Thoughts on Ashley Market?

Flashaccountant said:
Many of the employees are the same as when it was Eden. However, I do find the produce is not the same quality and the prices overall have increased. I still find it incredibly convenient and do a lot of shopping there.
Never had a problem with parking and never have hit a pole.

I was looking for earlier comments on Ashley's Market, relevant to what I'd like to say and found this one from a while back.

I find their produce far inferior to that of Eden. On two occasions this year, I brought fruit that was rotten -- not ripe. I took it back. The first time they gave me a hard time. The second they refused to take it back.

They claim they have a 24hr return policy. I don't eat everything I buy there within 24hrs, so their policy is just an excuse to refuse returns. I am not buying produce there anymore.

I live in W. Orange, but will go to Ashley specifically to buy meat from the butcher. You can't find a better price on a whole beef tenderloin that they will trim and tie perfectly (and then make the trimmings into the best burger meat, without adding too much of the trimmed fat.) Tried to get the same done at WO Shop Rite and I ended up having to untie and further trim the entire thing and the guy flat out refused to grind the nicer trimmings into burger meat for me. On top of that, the taste of the beef was terrible relative to the quality at Ashley. Lesson learned!

I won't buy their dairy bc I don't do ultra-pasteurized, but I've honestly never had a problem with anything else I've purchased there. I carefully look over my produce whether I'm buying at Ashley, Shop Rite or Whole Foods and manage to avoid buying anything that isn't fresh.

I'm sad that they no longer carry the world's best sherbet anymore (no one local does, and for some reason no one can order it!) We love Alden's Ice Cream and their Tropical Punch sherbet is one of my daughter's greatest pleasures on earth. It's been well over a year since I've been able to find it, even from retailers who still carry the Alden's brand! (If anyone ever spots it, I'd love a heads-up!)

https://www.azurestandard.com/shop/product/15064/

PS. I have no trouble parking in the garage.

mbb said:

Flashaccountant said:
Many of the employees are the same as when it was Eden. However, I do find the produce is not the same quality and the prices overall have increased. I still find it incredibly convenient and do a lot of shopping there.
Never had a problem with parking and never have hit a pole.

I was looking for earlier comments on Ashley's Market, relevant to what I'd like to say and found this one from a while back.
I find their produce far inferior to that of Eden. On two occasions this year, I brought fruit that was rotten -- not ripe. I took it back. The first time they gave me a hard time. The second they refused to take it back.
They claim they have a 24hr return policy. I don't eat everything I buy there within 24hrs, so their policy is just an excuse to refuse returns. I am not buying produce there anymore.

Can't you tell if produce is rotten at the store before you buy it? Maybe I'm missing something but I can't think of any fruit or veg that would look and feel fine at the store but then be rotten when you get home.

24 hour return policy on produce is reasonable IMO. How long do you think it should be?

I'm a little confused. I do not considered unripe fruit as rotten. I do hate fruit that isn't ripe...some of it never really develops any flavor. But I have this is true of every store I have ever shopped in. Including Eden. I don't know why, but I have always assumed it was my responsibility to pick better fruit. I just bought cherries there yesterday at $2.99. they are great.

I don't think they meant unripe when they said "not ripe." I think they meant rotten, past ripe.

I am not talking about not ripe. I am talking about fruit that has been left to ripen too long. Example, a whole watermelon purchased on July 2 an kept in the frig. When cut open on July 4th it was so ripe that it was not edible. also, figs that look ripe and sweet when purchased, but had no taste because probably they had been packaged when green and not ripe, and left on the shelf to mature. They had the appearance of ripe figs, but were totally tasteless.

With fruit sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. You can not blame a store just because a piece of fruit turns out not to be sweet.

It could be that they deliberately leave it out too long. But, it is hard to determine how fast or slow fruit will ripen. As the proponents of 'buy local' claim, anything that moves on refrigerated trucks, and is often picked too early, is apt to lack flavor. The trouble is, we are used to getting produce that could not possibly be ready this time of year locally. Like tomatoes and corn. And, I would suspect watermelon (I have never grown watermelon, so I don't know that for sure). It's a trade off for having these foods available. BTW, the watermelon we got there for the 4th was very ripe, but okay. Not peak flavor, but not rotten, and not flavorless.

