Haggen Food & Pharmacy

Imagine that they are closed ! I was not a fan! But can’t wait to see what goes in there next! I liked albertsons !

Since they are going out of business it really is not fair for me to rate them at this point in time. However I have visited Albertson’s /Haggen’s often and I can say I have not been impressed.
Their prices always seem to be higher then Von’s and Ralph’s and I didn’t find exceptional deals or weekly specials. The one section I did visit often was the hot food/​deli section. They had a really good tri-​tip and plate specials. We would go on Monday’s just for their specials, other than that this was not my first choice for a grocery store.

I really need to say this: Haggen prices suck!
Even with their closing sale, Haggen remains expensive. Today they started having their liquidation sale. The only plus is that the alcohol has a 15% discount.
Also, I refuse to buy a bag of chips for $ 5 (with a 10% discount). I left the store without buying anything.

The cashier «Mary» is the cliché grumpy looking and sounding lady who makes me super depressed to actually get my food checked out in line. The price of stuff I guess matches the quality of the food. It’s really clean and open. I don’t like the bakery. Nice choice of beer and organic food.

AN ELEGY TO HAGGEN:
— Alas, poor Haggen — oh, how we yearned to know ye so well.
— You came in with such promises and left with your tail betwixt your legs.
— You felt that what worked in your home base of the Pacific Northwest (prices comparable to Whole Foods while the same quality of product as Albertson’s & Vons) would work in Southern California and the other states you expanded to, not knowing that we Southern Californians are a different type of shopper… and that your market research (or lack of it) clearly showed.
— When times got tough, rather than reducing prices, you reduced jobs — starting with the intellectually disabled, then the staff with seniority (I speak of this, having heard from an acquaintance formerly of Albertson’s who was with them for eleven years… then within three months of the takeover, had his position cut).
— As time passed, the lack of pride in the store showed… empty aisles on weekends, unrestocked shelves, produce and bakery items that weren’t exactly high quality — and yet the prices remained unreasonably high. This location in particular knew they were competing against several other grocery stores within a ten-​mile radius, and yet, nothing seemed to be done to attract customers.
— So, it should be of no surprise that you threw in the towel six months after your takeover. Six months, and countless jobs lost in your wake. If you really cared for the community, you would’ve tried harder, Haggen — but instead, we saw the type of character your company is made of by throwing in the towel so soon.
— If anything, this extra star I bequeath on the review are for the hard-​working folks left working at your remaining locations… it must be hard for them knowing that they’ll be out of a job within two months, but I pray that whomever buys them will employ them back. *crosses fingers for Stater Bros.*
— Farewell, Haggen, and take your empty promises and high prices with you back to the Pacific Northwest… you will not be missed.

Not sure what’s going to happen to this location now that Haggen is closing all of its Cali stores just shorty after taking over the Albertons. I won’t be shopping here in the meantime. The prices have gone way up. The inventory in inconsistent and the products I normally buy have steadily declined. I went to but bread the other day only to find 3 loaves left; one which was more like bread filled mold. Still a great staff though.

I thought Albertson’s sucked… But now that we’re stuck with Haggen, that place was great! Before, people actually stocked shelves and it didn’t look like a ghost town. Now, I’ve gone in week after week and things haven’t been replenished. Also, most all of the produce is disgusting. Do NOT buy any produce here!!! So much MOLD! I’ve lost so much money. Any of the Asian markets nearby have great produce and even greater prices.
Please please fix this store. We need a good quality store in this neighborhood especially with all the new developments!

It’s clean, spacious, and well-​organized. They do have a wider selection of healthy, organic, gluten-​free foods, which is nice for someone like me that enjoys shooting straight for the produce and the «healthy» snack options.
Some of the employees are friendly and others try to be. One employee walked me 6 aisles over to try to find canned coconut milk. They seemed to be out.
When I asked for another item, they did not know where they were or what they were. I might suggest learning more about specialty health food items, if your store touts how much they carry. One of the items they thought they did not carry. However, after 10 minutes of wandering the store, I found the item. I walked all the way back to the other side of the store to find the employee and show the item as well as explain where it was located. I was very polite and kind about it and figured I could educate him on one of my favorite items.
I come in for snacks, some vitamins, and specialty «health» drinks like kombucha.
The prices are pretty outrageous, but on the plus side you will never have to wait in line and the aisles are virtually free of people. I guess that’s saying something? I pay for convenience because there isn’t another easily accessible option within the close vicinity.
When I asked if this specific location would close (because rumor has it several locations will close), they said this one is supposed to remain open at least for the time being.

