Grocery Outlet Reviews

The main reason many of us shop at Grocery Outlet are for the bargains, especially for goods seriously marked down because they're so close to the "Best By" date. But also, there's the kitsch factor. Here's two examples, both appropriate for celebrating the 4th of July in the 21st Century. Above: Star-Spangled Hostess Cup Cakes; below: Chinese Skippy.

Keeping up with trends. Above: Diet Oreos. Below: "Truffle Spread" with Cocoa & Palm Oil.

Grocery Outlet in San Pablo.

Last summer, Robin and I started going to Grocery Outlet, first as a joke & only ones near where we live, but soon we started going to any new ones we happened upon. Sure, they have all kinds of absurd products that grocery chains couldn't sell, discounted to move, but there's usually some really good bargains, especially the wine. Every store is slightly different, though most of the stock is roughly the same from store to store. Following are capsule reviews and select memories. I'll probably continually update this post.


Vallejo Grocery Outlet, 66 Admiral Callaghan Ln.
The second one we went to, and certainly the one we've been to the most. Solid wine selection, sometimes there's good bargains on cheeses and meats (I think this is the one where Robin found bargain Copa a few months ago for a couple of bucks). This one also has some of the best selection of non-food items I've seen at a "Gross Out" (the common nickname by locals, which is more a sarcastic exaggeration than a reality.) Usually, they're playing classic R&B from the 60s and 70s at this one, frequently interrupted by their stupid Grocery Outlet radio commercials, featuring the bimbo-voiced character "Lois Prices" (geared to please the little kids shopping with their moms, I suppose), cheerfully touting the great bargains they have ("Score!"), followed by the Grocery Outlet jingle, then back to the music. No doubt this crap drives the employees crazy, because this place has even more turnover than the flagship Whole Foods Market in Austin, Texas. I've never seen the same employee here twice, even though I've probably shopped here at least a dozen times since June. 


Novato Grocery Outlet, 1535 S. Novato Blvd.
Generally you don't find Grocery Outlets in rich neighborhoods. Thus, there's not that many in Marin County. I'm not saying this one's fancy, by any means, but it definitely has the best wine selection I've seen. Not that many of them have spirits, but this one does, and some weird ones at that.


Petaluma Grocery Outlet, 80 E. Washington St.
This is one of the only Gross Outs I can recall located in the heart of a town's historic downtown area, and it's also one of the best ones. Great wine selection, rivaling that of Novato's, and also the one with the best meat bargains, though I think that might have been a case of being in the right place at the right time (locally sourced ground lamb, frozen, seriously cheap, but great quality). I usually don't pay much attention to the produce at Gross Out because the Vallejo Farmer's Market has a combination of high quality and low prices that just can't be beat (unless someone's giving me produce they grew themselves as a gift), but I seem to recall the Petaluma store having fresher produce. Also, this is probably the only one with a scenic view, of sorts, of the Petaluma riverfront right next to it. 


Berkeley Grocery Outlet, 2001 4th St.
Most people think of Berkeley as a place with beautiful homes designed by famous architects in the hills, with beautiful trees and landscapes, costing millions of dollars. Yes, Berkeley is a demi-paradise, but it also has a rougher side to it on the West Side which is a combination of Cal student housing, Industry and West Oakland. And here, just a mile or so north of Grocery Outlet's Headquarters, is the Berkeley Gross Out, which is pretty good and pretty ghetto at the same time. On the good side: cheapest place to shop that's not a Dollar Store in Berkeley, and definitely a good wine selection. On the down side: aggressive panhandlers in the parking lot who seem to assume, erroneously, that everyone shopping here is a member of the 1%. 


San Francisco (Outer Richmond) Grocery Outlet, 6333 Geary
Located not that far from Land's End/Legion of Honor, I'm sure there's a lot of people in SF who take the #38 bus just to shop here. Probably the smallest one I've been to, the one where we found canned fresh crab for $5. The couple of times we were there the clientele was exclusively young (younger than we are) whites & Asians (otherwise, as a rule, it tends to be United Colors of Benetton). Also, I remember this one had some gawdy food containers.


Pinole Grocery Outlet, 1460 Fitzgerald Dr.
Pretty big location, gigantic parking lot in an Enormo-Strip Mall. Huge selection of Guy Fieri-brand cookware.

Pinole Grocery Outlet.

San Pablo Grocery Outlet, 2079 23rd St.
Without a doubt, the edgiest Gross Out I've been to, though I think it had something to do with the neighborhood, being close to the poorer areas of Richmond. Neighborhood and clientele dominated by Central Americanss (Salvadoreans largely), SE Asians (quite a few Cambodians), and African-American. Only one I've been into where the music was traditional up tempo tunes sung in Spanish (kind of nice, actually), and the "Lois Prices" commercials were done in Espanol, of the style you hear on Spanish-language radio. That said, pretty decent selection. Got some of the same wine I always get (for $3.99), some corn tortillas, frozen shrimp ($7/lb--decent quality), and some frozen Indian eggplant Robin likes. 


