was a policy, but I’m from out of town and was only there to buy a six pack for a family party. It was Saturday morning at 11am, the lot was less than half full. The attendant would not disclose the owner’s name or even her name. If anyone knows the property owner’s information, please let me know, I’d like to write them a piece of my mind.
Also, no credit cards at marcs (except discover, but who has that except for grandmas and poor college kids?) The rest is good I guess, but I was left smoldering from being berated by a mall security cop in the parking lot.

Why is the Lakewood Marc’s so gungy? Is it because its not in a ‘burb? I visited the North Olmsted Marc’s today. So clean and organized. They didn’t have my honey’s hair color but they DID have Ooops Bread. It’s loaves of bread made from loaf remnants. Cheap AND delish!

Disorganized? Check. Save 30−50% over Giant Eagle for the same exact thing? Check. I’m willing to put up with the disorganization because Marc’s has a great product selection with many local Ohio brands (Giant Eagle has mostly national — booo).
There are two things that will help you like this store more — 1. Get a discover card. It’s the best CC anyway. 2. Go here more. At first, it’s super disorienting, but soon enough I knew where everything was. I did the math and shopping here I save upwards of $ 100/​month. $ 100/​month just for dealing with a slightly disorganized store and not well trained workers? I’ll deal with that.

The one star up there feels kind of mean because the people who work here are great and can actually FIND stuff in this random maze of seemingly random products, and have tremendous patience in the understaffed checkout line for clueless customers who don’t realize they don’t take credit cards. Well, in defense of the clueless, the «Express» line says: «Discover Card or cash only» — leading one to believe the other, slow lines except debit and credit cards — but ALL THE LINES accept cash or Discover card only! I don’t know how much the employees get paid, but I guarantee you they should be paid twice as much. The one star up there isn’t for the employees, it’s for «Marc» — along with an obscene gesture or two.
What century is this? No credit cards? People at craft fairs accept credit cards. Drug dealers accept credit cards. Prostitutes accept credit cards. What the hell is a «Discover Card» anyway? That’s when you wait in line for 20 minutes behind someone stocking up on a shopping cart full of 69 cent two liter bottles of sugar infused corn sweetened artificially flavored and colored unspecific fruit soda only to «discover» they don’t take credit cards. Now you’ve discovered why the line is so slow, people are counting out pennies, looking through pockets they didn’t know they had, shuffling to the ATM. They do not want to leave empty handed either, not after finding an only slightly chipped ceramic gnome for mere pennies, or some only slightly old meat or something.
Actually, this store could be great… It’s as close to the «general store» as you’re going to find, and besides the usual fine array of Little Debbie products and blue wine coolers there are lots of surprises that might inspire your shopping imagination. You might find what you’re looking for, or you might not, but if you don’t, you might find something else, something that you didn’t need when you entered, but you need now. It’s like the American Dream. I hate credit cards and the banks that hustle them as much as the next guy, but even with the fees the store has to pay, I can’t believe they wouldn’t make MORE money off us suckers if they did take credit cards, because like the next guy, I like to believe I’m not really going to have to pay for that thing I don’t really need but really, really want.

I was a Marc’s virgin until about a week ago*, when I wandered in to the Warren location to get some 2-​to-​3 outlet converters. Neither the discount section nor the pharmacy/​drug store area had ‘em. Oh well. I spoke to a couple of not-​so-​disgruntled folks who at least attempted to steer me in the right direction.
I was pretty impressed by the vastness, cleanliness, and overall layout/​flow of this store. If I want to save some time and money, I may come here to pick up a couple of things when I’m in the same plaza.
*Actually, I take that back. I went to the Marc’s in Coventry very briefly about 2 years ago when I needed to get change of a dollar for parking. They wouldn’t do it without a purchase, of course, so I bought a 3 Musketeers.

The prices are right, that can’t be argued, but the customer service is probably the worst I have ever experienced. The cashiers are too busy talking amongst themselves to even acknowledge your presence. Tonight the cashier ringing me up was discussing «the fat-​ass with the cowboy hat over in the crippled line». I am handicapped (blind) and I certainly did not appreciate hearing this. My wife told me the two guys were flicking their middle fingers at another cashier, and there was lots of «fuck that» and «what a dick» being said back and forth with them. I was appalled. The time before this we had cashiers talking about going out tonight to «get shit faced, who’s in?» Again, the prices are great at Marc’s, but the rude, filthy mouthed cashiers definitely ruin the experience, if the disorganized, cramped isles haven’t already soured you.