Ever since this turned into Haggens I don’t go here as much anymore. The prices are ridiculous. I’ll be shopping else where.
I miss Albertsons deals.

Solely giving 5 stars because they had the throwback «original New York seltzer»!!! After discovery that it was at a certain hospital emergency room vending machine. I knew I had to drive around town looking for this nostalgic beverage!

Love the staff here! I’ve been going to this Mira Mesa location regularly for about a year now. There is always someone willing to help me carry my groceries out. It’s difficult when I was pregnant and now having my 2 month old son, I just feel like everyone is so sweet here. I do miss the roast beef wraps in the deli, I haven’t been able to eat that for about a year now :(bring them back please!

Pro’s
Great Beer Selection
No lines at cash register
Good selection of food
Starbucks/​US Bank inside
Con’s
Simply outrageous prices
Place is a ghostown
Employees use to be cheerful, now they know the inevitable is going to happen (clue: out of business)
I need to learn Mandarin so I can shop at H-​Mart (maybe that’s a «Pro»)

I’ve been here about 6 times since the change over and see a definite increase in service and quality. What lots of you don’t understand is that when albertsons sells a store, they don’t take all their product with them, just the albertsons label items. For those of you that are «suckered» into Von’s, Von’s overall offers the worst produce available. Their «organic» product is a joke. When I first walked into what I thought was still albertsons, I unconsciously noticed changes. The store had a warmer feeling to it, the employees (in general) have a better attitude, and, they are bringing in better product. A nice kicker is that they kept some of the better albertsons employees. The slightly shorter gal (sorry) with blond hair that works checkout is a gem.
Tonight, I went by the meat department and the fellow there was cooking up samples of Kobe style ribeye. Nice touch! And it was priced right. $ 24.95 a pound. FYI, try to find American Kobe beef… they also had a much better selection of «normal» meats and seafoods. I never bought seafood or meat at albertsons and Von’s. Some days I could smell the seafood from the produce area. There’s a saying, if it smells like fish, it’s prob no good! Haggen, for now, has a nice, fresh selection of meats and seafood.
Give them a chance, let them learn the market. The prices really aren’t more expensive then the other stores unless your cherry picking the loss leader items (Google that term) everything everywhere is getting more expensive. Wake up and smell the coffee.
How about take your blinders off and look.

I’m not sure what the Haggen braintrust was thinking by acquiring various Albertson’s and Vons stores in SoCal after the Safeway/Albertson’s merger. In the value-​conscious world of today’s grocery shopping, there appears to be no value proposition whatsoever which would convince local folks to start shopping at Haggen where mostly the same items as Albertson’s had are available but at new higher prices.
If Haggen believes there is a clear advantage for consumers to begin shopping at their stores, then they have done a poor job of communicating this to the public.
I live very close to the Mira Mesa Vons, which survived the transition and where groceries are discounted aggressively on a weekly basis and the discounts are made known to me through a convenient app. I can always go across the street from Vons and visit Target for additional competitively priced supplies as necessary. If I’m all the way over at the east end of Mira Mesa by the old Albertson’s/new Haggen, I can continue to drive another 30 seconds past Haggen and go to Trader Joe’s for anything I might not be able to get at Vons or Target.
It’s not clear how this Haggen is supposed to fit in to our community. There’s simply no reason to start paying more for the same things just because there’s a new sign up over the old Albertson’s.

Pretty much no change, just a new name…
I liked it before, so I still like it now.
Some items do seem overpriced. I did notice that some items have a «sale» sign on it, but if you look closely, you only save 4 cents. That seemed a little shady to me.

