Grocery Outlet

Check the food expiration dates !
I come here couple times a month for the oddball stuff they carry. If you need to cook an entire 5 course meal you’ll need to make your way to Safeway to get the basic items this store will not have to complete at least 3 of the courses.
The white check out girls are basically useless inconsiderate halfwit morons and that’s putting it nicely.

Hummus labeled at $ 1.99 but rang up for $ 2.99 Manager Marilyn was rude and said I should have read the «small print» above the 1.99 which was for a different hummus. The hummus I picked up didn’t have a price tag and «I should not have assumed that just because the 1.99 tag that was right in front of it and said hummus, was the correct tag»…a joke! She was rude, had no sense of urgency and has poor communication skills. I normally LOVE G. O but whoever this «Marilyn the Manager» they have running the place needs training on empathy and customer service… unfortunately the cashier had to repeatedly apologize to me for the managers poor customer service.

They would have got 5 stars but the fact that they wouldn’t let me use their restroom is unacceptable. Says no public restrooms on the back door. I spent $ 85 here and had to shop with a full bladder… yeah thanks for that probably would have spent more too

This is my go to place for the basic necessities, and random finds but the prices are always great. From organic fruits and veggies they have some of best prices in Sac consistently.
Can’t beat the big selection of beer and wine and where else can you find cookie dough, ice cream, and other assortments of desserts for so cheap.

Oh Grocery Outlet… how I love thee. I hate going to stores like Safeway, so I come here often. At least twice a month. They are pretty much guaranteed to have all of my essentials: chips, coconut water, hummus, various vegetables and cheeses, yogurt, baking soda, vinegar, weird snacks that I have never heard of but will try just this once because it’s on sale for a dollar…
They’ve also got booze! Come here to get some discounted wine that might cost twice as much elsewhere.
I’m a big skincare junkie so I’m guilty of spending waaaay too much time in the vitamins/​skincare/​cosmetics aisle while unattended. Seriously, if you look at everything you can find some really cool products that they don’t sell at other stores around here.
I always go here with just like, 3 things in mind but somehow always end up with a cart full and then want to kick myself for only bringing one reusable bag. It takes a lot of self control not to give in to all those little impulse buys.
Btw, don’t bother trying to call them to ask if they have a particular product at the store. The girl who answers the phone always lies and just says no probably because she’s too lazy to actually go out and check. Lol. I’ve done this twice and gone over there anyways and what do you know… they had it in stock.

Working in the downtown area now I frequent this little market. At first when coworkers told me about this place I was a little skeptical with the quality of products. Especially when they say, «just make sure you look at the expiration date.»
Although this corner market is small they really utilize the space well and pack the stuff in. They really have EVERYTHING in there from toiletries, kitchen cleaners, pet supplies, toys alcohol, and of course food!
What I’ve noticed is that if something is good it doesn’t stay on the shelf long. I went in one week and found a miso vinaigrette dressing. I brought it home and tried it on a salad and some cooked veggies and it was very tasty. I went back a couple days later and it was all gone :(
I also really like their extensive gluten free products. I like to stock up with snacks for my desk or if I’m looking for a quick cheap lunch I may make my way over for a salad or something in the frozen section.

My go– to grocery place. The employees here are helpful and surprisingly collected and friendly, given the amount of BS and general craziness they must endure from some of the offbeat customers they seem to always be flooded with. Prices are great. You can find some really good deals here, and they always have my favorite Tangerine beer.

Great bargains.
However this location is probably the smallest in Sacramento! They will not carry as much stock as other locations but they will do in a jiffy.
I noticed most GO in Sacramento share the same stock but every once in a while there is a store that carries a specific brand and flavor of a product. You’ll have to be adventerous and lucky!

Deals! The inventory changes but for the most part, they’re discounted.
This location has their own parking lot. That’s awesome for midtown. They have prepared food from I-don’t-know-where but I had tabbouleh because I was reading labels to see what was vegan and that was and it was super dry. I didn’t even wanna eat more than the initial bite.
I’ll just stick to anything else in the store. Just check expiration dates. That is, if dates bother you.

Yes, this is the place for shopping on a budget, whether it be cheap snack items, frozen items, affordable fancy cheese (I know right?), crackers, all manner of non-​alcoholic drinks, select beers, wine, and ciders.
No, this is not the place to buy your meat or produce except for yummy salad bowls. Always fresh and convenient.
Parking sucks, so make sure you come later on a weeknight, early on a weekend, not at the end of the month, and so on, in order to actually find a spot in the dinky lot.
All in all, I LOVE having Grocery Outlet within walking and bicycling distance. Riffraff may hang out here, but this part of the midtown neighborhood is usually full of people, always well lit, and decently safe as opposed to shadesville.
Tip: Stocking up on seasonal doodads? This is your place. There’s always something new available.
Tip II: Watch out for expiration dates, and especially weird flavors or versions of things. I wound up with scented paper towels on my last excursion. What even?!