Sorry localvores, but I consistantly get sweeter fuit at Shoprite and Costco than any farmers market.

gerryl said:
It could be that they deliberately leave it out too long. But, it is hard to determine how fast or slow fruit will ripen. As the proponents of 'buy local' claim, anything that moves on refrigerated trucks, and is often picked too early, is apt to lack flavor. The trouble is, we are used to getting produce that could not possibly be ready this time of year locally. Like tomatoes and corn. And, I would suspect watermelon (I have never grown watermelon, so I don't know that for sure). It's a trade off for having these foods available. BTW, the watermelon we got there for the 4th was very ripe, but okay. Not peak flavor, but not rotten, and not flavorless.

We used to have this problem with pineapples when we lived in Brooklyn. Our whole family loves them, but there were only certain times of the year you could get tasty, ripe ones, even though the supermarket sold them year round.

MGonz said:
Sorry localvores, but I consistantly get sweeter fuit at Shoprite and Costco than any farmers market.

From my years visiting farmer's markets, there are good farms, and there are bad farms, and having a stand at the farmer's market doesn't automatically make a farm good.

About a week ago, we bought blueberries at Pathmark, and some at the Summit farmer's market. The Pathmark ones--from a Jersey farm--were much better, and cheaper.

MGonz said:
Sorry localvores, but I consistantly get sweeter fuit at Shoprite and Costco than any farmers market.

I shop at ShopRite and other supermarkets too. I don't want to buy bad or inferior, but when produce is in season and at its best, I will still support the farmers markets because I don't want them to fail and there are some things you can buy at the farmers market that are hardly ever going to be as good as a supermarket produce department.

We do bulk of our shopping at Trader Joe's....A couple times we've ended up with suspect produce (ie. mealy watermelon) and brought it back, they have never questioned when we bought it or anything....Seems to me that is right way to do business if you are trying to keep customers coming back...Ashley's policy sounds short-sighted

I did prefer Eden Gourmet's produce and the pricing was certainly better. Haven't had any real issues with Ashley though.

agbarganza said:
We do bulk of our shopping at Trader Joe's....A couple times we've ended up with suspect produce (ie. mealy watermelon) and brought it back, they have never questioned when we bought it or anything....Seems to me that is right way to do business if you are trying to keep customers coming back...Ashley's policy sounds short-sighted

I have had similar response at Trader Joe's. I have returned a watermelon and they took it back most graciously. But the Ashley people were so hostile... as if I was out to cheat them. I miss the original Eden Marketplace. Like Trader Joe's, EM knew how to treat customers in a middle class community.

Ashley's is fine! We shop there & at the Shop Rite over in Millburn.

The check out gals have always been friendly with us, and employees there

helpful as well!

I wonder though why Eden sold the place? They had high aspirations when they moved in. But obviously a lot of the high end stuff was not moving enough. I suspect that is where a better profit is made. It is a very hard business. Although rudeness isn't a very good strategy.

I like Ashley's a lot.

I do too -- for people who don't, I say go somewhere else rather than kvetch!

Mr. K goes there far more than I do. He likes their meat cuts and seafood. I usually go for fruit but Trader's Joe's fruit prices are better. I also like the hot / cold take out selection.

What kills me is no one else but Ashley's sells their watermelon by the pound. Surrounding markets all have a flat price. Ashley's watermelon prices are by the pound. Right before the summer hit, I had a craving. Got it to the counter and the lovely check out girl was like, "Um...this will run you over $12 dollars. Do you want it that bad?" LOL! No. No I do not.

Since summer began, they sell watermelon by the melon. Except when you are purchasing a cut wedge. I think most stores sell it cut up by the pound. You must have bought it right before they got a cheaper shipment. Their whole watermelons were a $1 more than TJ's. Their cherries went from 7.99 per pound, earlier in the season. A few days ago they were $2.99 a pound, and much better than the ones I had bought at TJs a few days before that. They aren't the cheapest. And their fruit and produce is not the best consistently. I find TJ's produce very hit and miss. Some of the stuff there are remarkable in their prices. But some things aren't that great.

