Market District Solon

Big. I miss my small Giant Eagle in Chagrin. I don’t want to spend an hour in the store looking for stuff. No reason to be this big. The checkout operators need to be faster. SLOW!!! It would be nice if they always had express lanes open with a checkout operator.
Organized and clean…

Market District isn’t for the faint of heart. Is it true that it’s always super busy, and a little chaotic? Yes. Can it be a little stressful? Yes.
But let me tell you some other truths about Market District Solon:
— They have an excellent international wine and beer selection. I LOVE finding wines I used to drink when I lived in Germany!
— Beautiful produce.
— Healthy mixes of organic, vegan, GF options, and everything in between.
— Unique bulk foods section. I SWEAR by the fresh ground nut butters.
— Decent, fresh sushi selection.
— For a grocery store, their selection of beauty supplies is impressive.
— Fantastic cheese selection.
Market District is quite large. So don’t forget your game plan! Make that grocery list in advance, or else you’ll find yourself getting a little slap happy with your cart. But then again, no one ever met some expensive wine and cheese they didn’t love.

My my my… the closest thing you will find to Wegman’s. I drive 15 minutes to get here when I have 3 grocery stores within 5 minutes of my house. Market District rocks. Selection is incredible. What really surprised me was their in-​house made pizza. Wow, super good stuff. I end up spending at least 90 minutes in this store because I either discover new items that other stores don’t carry or because I have too many glasses of wine while shopping (kidding). Run up a big grocery bill and then use your Fuel Perks to fill up your gas tank at the Get Go in the parking lot. Win win. Boomsies.

Maybe I’m just unlucky but most people I’ve dealt with at this store have been unpleasant. Especially at the home style meal station, bar, and register. The Market District in Cuyahoga Falls is much better.

A lot of people find the Market District overwhelming and chaotic, but I really enjoy shopping there. They always have the ingredients I’m looking for. I especially love the bulk foods– when I can buy quinoa, oatmeal and spices in exactly the amount I need that means they are listening to their customers needs. I love all the prepared food selections– you can often find me eating lunch or grabbing dinner there.
The prices are MD and GE are increasing and I can feel the burn in my pocketbook. However, I like the services that they provide and customer service is pretty good at the locations I choose to shop at. My review is different for each MD and GE location, but Solon is a top contender.

Hand Rolled sushi and olive bar are worth the trip. Can be busy around lunch time so come early or you are waiting in line for a while. Other great features, make your own nut butters, the oil and vinegar stations featuring a large variety in flavors and last but not least the bakery.

I’ve never called a grocery store LEGENDARY before, but this place…
Wow.
Tons of quality foods, a store well designed, clean and with an extremely friendly staff, and I have to say, I’ve never seen a grocery with such a cantina/​cafeteria area that even has a beer and wine bar! Their hot foods/​dining area serves a variety of foods from sandwiches to sit down meals, and let me say, everything was great:)
They also have an upstairs area big enough for a gathering of at least 50. My wife and I were really impressed, I have to say, a great place all around to go for lunch, shopping and just a place to hang out.
So, if you’re in the market for a great place to eat AND shop, Market District Solon is the place to be!

It’s been a year since Michael Symon cut the ribbon at this Giant Eagle Superstore. We’ve been coming here for special, rare-​to-​find ingredients. My weekly go-​to grocer still remains Whole Foods for its devoted organic selections. I supplement WF with Miles Farmers Market, Trader Joe, Cam Asia Supermarket, Heinens, Italian & Indian import stores. Still there are ingredients can only be found at this Giant Eagle.
Why would a celebrity chef grand open a brand like Giant Eagle? Because technically this is a different «banner» of this retailer. A Market District aims at higher end foodie clientele than your regular GE. I’ll give you a few examples:
— Organic Guanciale: a required ingredient for Carbonara. You can substitute with Pancetta but… it’s really not the same. And it’s organic non the less! I need them to carry this inventory forever. Fellow Unilocaler foodies please help encourage them! can’t find this anywhere, whole foods, trader joes, Heinen, Alecsi’s, Molisana’s. The latter two are Italian specialty stores
— Passion fruit: only seen it at Whold Foods Woodmere, sometimes with limited number of inventory (like 4 fruits to pick from, all under riped). The inventory here is satisfactory. Same price tag as WF.
— Star fruit: only seen it occasionally at Whold Foods Woodmere and Cam Asia
— Trumpet mushroom: only seen it at Cam Asia supermarket, about 10 minutes away. There are other rare to find mushroom too.
— Perch: can’t find at Whole Foods, the reason being «we can’t find reliable source that conforms to our standard».
— staff quality: the reason I dislike Giant Eagle in general is because there has been a very high rate of error made at check out point, by the cashiers specifically. Much higher than WF. Most of my WF cashiers can correctly identify my «exotic» ingredients.
So this review really is a comparison of grocers in the nearby area. This Market District is my go-​to store when I have special ethnic voids that can’t be fulfilled by WF.

