Emerald City Liquors

Old hoods are sometimes graced with old style retail. Emerald City is definitely old style. Decently stocked grocery store with sometimes more regional or non national brands. I love looking for the wacky drinks you’d not find at bigger chains. Totally sleepy place though

Beware if you walk in here as a white person you will be taxed. They do not have prices on most of their items. And whenever I purchase something it is overpriced. Even though it is walking distance from my house I avoid it.

I just moved and this is the closest liquor store to my house so I was psyched to see they have a great selection though $$$$. Sadly the lady behind the counter is the reason I will NEVER come back. I was waiting behind 2 young girls who were trying to prove they were old enough to buy smokes. They didn’t have id and were wearing their high school logo on their clothing. The lady at the register sold them cigarettes after some long winded story that was total bs. I give her my id so I can purchase some alcohol and she says it’s fake. She looks at it, scans it, and takes a uv pen to it. I thought this was funny. I’m 26 and have the new California id. But no it’s fake and she refuses me service. In my car I look at my id and see it expired less than a week ago. She was in her right to refuse me service but didn’t have to be NASTY and make a big stink accusing me of having a fake id. So unless you have all you papers and can pass through border control I would suggest going somewhere else.

I’ve stopped here several times to pick up a bottle of wine when approaching Redwood City from 280.
While I am highly amused that they have misspelled Zinfandel as «Zinfundel» (maybe intentionally?), the main reason for my low rating is that their wine bottles are all cooking in the hot interior of this store all summer long (no air conditioning, just fans). This is a pretty fundamental problem if you are selling wine. You are much better off going to Trader Joe’s, Safeway, Whole Foods, BevMo, or anywhere else in Redwood City if you want to buy a bottle of wine.
The selection is not great either.
I’ve given them a second star because they seem okay for beer and liquor.

Emerald Liquor has a pretty good selection of wines. Carl hooked my up with a GREAT bottle of wine last year for my birthday.
Thank you again Carl, see you soon.

Sorry lady, you give me no reason to ask for your name. Why do you always seem so preoccupied when there’s no one even in the store? Why can’t I ever get a smile or a friendly acknowledgment that I’m at the counter? It happens every time I’m in there, so I’ve thrown the «off day» defense out the door. I’m about to start spending my money at B&W Market…
But you’ve recently stocked up on Arizona’s Orangeade (which is my favorite flavor everrr), so I will continue shopping here (until you run out of Orangeade — HA!).

Emerald City is a cavernous liquor store and market on Jefferson Ave. It’s an older place and has seen better days, though it’s not exactly run down (I’ve seen a lot worse). Since it’s close to home, this is the place we go for last-​minute trips for parties & emergency beer runs. But it’s not a place to do your primary shopping or get anything high-​end (except maybe beer).
LIKES:
– They have ice, lots & lots of ice
– They have a decent beer selection (demestic, foreign, some craft beers)
– They have limes and keep them cold (though they’re pricey)
DISLIKES:
– Prices are OK, but not great considering the place
– All their wine is low end; very few bottles I would be proud to give to friends
Emerald City serves a basic purpose and nothing more.