Such a wasted opportunity.
One of the great ironies of living in Bethlehem is the limited number of grocery options what we have when the local per capita income would support more options and certainly stores of higher quality. (I still can't wrap my head around how Wegman's has been kept out of the Capital Region.)
The plaza where this Hannaford is located, however, defines wasted opportunity period (okay, the Pakistani restaurant Shalimar is a positive.) Hence, I only come here on the occasion I am in this part of Elsmere when coming down Delaware Avenue.
This Hannaford is claustrophic once inside (largely because of a poor layout, and many aisles on the opposite side from produce devoid of shoppers that are devoted to crap you don't come to Hannaford to procure.) A redesign, and purging of many items would infinitely improve this store.
The produce department makes you think: "wait; I'll drive to Price Chopper afterwards." The vegetables all seem wilting and aged (or, wrapped in plastic, possibly worse.) There is an open air "hot bar" of cooked items, that features a minimalist sneeze guard but is otherwise open to dust anything else flying around in the atmosphere. As you walk past it you are accosted with smell of oil and vinegar from meats cooked many many hours earlier that are kept hot. Not me thanks.
Pluses: I can find hot Pace picante sauce here (Price Chopper only carries medium and mild, apparently their stats indicate Capital Region shoppers can't handle spice.) You can get a large sized jar of Grey Poupon Dijon here (Price Chopper at any of its many locations only carries small jars, clearly to better fleece customers.) I can also find Dalfort jams here, which Price Chopper once carried, but now I can only find here, at Whole Foods, or Honest Weight. One day I was making a dish that required lumpfish caviar (okay, it's not that extravagant, and when I lived on the west coast you could find it in any Safeway.) Not able to find it at Price Chopper or Shop Rite I did find it here (I bought the two available jars and have noted subsequently it's not been restocked.)
The baked goods are sad; the deli kind of worries me. The meat selection is absolutely minimal but adequate.
And perhaps the most worrisome part is the sales staff here seem to be so incredibly unhappy; several of the cashiers if not absolutely indifferent are downright hostile. There is a clear morale problem; it doesn't matter how polite you are.
Now, the Colonie Hannaford is like the Taj Mahal compared to this Hannaford, but every time I come here I think "why didn't you go to Price Chopper?" And, I don't like Price Chopper much at all. read more