My first time grocery shopping in Cleveland and I picked the least typical example of a basic grocery store: Marc’s. Perhaps the giant discount section of random goods upon entry should have tipped me off, but I charged ahead anyway.
It was 8pm and as I entered, noticed the store closed at 8:30. I could get this done quick, I thought. Grabbed a basket, headed into the fray. I found everything I needed at great prices, including name brands, and it was much larger and cleaner than some Aldi stores I’d been to previously. Around 8:15 I noticed scurrying employees and several announcements to hurry up and get out. Put off and deciding against Marc’s in the future, I proceeded to check out.
They only take cash I was told, and a finger pointing to the ATM behind me later, I gave the $ 20 to the cashier and sheepishly admitted I had just moved to the area (state) and didn’t know better. The cashier’s face softened and she smiled, welcomed me to town and introduced herself. She gave me her work schedule and told me to come back and visit again. I left with the goods I needed and a much better feeling about the place than when I entered. Marc’s is good, but there’s definitely a way to do it. Bring cash, get there well before closing and know that you’re not at Whole Foods.

Once again I got burned by this location. I always say I’m not going back but somehow end up there. Today put me over the top. The parking lot is hands down the worst in the city of Cleveland. I almost got hit 3 times by other drivers. The store is still dirty and it took 22 minutes to check out behind a woman using WIC. They need to have separate cashier who only deals with this form of payment. Never again.

I don’t know why everyone bad mouths Marc’s. In the Lakewood Store, sure it may be small or cramped but that’s only because of the size of the plaza. I for one LOVE it. It’s right in the middle of «downtown Lakewood» (as we call it), the employee’s are nice (even if most of the night people are teenagers). Prices are a lot better than stores like Gaint Eagle, and as an example, you don’t need to buy 3 of something when it says 3 for $ 4.00. If you live in Lakewood, it’s the perfect place to shop. Some call it small; I call it homely like a family.
P. S. They only accept Cash, Check, or Discover, but they also take Food stamps and now as of July 1, 2010, WIC.

As per a previous review, disorganized doesn’t even scratch the surface. First, the shape of this particular store is odd because it’s in the corner of the strip mall. Aisles are so close together you’re lucky if you can fit 2 carts trying to pass one another. I went at 1:00 on a wednesday and there seemed to be everyone wanting to shop at the same time. Upon checking out, the «asst manager?» was helping bag and telling the cashier how another employee was doing unprofessional things with customers nearby. Of course I got to hear several things about it.
Prices are ok, but selection isn’t. I’d say go if you only need a few things, but don’t go with a full list, you’ll never make it out alive…

Where I am from, we don’t have Marc’s. Therefore, I was terrified to go to one through most of college. I had it in my head that it was «discount food.» Think about that… who wants to eat old food? or «cheap food?» It brings images of old, moldy produce or green meat. I was pleasantly surprised when I went to my first Marc’s in Strongsville. It was clean and organized.
The Lakewood Marc’s is not that Marc’s. Try to avoid weekends or shopping after quitting time. I prefer Aldi’s on w.117^th for my bargains.
However, the only place I know to buy kick-​A $ 1 wigs around Halloween time is Marc’s. $ 1 Halloween wigs is worth a trip to this crazy, scatterbrained discount store.
I always feel completely stupid when I am here because I only speak 1.1 languages and everyone else here seems to bilingual.

When I was a poor volunteer living in Cleveland, my housemates and I sometimes came to Marc’s to supplement our normal Dave’s shopping. Scratch that. My housemate Katherine and I sometimes came to Marc’s. Actually, she came quite often, and I sometimes accompanied her.
The first thing you need to know about Marc’s – and it applies to all the stores I’ve been to, three in all I think – is that it’s dirty and disorganized. I’m sure the low prices come partially from the lack of staff. Or that the staff aren’t paid very well. So if you like shopping in clean stores, you should probably avoid Marc’s. But it’s not depressingly dirty, a la Aldi; Marc’s is just disorganized. It perpetually looks like they just had a huge sale and haven’t had a chance to clean up yet.
You can get some pretty good deals here, but that’s about it.