I remember shopping at the Grocery Outlet in West Sac as child w/​my father and remembered it was huge and had so many things to choose from for a fraction of the price compared to other grocery chains. Yes the expiration dates on «some items» may be close to expiring… But not alllll of their product are like that. It’s really «hit and miss», just select things. I have yet to find something actually «expired» at the one on Capital Ave where I always shop being that I live DT now for the past 2 years on 16^th and E, there are plenty of liquor and convenience stores but no real grocery stores. This grocery store is closer than Safeway on Albambra from my apt. It’s easy to access and very affordable prices being on a fixed income, single mother of 3. Totally worth it! I love shopping here for all my grocery and household needs.
The only downside to Grocery Outlet and not just this location is that every week/​day they have something diff so you never really know what you’re going to get! When they don’t have specific things that I need for a meal/​recipe I usually have to end up running around the corner to Safeway on 19^th street. Sometimes I have to cross my fingers and hope for the best with Grocery Outlet! I love when I can get all my shopping needs done in one place… Really saves time, gas and $$$.

Ultimately Grocery Outlet is my go to places for grocery shopping on the budget. No other place your going to find Axe Body Spray for 1.99. This Grocery Outlet is really ran down. Not the most safest place to shop and dogs are in the store on the daily by customers. Awesome experience, met a customer who literally stops at this Grocery Outlet 5 – 6 times a day.

This store offers incredible deals! The patrons can be a little rough and tumble (some homeless, alot of people using EBT who have mental health issues) occassionally, but I like going here every so often for grocery items.
The cheese is great!
Make sure to check expiration dates. Wine is also good.

A little smaller than most Grocery Outlets but they seem to have packed pretty much the full range of usual things in.
Almost totally devoid of people on a Saturday morning, very pleasant shopping experience. Prolly a totally different story when all the government workers are down here though.

Though small, this is a nice store that’s pretty well organized and maintained in a part of downtown where everything (food wise) can get expensive. I also like that although it is a chain, it is locally franchised so in shopping here, we are supporting a mom & pop store.
There are lots of goodies here if you’re ok with buying food items that are close to (or already recently) expiration/​expired. Certain items I buy and am not worried to eat expired b/​c they really don’t go bad if you don’t open it (expose it to oxygen) until you’re ready to eat it. Cheese and yogurt for one, and cereal in general will keep for 6 months up to a year, especially ones that are not oily. Crackers keep pretty well if not opened until you’re ready to eat it but they can go a bit rancid if you keep them too long b/​c of the oil they contain. So choose wisely. But if you’re going to eat the food that’s close to expiration here soon after you buy them, then it’s really no problem at all.
Produce can be good deals here too, esp. organic stuff which are soo much more expensive at regular and specialty grocery stores. I skip the meats here b/​c they look more questionable to me. Frozen foods are great b/​c even if they’re close to their BEST BY dates, they usually will last MUCH longer in the freezer anyway. There’s even tools, pet items, kitchen ware, all kinds of other non-​food/​perishables here and they can be good bargains. I’ve even bought a light/​wind jacket at a GO before (although not this one), that was Kirkland (Costco) brand at a deep discount. I like how they put out all the beautiful plants and potted flowers here out in front of the store and they are definitely good deals as gifts for friends and family (good prices for Mother’s day and birthday gifts).
Overall, I’m glad there’s a GO downtown/​midtown!

They should hand you pop-​corn as you walk in!
This location has the best people watching one can find on the Grid!
So many random things, brands, and foods/​beverages. Check the expiration date, but other than that you should live and save money to tell the tale!
You offer parking and cheap wine, I won’t deny your goodness, but I also need a shower after stepping inside ;)
Eat/​drink/​use at your own will…

Love it. Prices are amazing. Friendly staff. Great cheese selection. Free parking in lot. They may not have exactly what you are looking for, but you will never starve. They carry plenty of fruits and veggies to keep you eating healthy. I shop here several times a week.
Like any store price around. It may be cheaper at Safeway. I’m about time and convince so I do a majority of my shopping here.