To big. The layout makes it take too long to get around. The meat department is unreliable. I purchased 3lbs of low-​fat ground beef that looked very fresh. When I got it home and started to use it, it was all brown inside. You can clearly see they tried to dupe me into thinking the entire 3lbs was fresh. Instead they hid the old meat inside. Bait and switch. I don’t think I will ever be able to purchase meat there again.

Today I experienced the joy of Curbside Express at Market District. If you don’t know what Curbside Express is, I’ll explain.
You enter your grocery list online in the comfort of your own home. There’s no judgement from other shoppers about what you’re wearing or why your cart is filled with ice cream, cookie dough and wine.
At your scheduled pick up time, you pull up to Market District and let them know you’re there. In the meantime, some magical, mystical creatures have shopped for your food and bagged it. They bring it out to you, load it up, and send you on your way, joy filling your heart. It’s like Santa Claus for adults.

Market District appears grand upon first impressions. The amount of prepared foods and selection among a variety of goods is impressive. Yet, it all comes at a steep pricing scheme. If you are willing to pay $ 2 more per ½ gal of organic milk, and $ 0.50 per yogurt cup just to walk through this Market District experience, then go for it. All of my family’s staples are simply more expensive at GE Market District.
Staff is usually friendly. It’s just ridiculous how much overhead pricing is placed on the customers.
The insane prices of overly fancy grocery stores will give birth to a new model for grocery in rich suburbia. Local dairy/​grocery delivery services are on the rise again, thanks to overly-​greedy store managers.
People associate greed w Wall St; now it’s on «Main St» in Solon in the form of conglomerate food distribution (Kraft, Heinz, Cocacola, Dean Foods, etc.).
With all my gripes, I do find they have delicious beef brisket. :-)

This is a large grocery store with an equally large variety of grocery and cooked food items.
They have a Starbucks inside, just in case the second Starbucks 700 feet away is too far.
I love the expansive ethnic food section and I’m relieved to see that the «Mexican» section is not limited to Doritos, like how some lesser chains have humored all of us, LOL.
The beer and wine section is huge.
They have the most affordable dry cleaning in the area.
Best of all, I love the fuel perks off the Giant Eagle card.

We go to Market District in Solon for our grocery shopping, of course, but this was our first time coming in for a wine and food event on a Friday night. FIRST THING: IT IS NOT FROM 6:00 — 9:00 LIKE THE WEBSITE SAYS! It ends at 8:00! Don’t miss out like we did!
We showed up at 7:55 and some of the stations were shutting down. However, after discussing the confusion with the management, they were super apologetic and did everything they could to make it right for us. The music was nice, the crowd was lively and the food looked great. I wish we would have been able to try more things, but the quinoi corn fritter we did try was really tasty and the wine selection was plentiful. You can’t go wrong with this deal for $ 6 on a Friday night!
We will definitely be back, on TIME!

Foodie Friday Review
from 6pm to 8 pm each Friday you can pay $ 6 ($ 15 on special holidays) and get 6 samples from the catering department and the wine /​beer offerings
Staff is VERY friendly and knowledgeable. Some weeks are a single vinyard… one week a month there are beer options… most selections are on sale… some of the food samples have recipes and are only available through the catering department.
Each week generally starts with a cheese course and ends with dessert with a soup somewhere in the middle.
The only downside is the wine steward station… they don’t remove the chairs so you have to reach around people sitting at the bar to get the 4^th station sample. 1 star removed
We have also tried to order through the Deli kiosk at the cosmetic entrance only to have them not be able to get our order done even after taking an hour to wander the 6 for $ 6 and then shop the grocery store! The deli has a great Italian cured meat section… which is a shame… it is almost impossible to get help. 1 star removed
The overhead shots that others have uploaded are from the second floor meeting room that they now use on Friday for the dessert station and have a cashier on hand with extra bottles so you can purchase the varieties you sampled easily.

