WinCo Foods

Employee-owned 24/7 supermarket chain with discounted groceries & bulk foods, plus a deli & bakery.

Best prices on pantry items. Excellent bulk section. The bulk section is what brings me back to this store. Excellent bakery. Cons: for moms with small children, having to bag your own groceries can be stressful. Also, WinCo doesn't take credit cards, so no extra cash back points.

As far as local grocery stores go, Winco is my top pick for prices and selection. As far as local Wincos go, this is probably my #1. Has a bakery, one of the larger stores with a lot of selection, and the checkout lines never seem to be as bad as other places. Walk in beer cooler is nice. I shop most at 82nd and Powell just because it's on the way home but this store is far better.

Bad experience a couple times:

One time, I had been waiting in line for about 10 mins when my turn came for checking out. Suddenly, the short senior lady (with tied long grey hair) put a lane-stop sign and blocked me.

The procedure is when employees take a break, they are supposed to do two steps: Turning off the elevated light to prevent shoppers from faraway; and post a sign to prevent shoppers closeby. I was ten feet away so did not notice the elevated light off so entered lane and waited.

The senior lady forgot to do the 2nd step (posting sign), and coldly shut me out of the lane, blaming me for not seeing the light. She could have checked my grocery out since I had been online for ten mins and especially since she forgot to post a sign.

As talked to manager about this, she sided with the senior lady, saying that the store is understaff so it’s normal that employees forget things when multitasking. I find this just false reason bc this should fall into training, especially I saw the senior lady has worked there for years. Mistakes in task done for years should not happen, but if it happen, apology and fixing it for customers are expected instead of shutting out treatment with attitude.

Another incident when I called this store to verify if they have fresh salmon, the fish guy said yes. But when I went there 10 mins later, they don’t have it and the guy seemed to be on drug and kinda ignored me as I mentioned my conversation him on the phone earlier.

Idk if the employ-own companies like Winco make employees happy or not, or are problems mentioned above are just individual incidents. But I know I am treated a lot nicer at New Seasons. Employees at the latter are enthusiastic, helpful, and knowledgeable about their work. But of course, it is more pricy there.

So the question is, is the employee-own Winco any different from Walmart?

Bad experience a couple times:

One time, I had been waiting in line for about 10 mins when my turn came for checking out. Suddenly, the short senior lady (with tied long grey hair) put a lane-stop sign and blocked me.

So the question is, is the employee-own Winco any different from Walmart?