I am sooooo done with Target!

[Soggy Bottom Ranch]

Since we moved here, I'd been making the 35 minute weekly drive to Eau Claire to shop, because they have everything I need.........and like......in one area. Target has everything I normally buy in one store, without having to go to a couple different stores to get what I need for groceries. But yesterday, I was totally just grossed out for the last time, and I refuse to shop there anymore.

Before christmas I was shopping there, and happened to look in the deli area, on the refridgerated shelves. I was checking out some black bean salsa, and was contemplating buying some as a snack for Dave and I. I usually grab a couple different packages just to see which one I like better, and when I grabbed the second one in, it was full of fuzzy mold! I thought, ok, this stuff can happen, but it wasn't just a little, there was quite a bit of fuzz in there!

Yesterday I was doing my weekly shopping again, and I happened to be looking at pre-made pizza crusts. Dave and I like bbq chicken pizza as a quick weekend meal sometimes, and normally I make my own whole wheat crusts, but I haven't had time to make them in quite a while. I was looking at the ingredients list, and then examining the crust itself. All of a sudden I noticed a small spot of fuzz, so I grabbed another in the back stack thinking they might be fresher. Nope! The second one I grabbed was worse, HALF the crust was a bluish white fuzz!

I'm done with Target! And as much as I hate Wal-Mart produce, I've not ever found moldy things on their shelves.........that was just gross! I don't think I could feel comfortable shopping there again.

Anyone else have any grocery store stories they wanna share?

 

[coopermini]

We have a good friend of ours that is a meat cutter with about 35 years exp. He has told store managers at Walmart about rotting meat in the display cases several times with zero concern from store mangers. He does not work for Walmart. After he had told us about those episodes Next trip into store (I rarely go in Walmart) I looked at meat counter just to see. We raise beef cattle and used to have large hog operation so I do have some knowledge retail meats. Much of what was on display was outdated and nasty. I do not think the coyotes out back here would eat it. Some of the deli meats were just the same, blue or gray fuzz is not usually a good color on sliced meat.

 

[Yaddax3]

You should go back one more time and ...

If you find mold or fuzz, you should announce, in as loud a voice as possible, "I cannot believe there is mold/fuzz on this product. Every time I come in here, there is mold/fuzz."

Other customers will take note, as will the manager, who will come hustling over to keep people from leaving his store in disgust.

Or ...

You should contact Target's corporate headquarters. I am sure they would not be pleased with what you keep finding.

Thankfully, the Target stores in my area are clean and, so far, mold/fuzz free.

 

[Izzyantheminis]

GROSS GROSS GROSS!!!!!!! That's just plain nasty.

 

[Kathy2m]

I'm not allowed to shop at Target, per my FIL, because they are French owned and do not support the troups, guess thats another reason, just what I've heard...........Kathy

 

[Yaddax3]

I'm not allowed to shop at Target, per my FIL, because they are French owned and do not support the troups, guess thats another reason, just what I've heard.

Your FIL is WRONG. Target is a U.S. corporation based in Minneapolis.

 

[hhpminis]

I had many years experience in the retail grocery business.

This is not acceptable for any store and since you have found it in the deli each time it is probably a lower management problem. Someone is not rotating when stocking and the older product is not being brought to the front, therefore it goes out of date.

I would go make the store director aware of the problem either by phone or in person. Tell him you are reluctant to come back because of it and see what transpires. Give it a break and go back in a couple weeks and see if the problem has fixed itself. I also would be checking dates in all departments to make sure this was not a storewide problem. Good rotation is imperative in a grocery store especially with perishable items.

 

[Bess Kelly]

I work for an independent inventory firm -- we are hired by many, many chains. No produce or meats are counted by us, however, we count all else from top shelves to bottom ones...and the back rooms. Let me tell you that I have been in some stores where I would never shop!

And, I have found this to normally be an individual store problem -- not chain wide.

So, as hhpminis suggests, I would agree that this needs to be brought to the highest managerial attention.

Competition is tough and no chain wants this type of reputation. However the District Mgr can't be everywhere (or may be another problem). If we WANT good service, clean environments, etc., it is our repsonsibility to report when/where they are not providing same. All areas have Health inspections. The reports can be accessed (public record) and the authorities can be summoned.

I say report your findings to get improvements! And thank you for doing so.

 

[Cathy_H]

A customer could have changed their mind & set the food down somewhere then someone else could have put it back where it belonged unknown to management..... Some shoppers have no problem putting cold stuff down whereever if they change their minds..

... I have bought cheese with lots of mold on it at a large respected grocery chain. Also some very very smelly fresh

fish.

 

[tagalong]

I'm not allowed to shop at Target, per my FIL, because they are French owned and do not support the troups, guess thats another reason, just what I've heard.

As Yaddax3 said... that is wrong. They are All-American and always have been. I wonder where your FIL got that idea - maybe because some refer to it jokingly as Tar-JHAY as if the correct pronounciation is French and it is thus more haute couture??

I agree with those who say you should bring it to someone's attention - report it!!

 

[ILoveMyGelding]

Not that I'm sticking up for them but this thought just popped into my head. Maybe there is something wrong with that certain refridgeration system?

 

[Soggy Bottom Ranch]

Sorry, I should have been more clear. The first time I went, the problem was in a refridgerated section in the deli. The second mold problem in the pizza crust, was not in any refridgerated section, it was just a section on a regular shelf. The pizza crusts had one of those little paper packages of whatever is in there, to keep the crust fresh. A little 1"x1" paper packet. They were all stacked together, and the package that I grabbed from the back of the display was much worse than the front package. So I agree with hhpminis that the product must not be rotated while on the shelves.

I am going to report this on Monday, I am going to call the corporate offices in Minneapolis. I was talking to Dave about this too, and he said that if I talked to the local store managers they will try to clean it up before anyone sees it, and the problem may not get resolved in the manner it should be resolved.

 

[Sonya]

I do not like Target, Walmart, or K-mart. I love Meijer...in PA they don't have them, and I was hesitant when I first moved to MI to go there, but now I love it...I very very rarely go to Walmart or Target...Walmart about once a year and Target about once every two years...and K-mart is about gone here now so I never go there.

I would definately bring it to their attention though.

 

[Kathy2m]

I'm not allowed to shop at Target, per my FIL, because they are French owned and do not support the troups, guess thats another reason, just what I've heard.

As Yaddax3 said... that is wrong. They are All-American and always have been. I wonder where your FIL got that idea - maybe because some refer to it jokingly as Tar-JHAY as if the correct pronounciation is French and it is thus more haute couture??

No I dont think so, he is a Navy man, and does lots of research, I'll have to ask him where he got the info, I have a friend who said the samething about the troups....

 

[Charley]

You can check out these false rumors on snopes.com

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/target.asp