Market District is disappointing.
I came to the store a few times right when it first opened, and I was beyond impressed. This store had EVERYTHING and then some! Tons of prepared food, ethnic products, homemade gelato, a fully-​loaded bakery, exotic produce, cooking demonstrations… but all good things must come to an end.
There was just no way that they could maintain such an elaborate set up. Don’t be fooled by its massiveness; now they just offer usual supermarket fare here. The quality of the prepared foods is just average, with surprisingly little variety. The baked goods are mediocre at best.
This is your average supermarket masquerading as a gourmet, specialty retailer. It is unduly hyped. Fine if you live near by, but definitely nothing to go out of your way for.

Huge let down and disappointment.
I was first excited to learn of Solon being a Market District site, figuring they’d first go with the new Broadview Heights store. During construction I figured there’s no way they’ll have the floor space for anything close to what they have at Robinson in Pittsburgh and I was correct. They lack in space, product offerings, quality, customer service and technology.
They don’t offer anything at a discount compared to others, and they don’t offer anything truly unique that you couldn’t get elsewhere… so why bother? Unless of course you’re a huge fan of frozen baked goods made in Pittsburgh, trucked to Solon, and finished to appear as if this was point of origin.
This store will have to appeal to a certain kind of consumer to survive. They’re 24-​hrs now, but expect them to close at midnight at some point or scale back hours significantly. Anyone that knows Solon, or Cleveland for that matter knows that 24-​hr locations do not do well here.
My grandmother hates the new place, says it’s too big. So they’ve alienated their loyal locals, and they’ve alienated anyone that’s experienced the true Market District store at Robinson, PA, by not being big enough. Here’s a perfect opportunity for Marc’s, Heinen’s, Miles Farmers Market, and WalMart to grab precious market share.
I think it’s yet again where the Cleveland version of a franchise gets the shaft.
Right now the place is crowded. Expect to wait for counter service as they lack a number calling system or even a stantion for some order to queue up.
Parking’s a nightmare too.

Have you ever been to Wegmans? Their flagship store in Pittsford?
Well this one is ALMOST as good. I mean… wow!
Note to the store: Get a distilled, purified, deionized water dispenser! All the other nice stores (Whole Foods, Wegmans, Sunflower etc) have them.
The one drawback? If you don’t have a member card you can’t use the self checkouts. Which is by far the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. There isn’t even a sign next to them saying you need one to use the machines. Silly!

I was super excited to check on the new Market District! It’s like an upgraded Giant Eagle. They have several seating areas (first floor, loft, and outside) where you can eat and drink (limit 24oz of beer or 10oz of wine per person). They were giving away lots of samples when we were there, and they were huge samples! Not sure if the workers were new and didn’t know what to do, but each sample was like a full serving. I asked what a knish was at the deli counter, and the woman working tried to give me a whole one to try. It’s like the size of a baseball!
I had a great time perusing their huge selection of bulk foods, although I question the amount of space dedicated to the make-​your-​own-​trail-​mix area. Do people really eat that much trail mix?
I’d love it if this were my neighborhood Giant Eagle, but I doubt I’ll be making the trip to Solon just to shop here.