Great Place To Start Or End The Month’s Grocery Shopping
SITREP
Grocery Outlet provides a pretty cool foundation for my monthly shopping either at the beginning or the tail end of my shopping forays for the month.
THE SETUP
In this unique instance, it’s just easy to mention at the beginning of the review that the star-​deduction from a perfect 5 is because of the TOTAL random nature of the items you will find.
RANDOM OFFERINGS NOT ALWAYS AVAILABLE
Oh sure, for example, there are some staples I get here from time-​to-​time, such as the main floor ranch dressing that they always carry. But I much prefer the more rich in flavor, refrigerated version ranch dressing I might see here only one week out of four.
SOME ITEMS NOT A BETTER DEAL THAN OTHER LOCATIONS
Also being a savvy shopper, I usually keep up on the deals with Safeway (in fact, I have the Safeway app on my iPhone), Trader Joes (which are pretty constant and easy to remember), and COSTCO (cause sometimes, I just WANT to «supersize» my toilet paper purchase). ;)
So to follow up on my intro-​statement:
* I can start my shopping at Grocery Outlet by picking up a few items (the salad mixes and the mushrooms are easily 33% to 50% less than Safeway), and keep my eye out on their deals scheduled for the next few days;
* I will then go hit Safeway, and thanks to my phone-​app, I will know ahead of time what deals have been personalized to me (their «U» bonus plan), and grab a lot of items there;
* Next I will hit Trader Joes, and supplement my Safeway run with this stop. There are items here, for example, I can’t get anywhere else, such as canned dolmas, their wedges of Rosemary Asiago, boutique Raviolis, Italian-​style Tofurkey links, and my favorite Spiced Thai Chili Lime bags of Almonds and Cashews;
* So after hitting both Safeway & Trader Joes, and assessing what things cost there with what items were available at Grocery Outlet, I will swing by Grocery Outlet and catch whatever fell through the cracks.
* Probably once a quarter, I’ll make a run to Costco to grab items that will last me a while, like bottles of wine & seasonal spirits, a pack of Eclipse Gum, big boxes of some frozen food I’m addicted to, perhaps one or two of their prepared meal combinations, and most certainly a $ 10 combo pizza. But that’s just me. As a single guy, though, buying Costco size products — like their perishable vegetables — hasn’t panned out well for me when more than half the product rots before I can use it.
CHEEEEEEEEEESE — SOMETIMES IT WORKS FROM HERE
An additional point, for example, with all the cheese I normally buy from Safeway (blocks of Extra Sharp Cheddar) or from Trader Joes (Asiagos and Parmesan) or even the rare pop-​in at Corti Bros or SaveMart, etc., I can just look at the price of a particular cheese being offered at Grocery Outlet on any cheese and have a metric from these other stores to know whether or not it’s a deal: *Yada Yada Yada*, and so what HAS regularly been a good deal at Grocery Outlet is the grated Romano and the Smoked Gouda.
DRIVING VS. LAZY VS. HAVING NO CAR
Now add to this, if I DON’T feel like driving (or have a vehicle on a particular weekend), then Grocery Outlet IS my best local market options (since I don’t like to use the rip-​off smaller corner markets that dot the street corners throughout my Midtown Sacramento neighborhood — yeah, I’m looking at YOU terribly misnamed «Save Rite Market» at-​the-​end-​of-​my-​own-​block!”)
And, bottom line, Grocery Outlet is hella convenient being only a healthy brisk 7-​block powerwalk from my front door (built-​in cost for working off those $ 1 cheesy poofs). ;)
CHECK EXPIRATION DATES
I’m not one to cringe on packaged goods that are «a bit» beyond their expiration dates. Having studied the FDA guidelines, I know there is a lot of «swag» built into some categories of food — especially dry goods and canned products.
However, on items that require refrigeration and/​or freezing, I will be prone to scrutinize the item a bit more, making a determination based on whether this is an all vegetable product (less concern), or has dairy/​meat in it (more concern) and how far past the expiration date we are, AND what time of the year it happens to be if that bears any relationship to the product. [Yeah, I have my own «algorithm» in my head on how I scrutinize «expiration dates».]
PARKING
It’s got it’s own lot!
THE LOWDOWN
Whatever one’s own experience in the diversity, variety — and CHALLENGES — in shopping, I can say without hesitation that Grocery Outlet has proven to be a very good supplement to my overall grocery shopping experience, in spite of the total randomness & uncertainty of favorite items found there (or not) at times.
Ce le vie!

Why do discount stores get a bad wrap? I love them. Same products at a discounted price, I’ll take it. I mean, so maybe some of the products are close to expiration but you just need to use it right away then.
Midtown’s Grocery Outlet is the only one I’ve been to. It’s small & you can’t rely on getting the same thing there all the time but I kinda like the idea that maybe I’ll find something I really like and didn’t expect. Their organic «good for you» section actually has some really good stuff. What was really surprising was their cheese & beer selection. It’s no secret I love cheese, so when I saw a Brie for $ 4.99 that is usually $ 9.99 I had to get it. They have Boulder Beer, Lagunitas along with a few other good breweries. The produce is usually good pickings too.
What I really appreciate is it is very clean. We all know these type of stores can be sketchy and dirty but they do a good job keeping it tidy. Living in Midtown can get expensive so this is a nice option to have.

They have a wide variety of products. Produce, canned and frozen foods, baked goods, cleaning supplies… basically a small «discount» grocery store.
Small parking lot on the side and a bike rack out front. Friendly staff.
Cool little store in mid-​town but nothing special.