With much excitement, I ventured to the new, relocated Giant occupying the prior Redners location in Doylestown. I was bummed to hear that Starbucks would not be relocated but was optimistic to see how they adapted the coziness and quaintness I loved in the Jamison store to a fresh new location. (Note, the market moved 7 minutes farther from my residence in Furlong) Thinking that the same atmosphere would be carried over, I was expecting that the new location would be updated with a style similar to a Wegman's model but maintain the Giant value I came to love every week. What a disappointment....
The new location felt very small, cheap and kind of like a cold pet store, if that makes sense. Even the parking lot felt small sharing it with Chicago Pizzeria Uno traffic. I really expected the new store would have been more similar to other popular grocers in the area and appeal more to the local demographic class. Being opening weekend, I envisioned more presentation stations such as staff working a cheese station or the bakery offering samples (similar to Wegmans on a typical Saturday). This would differentiate them from the basic grocery store such as an Acme. I think they missed this opportunity to capture the middle-valued customer. The new store seemed to have fewer brand options than the prior. They had no chicken breasts other than individual portioned/ seasoned Purdue. They said they sold out of all packaged brands including Giant which is hard to believe????
And then there is the layout. The bathroom is at one end of the store, opposite the seating area which does not make a lot of sense and I would assume was a limitation of the prior Redner's floor plan. Didn't impact me but I thought I should mention it. The bathrooms were nicely renovated and clean but something you would expect of new construction. The warm food stations, small salad bar and eat-in seating are separated by the beer and wine section. Why??? I cannot imagine someone coming in and buying takeout beer only to sit and drink it in a grocery store seating booth. (Maybe I'm wrong)
The new store has 2-3 cashier lines with a ton of self-checkout aisles. Great for a quick, last minute trip I guess, but not for someone doing weekly or bi-weekly shopping with an overloaded cart. The entire store layout feels crammed, I don't know how else to explain it. The prior store gave you the feeling of the high-end local grocer experience but in a reasonably scaled building.
I thought it was only me but have come to hear many of my negative opinions are the same as others from our neighborhood groups. I was expecting more and I foresee the same fate for this Giant as the Redners market. I can only hope that another grocer opens in the prior location in Jamison to re-establish what was lost for me. #FireTheArchitect read more