Key Food

As a former employee working for Keyfood was not enjoyable. So sad A&P closed I worked in 2012 as the front end manager and again in July 2015. The bookkeeper Vicky hired me in a heartbeat because she knew my work ethics and customer service skills. As soon A&P closed and Keyfood came in everything went down hill. I am thankful I was able to keep my job, but hated working there. At the beginning I had to ask if I no longer was front-end and they said there is no front end manager. However, there were days I would walk in and told I was the front end ??? Then was offered to be promoted as night bookepper, never happened. I loved the relationships I built with customers, some already knew my name and during check out had 1 or 2 minute convos. Due to circumstances of life I had to get this job, my former jobs have been in upscale companies. With this being said I am used to being treated in a respectful courteous way and providing the same to customers. Management team has lack of communication, disorganized with schedules. some of the managers speak to you like if you were a child. I am a 25 year old mother and wife I won't tolerate that kind of treatment. I am the type of person that I love to learn from my mistakes. If you point them out I won't get upset but one thing is addressing and the other lecturing. Prices are high Keyfood is an affordable supermarket not Deccico's. Lacks customer service skills and are very rude. There are many more things I can mention but not even worth it. I am a Harrison resident and I rather shop at stop & shop in larchmont or Deccico's even if it means paying a little bit more in order to have a pleasant experience as a customer. Changing the name to Harrison Market will not attract more customers if the attitude and customer service is the same.

As a currently newborn super market in Port Chester, it's undergoing some work, but overall it has a lovely ambient and the staff is very helpful. There is also a great variety of foods, groceries and household needs found within. So far it exceeds the standards of the previous super market in this location. All except hours of business. The previous supermarket opened at 6am and closed at 1am. Other than this tiny observation, a great supermarket!

It is cleaner than the American and Pacific was however I find the management to be rude and unwilling to help resolve things.

THE NEW OWNERS FIRED ALL THE FULL TIME A&P EMPLOYEES WITHOUT NOTICE. Fail.

I believe in shopping locally. If my small purchases and services can make a difference to local employment and businesses in town then I would prefer to spend money in Harrison over anywhere else.

So I obligingly cart my shoes to the local shoe repair store, even though parking is a pain, get my lunch salad from the Halstead Avenue sandwich store—even though parking there is even more of a pain—and have loyally tried to do my supermarket shopping at the local A&P.

The latter has finally worn me down and I have to confess to having "abandoned ship". I am now doing my grocery shopping in Mamaroneck instead.

This comes after trying, unsuccessfully, for years to ask the manager to make a few basic changes to make shopping there tenable.

Both inventory and access have been ongoing issues.

How, for example, are they always running out of basic items? I can't tell you the number of times I have been told they are out of something as mundane as bananas, and to "come back the next day".

Is it poor inventory control, unreliable deliveries or something else? Nevertheless, Harrison A&P is the only supermarket I have consistently had this problem with. But the end result is that you have to visit another supermarket to pick up the items you can't get in Harrison, so you would have been better off doing one trip to the alternate supermarket in the first place.

Then there's the fact that our A&P seems to do its re-stocking of shelves during the day, leaving boxes and carts empty for an hour or more in many of the narrow aisles. You literally have to back out of the aisles as you can't get around these obstacles, causing traffic jams as you unsuccessfully try to manoever those uncooperative grocery carts in tight quarters.

Over the years I have asked to speak with the manager and explained nicely that I want to shop locally but these problems make it difficult. While he listened politely, he was obviously unresponsive, as each time I go there the same problems remain.

But it's not all bad.

I have to applaud our local A&P's employment of young men with special needs to help pack your groceries and take them to the car for you. They are unfailingly upbeat and polite, and a delight to deal with. Employment programs like that go a long way to make me want to be a customer.

However the bottom line is, grocery shopping is a chore not a hobby, and I don't want to spend any more time than necessary making my way through the obstacle course they set up in the store, or doing a second round of grocery shopping for whatever it is they have run out of that week.

I will keep juggling parking spaces to patronize our local deli and the shoe repair shop. But I'm afraid Harrison's A&P has finally lost me as a customer for good.

About this column:Some thoughts from the perspective of a Harrison resident