My feeling is that this store is a cross between Giant Eagle and Whole Foods. I’m sure this was there intent, so I’d say they were successful in meeting their goal.
Bright produce and sunflower plants greet you as you walk into the store. They have a large produce department. There are also food stations/​restaurants in which you can order hot food items and dine in at comfortable tables. I bought a pulled pork sandwich with a side of mixed grilled veggies. It was very fresh and tasty. The staff behind the prepared food counter was accommodating with samples when I asked about the available sauces for the sandwich.
The staff was very friendly, and although there still may be a learning curve on some things, they didn’t let it show. There was a young man, twenty-​something, stocking items in the dairy area and he was genuinely happy to be working at this establishment. How refreshing!
Speaking of the Dairy Department, I like that everything was in coolers with doors. There was a sign on some of the doors that read: «Colder Milk — Warmer You.» It seems like grocery stores are iceboxes anymore, so I appreciated this feature.
While there, I sampled 3 different offerings from the in-​house demo kitchen and they were yummy: mussels in white wine garlic butter, eggplant rolatini and a turkey roll-​up. They provide recipe cards for all of the items that are sampled.
I’ve attached a number of photos that give a good idea of the variety of bulk items they carry: Mushrooms, Salts, Baked Goods, Salad and Antipasto Bar. In addition to these items, you can also make your own peanut butter or dispense infused vinegars or a choice of honeys into bottles they provide. Haven’t done that yet, but it looks interesting.
It’s definitely worth checking out.

Woah.
Black truffles, escargot, caviar, live crawfish, dry aged meat and a cranberry preserve made by Trappist Monks of the St. Joseph’s Abbey sit next to 5 pound bags of generic Fruit Loops and 2 pound jars of Fluff.
This is a grocery store unlike any other. It really does have it all. Once you enter the doors to this place, expect to be sucked into perusing for at least an hour, maybe more. Coming here is an event. The mundane duty of grocery shopping suddenly turns into an exercise of sensory stimulation.
Straight through the entrance is the produce section, off to the left is a beverage bar offering coffees, juices and smoothies. Each grocery cart is equipped with a cup holder, so take your frothy drink with you on your venture. Next is a café/​bar area where you can order food to eat-​in or take-​with. Pizza’s & burgers are made to order. A bar exists here that features a dozen drafts where growlers are filled. You can pay for all of this here, without standing in the regular checkout lines.
Next up is the sushi bar, olive bar, deli, emporium of cheese and charcuterie counter. Again, the choices here are plentiful. Best in the area as a matter of fact. Imported cheese from all around the world with various levels of stinkiness and a charcuterie counter that offers dry cured meats like «gabagool» (capicolla), mortadella, sopressata, speck, pancetta and prosciutto. There is no longer a need to stuff your suitcases with delicacies bought in Italy or France. Market District has it all. I was floored with the selection.
The bakery is next on our tour. Breads, baked goods and candy galore. We didn’t spend too much time in this area because something else caught our eye. A live food demonstration was going on nearby. I thought I was at the IX Center’s Fabulous Food Show. This isn’t just a grocery store. There was even live entertainment!
Then around the corner, the fish department featuring live crawfish (sold out upon our visit), escargot, branzino and other exotic fish I never knew existed. The selection here really was awesome. Next were cases of fresh cut meat. A display of various cuts including dry aged beef caught my eye. The displays were clear, well lit and designed to tempt. Don’t come here hungry. The butcher and fish monger behind the counter were more than willing to help and chat about what they offer and how best to prepare said protein.
After going around the perimeter, this is usually where I hit the dairy (plenty of local products offered including Snowville) and then check-​out, but the middle aisles were unusually attractive. We went down each and every aisle. Exotic brands not carried by any other grocer in the area were present. Ever stumble across an unknown ingredient in a recipe? Yeah, they have it here. The ethnic specific aisles were vast and well represented as well. It really was an experience to travel down each aisle just to be amazed at the offerings. Some jars and canned goods completely unrecognizable because of the native language still on the labels. Real authentic shizz.
In addition to food, be sure to visit the beer section. Hop Snobs would be floored with the selection. Single bottles are sold here in addition to sixers. Did I mention they also have a full liquor department? Like I said, this store has it all. Including a children’s play area (titled «Eagle’s Nest») to drop your kid off while you shop. There’s also a pharmacy, health/​beauty department, bank and dry cleaner here.
Checking out was a breeze. I counted 24 checkout lines, so they were certainly able to handle the crowd during this opening weekend. Hopefully after the grand opening excitement wears down, it’ll remain as pleasant of an experience as it was on Sunday. Despite the crowd, it was well staffed and things ran smoothly. If it’s still like this 6 months from now, I’ll be sure to bump my rating up to a full-​fledged 5 stars.