I’ve only been here a hand full of times when this used to be an Albertsons. Friend and I were recently in the area for lunch. We decided to visit this new Haggen and see what it was all about. The Haggen I reviewed few weeks ago wasn’t all that great and seemed like a ghost town of a supermarket.
I’m sad to say that this location kinda felt the same way. It was around 1:15p and there seemed to be more staff than customers. The in store Starbucks is still here so that’s nice. But keep in mind they don’t have the means to take the Starbucks app on your phone to take a coffee payment (which sucked for us as we only use the phone app to pay for our SB coffees).
I noticed three guys setting up the extensive craft beer section in the way back corner. Not sure if that’s a new addition but I was impressed by the variety of craft beers (someone was putting up the Green Flash flashing logo thing).
The pharmacy is now Haggen Pharmacy so not sure if that would effect previous customers with r/x’s here.
Again though, it just felt like a ghost town. No staff really said hello or inquired if anyone needed help finding whatever. They kinda just did their thing and didn’t seem to want to interact with customers I saw roaming the super market.
It’s a nice big market though. I’m hoping the environment improves over time and works out it’s kinks.

Finally came to check the place out. It has the same exact setup at Albertsons. Some prices are the same, and some a little higher. Quality of produce seemed better.
Overall I’d say it’s the same. I would come back and shop. I only came here to pick up a cake. Lines were short. I think people need to give this place a try.

Ok people the only reason this went from an Albertson to a Haggen was to gouge consumers.
If you don’t believe me then do this, purchase normal items not on sale that you usually get when not on sale and you will see a increase of 13% of cost.
The only reason Albertson turned this into a Haggen was to give effect of a different brand but in actuality it was to raise all the prices and gouge the consumer on cost…
I will be finding a different store to shop at and I hope you do too to let them know that this kind of crappy business practice does not work…
If I could of it would of been a zero star!!!

What happened to Albertsons?! Was caught off guard to see a green sign instead of a blue pulling into the parking lot. I thought I made a wrong turn somewhere. It pretty much looks the same but a little brighter and roomier it seems… better atmosphere definitely.

My first impressions are I like it. The layout is still the same as the Albertson’s was but it feels more spacious. They still have the same employees which I also really appreciate. The management here is very customer oriented and the employees are always very helpful. It also still has the pharmacy with the same great pharmacists and the Starbucks.
The aisles are less crowded because they no longer have all those baskets with extra things that they were trying to sell. I also think they gave it a new paint job, which by the way, I like the natural neutral colors.
It’s superclean now. There’s no odors anywhere especially in the butcher area. Hurray! The meat cases look new. I’m glad they got rid of the old smelly ones.
For all of you health conscious people there’s a lot more healthy choices for you. It looks like they put all of the organic vegetables and fruits in one big display right up in the front of produce. I also saw a whole display of desserts that were gluten-​free and they looked pretty yummy.
I also noticed they have a lot of ready-​made soups in the cooler in the front which also now has pizza dough that’s raw and ready to be baked just like the kind at Trader Joe’s.
The cakes in the bakery look really, really good. There’s a big fresh bagel display instead of the doughnuts.
As for the meat department it has done a 180° looks so much better. I never liked all that ice and how it always smelled but now it looks cleaner with no smell. There’s some new choices of already marinated meats. They even have what looks to be Korean style ribs. I’m not sure about the taste though. Looking forward to trying the Kobe style steak and the fresh chorizo. Not sure if anyone is going to buy those giant fish they have in there but they sure do look nice. They also have some new type of bacon that they were giving samples of. They actually tasted really good.
All of the milk appears to be hormone free and they now are carrying Thrifty ice cream. I haven’t had that since I was a little girl.
I also noticed that they have signs everywhere about using locally sourced products. I saw a big displays for Ballast Point Brewery and other locally made beers.
Finally, The prices appear to be somewhat close to the Albertson’s prices. Some things are cheaper somethings are more. Tostitos were $ 3, Kellogg’s cereal was $ 2 but mangos were $.99 each. I thought those were kind of pricey. Soft drinks were running 2 to 3 dollars a case. The jury is still out on the prices, time will have to tell.
If there’s one negative I could say, it would be that I really, really don’t like the paper ads. Albertson’s ads looked so much nicer. The food pictures were bigger and the print was nicer. They need to get rid of the backgrounds that they put in the ads and just let the pictures of the food speak for itself with minimal backgrounds. It just looks way too cluttered. The backgrounds draw your eyes away from the products.
All in all I like the new store, it’s a nice change. I think you’ll like it too.