Richmond Grocery Outlet, 12010 San Pablo Ave.
The first Gross Out I ever went to, in the nice part of Richmond East of 80. Similar in many ways to the one in Vallejo: Classic R&B music, decent wine selection, odd mix of produce and remaindered package goods. Robin and I went in there as a joke, but then we were kind of fascinated by the mix. Every single one has a lot of the same kind of stuff: good prices on nuts & nut butters (one time we bought two one pound jars of Tahini, $2 each, perfectly good quality), bargains on olive oil & coconut oil, inexpensive bagged tea. There's a whole bunch of stuff we never even look at except to laugh at, because we just don't ever buy it: cookies, crackers, chips, cereal, sandwich bread, refined carbs in general. This is why we love this place: there are genuine random bargains, but then there's the sublimely ridiculous. For example: yesterday I saw a bottle of wine (can't remember the name) but the marketing was clearly aimed at Thug Culture--> it was a pair of hands (of a white man, btw) in hand cuffs. On a wine label. I guess this is some sort of tough guy thing, huh? The wine itself is probably decent, made in Graton, which is part of the Russian River wine growing region. No wonder they couldn't sell that wine--I can't imagine what grocery store would. Unless in places like Richmond & San Pablo where most of the young white men dress in hoodies.


Oakland Grocery Outlet, 2900 Broadway
I just love this one, surprisingly large wine selection. Last time I was there they had a bunch of plants and trees for sale out front, kind of unusual for this local chain (though apparently each one is independently owned). Clientele here has a penchant for gawdy clothing and hair styles, and I noticed they had clothing for sale here that matched their tastes.


Santa Rosa Grocery Outlet, 1116 4th St.
I think this was the first one where I noticed that Gross Out sometimes sells shoes and clothing. Sometimes just a couple of racks of t-shirts and bathrobes, sometimes much more elaborate. This might be a good place to make the observation that while there's amazing prices on bottles of wine, I can't say the same thing about beer. Which probably says something about the differences in the industry. Pretty much all the beers at Gross Out will be varieties that an established brewer tried out (Newcastle's "Werewolf" comes to mind) that didn't sell that well, but then the discounts aren't as deep. $1 off a six pack, for example. I did find a British Stout I'd never heard of before (and can't remember, had some Heavy Metal Band-sounding name) that was good and only about $5 for a six pack, but that didn't last long, probably because customers are more liable to take a chance on cheap beer than cheap wine.

Placerville (Amador County) Grocery Outlet, 1426 Broadway
Robin and I were visiting a family friend of hers in Amador County, an old gold mine town, SE of Sacramento in the Sierra foothills. Her friend had never been to a Gross Out before, and we pointed out this place was good for wine bargains and more. Friendly folks here.


Sacramento Grocery Outlet, 1700 Capitol Ave.
Holy cow, there's 5 Gross Outs in Sacramento? I guess that makes sense. This one was close to the State Capitol, which we were heading to that morning on the way home. We were low on dog food, and we found a bargain on that which was unbelievable. $2.79 for a five pound bag of dog food made from salmon & vegetables, and Frances just loves it. Without a doubt the tiniest Gross Out we've ever been in.


Monterey (actually in Seaside) Grocery Outlet, 1523 Fremont
This one is located inside a former Safeway, built in the late 50s/early 60s, by the looks of it. A whole bunch of non-food items. Some friendly drunk, who reminded me of Barney on The Simpsons, was following me around, sort of, talking to himself in a loud voice while he shopped, probably hoping I'd invite him over to the party I was having (he saw the bottle of $4 cab in my basket).


Pleasant Hill Grocery Outlet, 1671 Contra Costa Blvd
Located close to Concord and Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill was pretty much a plain old suburban bedroom community with practically no history (most of these towns at least had a small downtown area where the trains once stopped), so a few years ago, some city planner decided to invent one. Basically bunch of Big Box Stores plopped down and built at the same time around some very sterile looking plazas, reminding me of what happened to much of the land around Austin's old Mueller Airport. Anyway, there's one neighborhood that's more working class, and we found our people shopping here. Pretty much the same old Gross Out, but they did have one bargain which Robin found: $5 Gel Insoles of the best quality you can find, usually priced around $10-15.


Concord Grocery Outlet, 1840 Willow Pass Rd.
Tough neighborhood for a Gross Out with a 99 Ranch across the street. 85% of the Clientele were retirement age anglos. This is the one that had Cappucino-flavored Lays Potato Chips. Seems like the music here was Muzak-y.