I hate Shop Rite like you wouldn't believe, so I go to Eden (still not calling it Ashley) pretty frequently. I'm consistently disappointed that there doesn't seem to be any effort to stock LOCAL produce, and I've had a recurring issue with the light cream they carry (I'm addicted to light cream instead of half and half in my coffee) going bad well before its expiration date, and in one case, being already spoiled before I even opened it (the morning after I bought it, too.) Dealt with that enough with the thieves at Green Market, you know? Now I insist on opening it to sniff at the register if the date isn't at least three weeks out. Other than that, I'm generally happy with it; it lets me go to shop rite just to stock up on the things that are stupid expensive at Eden.

kenboy said:
I hate Shop Rite like you wouldn't believe, so I go to Eden (still not calling it Ashley) pretty frequently. I'm consistently disappointed that there doesn't seem to be any effort to stock LOCAL produce, and I've had a recurring issue with the light cream they carry (I'm addicted to light cream instead of half and half in my coffee) going bad well before its expiration date, and in one case, being already spoiled before I even opened it (the morning after I bought it, too.) Dealt with that enough with the thieves at Green Market, you know? Now I insist on opening it to sniff at the register if the date isn't at least three weeks out. Other than that, I'm generally happy with it; it lets me go to shop rite just to stock up on the things that are stupid expensive at Eden.

LOL! Eden can be "stupid expensive." Ordinarily, I wouldn't mind shelling out the extra $$$ if items were the best of the best, but they're not - at least not always.

The best meats I get from Costco. The best 1/2 and 1/2 IMO is the TJ brand (Land o' Lakes tends to go bad very fast). What I do appreciate that Eden has a fab selection of is cheese. Their cheese selection is incredible.

I go to Ashley only on Tuesdays (senior discount!) I take a circular when I walk in the door and spend a few minutes scanning it for sales. And I am very selective about what I buy there. I buy sale priced fruits and veggies because they are on sale when they are in season and ripest. I love the Balthazar multigrain bread and will get it from the day-old section if available and then take it to the counter for slicing. I buy their Mountainaire chicken when on sale. Sometimes salmon or scallops or shrimp, again, on sale unless I need them for a special occasion. Cheeses or deli meats on sale. Same with frozen items. I occasionally buy from their roasted meats when I have a craving for a taste of something my family is not interested in or I just don't feel like doing the prep myself.

So, basically, unless an item is seriously on sale, I'm probably not buying it there. I may only have a half dozen items in my basket at checkout but what I have is delicious and well-priced.

Sure enough I opened a brand new container of Tuscan light cream this morning, dated August 3 and purchased two days ago, and it smelled not exactly off, but not quite right, either. Decided I was desperate enough for a second cup that I'd give it a shot, and predictably enough, it curdled. Thanks, Eden!

I really have no confidence in how they're handling their dairy stuff. Guess I'm hitting Dunkin later. And then Shop Rite for some unspoiled light cream. (At the West Orange Whole Foods, the light cream comes in a tiny container and it's usually dated less than a week out, and smells odd within a day or two of opening. Don't get why this is so damned hard.)

i like eden/ashley, the milburn shoprite, tj's and costco. tend to avoid the bigger stores.

Just got back from Ashley Market. They had free cookie samples at the bakery counter, their Idaho potatoes were cheaper than Shoprite and my only problem was opening the plastic bag for my brocalli which the checkout girl helped me with

Great shopping experience

Costco is a small store?????

Sundays said:
i like eden/ashley, the milburn shoprite, tj's and costco. tend to avoid the bigger stores.

@LL_ I have the worst time opening the plastic produce bags at Eden! I feel like an idiot standing there struggling with them.

marylago said:
Costco is a small store?????

Sundays said:
i like eden/ashley, the milburn shoprite, tj's and costco. tend to avoid the bigger stores.

busted