Pioneer Supermarket

So let’s start with the fact I was visiting the Brooklyn/​New York area from out of town. I’m not accustom to shopping at small businesses such as this, but being in NY for a month and a half I wanted to do as the locals would!
I feel I became good at finding food reasonable priced. I could get onboard paying more than I’m use to and focus my diet on being a smart shopper.
However it seemed despite my effort I would always be charged more than expected. It became too much of a hassle. That and half the merchandise not being labeled with a price. It didn’t take me long to switch to Target. The only positive about Pioneer was it being across the street from the apartment I was living in. Other than heavy items, it was Target all the way for my shopping needs.

I prefer going further a few blocks to get the food I want for the week

A perfectly fine grocery store with great prices. A little bit confusing trying to find what you need, but they have every brand you want, and a lot of different ethnic specialty foods that I normally don’t find when I’m in Manhattan. A good experience, good prices, and a good beer selection.

One of the worst markets I’ve been to in Brooklyn. The overall selection of produce and product is limited and an exceptional amount of items are overpriced but I’m comparing to markets down in south Brooklyn neighborhoods. They won’t allow you to use a debit or credit card without a $ 5 minimum purchase. The store has a grungy feel to it and is extremely cramped. I definitely think it’s worth walking a couple extra blocks to go to either Key Foods or Associated markets on Flatbush Ave instead.

Sadly I have to downgrade my review in light of having received food poison from their meat! I’m sure everyone would agree that is a pretty doggone good reason. I buy meat (or at least use to) at two places– 1) Costco or 2) this store.
For the most part I usually buy at Costco because I can get a bigger quantity, better price & have to shop less often. However when I just need turkey or chicken for an immediate meal, I stop here as I’m getting off the train. A while back I did just that– stopped in after walking out of the train station to get chicken to go on top of my salad for lunch the next day. I bought spinach & ground chicken. Everything looked fine, including the expiration dates.
When I got back to my apartment, I showered & cooked the chicken while cleaning the spinach. Once the chicken was done, I of course sampled a couple of forks full then went to bed. The next morning I got ready for work, but felt weird. I got to work & the weirdness grew. I sat down at my desk & started to sweat a little, feel dizzy then almost nauseous. I went to the bathroom but only happened and as the day went on it just passed. «Geez, what was that?» I thought to myself. Lunch came & I ate my very delicious spinach salad with ground chicken already mixed into the dressing.
After lunch that same weird feeling came back, this time far more severe. With in the next couple hours I was sweating like a pig going to slaughter & the nausea was rapidly growing. Given I’ve never had food poison before so I didn’t know what was wrong with me. Moments after we closed, I was in the bathroom bent over a toilet hurling out little pieces of spinach. I had already planned to go to a concert with a friend that night & since I felt better after that moment in the stall I ignorantly thought I could still make it.
I got there & ordered a Sprite. When my friend arrived, still early, we went next door for a lobster roll. She ordered, I didn’t. We down & as we were talking, they brought over her food & immediately I knew what was wrong with me as soon as I felt my stomach drop upon seeing her food. I couldn’t get to the bathroom fast enough when projectile vomit starting spewing out of my mouth! I walked back to horrified-​faced friend at the table, only to race to the bathroom 6 more times, with my lunch expelling itself from both ends of my body.
Too scared to get on the train, we went to the concert & I continuously went back & forth to the bathroom. Afterward, we walked until we were confident enough that I could get on the train. I spent the rest of the weekend laying on my couch & terrified of food. I stopped eating salad for at least two months & completely stopped shopping at this store.

I’m a longtime Brooklynite who formerly lived in Crown Heights for nearly 20 years (same zip code), but now I live in PLG (less than a year). I loathe this supermarket. It’s dirty, stupidly configured, and over crowded. I only go here for emergencies and never by perishables when I do go.
I have never had any issues with the cashiers… that’s not my issue. In fact, my prayer is that this joint soon becomes a Whole Food or Trader Joe’s and that the good workers there keep their jobs. The owners and managers of this store, however, must do better. I hope people are reporting this store to the proper agencies instead of simply complaining on Unilocal.But shaming an establishment on social media does indeed have its merit.

This place is fine if you’re looking to get normal food. Don’t think they have much organic but to most people that doesn’t matter. Employees were stocking shelves, one said hello to me as I passed by. Lot of the workers are kids it looks like, none of them too happy to be there, but they do their job so I don’t have anything to complain about really.

I really dislike coming here. A lot.
The cashiers are so ridiculously rude. They barely say hello or thank you or anything remotely polite. And If I bring my own bags 70% of the time they won’t pack up my groceries. And then they’ll push and squish my stuff to make room for the next customer. So now I make it a point to never pay until my groceries are all packed up. I don’t mind doing it myself but if you’re done ringing me up, you need to help me finish bagging my groceries!
I also don’t like the whole show your ID with every credit card purchases. That’s an illegal practice. And it just doesn’t make me feel great as a consumer to have to show my license when I’m buying bread and milk. Come on man. I’ve shopped in so many supermarkets and this is the only place I’ve been to that does this.
The fresh produce is non existent. I never buy fruits here. I tried a few times and had to throw it all out when I got home. It tasted disgusting. The bananas are okay though… As are the greens, plantains, yams and onions. After that, stick with prepackaged produce like bagged radishes or carrots. But be sure to inspect them thoroughly anyway, I guess a lot of this stuff sits for a long time.
My rule with this place is that if it’s in a sealed package I’ll buy it, but I try not to buy much else. I mostly lug those things from nicer supermarkets outside of the neighborhood. Can’t wait for a better supermarket to come along. I’d stop coming here in a heartbeat.

This supermarket is so likeable at first. But a closer look and it kind of sucks. Some cashiers are rude and have an attitude problem when they overcharge for items and I notice. Prices are pretty decent, but not the best. Produce selection and quality are also not great. They have a $ 5 minimum for debit cards which can be annoying if you’re just grabbing one item quickly.

Aw, poor new people in the neighborhood, sad a teenager is ringing you up? Guess what, they don’t care! You might have to get over it.
Not a bad place to shop at all. It’s right next to the train and they have a ton of stuff the other places might not. Let’s look at some pros, shall we?
— Open later than the other supermarkets in the area — 9:45pm M-​F
— they have fresh mozzarella cheese. I’m sorry, that’s a big deal to me
— they also have full fat Fage yogurt. Other stores are carrying it, but here it’s always in stock
— because of the change going on in the neighborhood they even have «fancier» yogurt
I could go on and on, and yes, my list might be whack, but hey, they’re open later, they have fresh produce and almost anything else you need. Who could ask for anything more?

nice people. good prices. reliable meat and basic vegetables. if you wish they would stock a particular item — they will oblige within days. not gourmet. doesn’t sell itself as gourmet.

Was debating on 2 or stars. I gave it 3 because they have done some improvements as far as displaying the food and the variety of foods. I do come in here to primarily get staples like water, tea, sugar etc. On occasion I will get produce like lettuce and some fruits. I tend to save that type of shopping for bigger markets. I have refrained from getting any pre packaged meats here because I had one bad experience when I first moved into the area many years ago. I do appreciate that they have a deli. you can also get sandwiches made here much cheaper than going to Subway around the corner and w/​more meat :) Don’t expected to get any seafood here except frozon prepackaged stuff. Luckily for this neighbourhood there is a fish market and a meat market right next to each other on Flatbush and Clarkson Ave. They people here are pretty nice.

An experience I’ve had this evening at this establishment just put me over the edge and made me come out of hiding to actually contribute to Unilocal and in turn help other consumers avoid businesses with bad business practices.
This is a horrible grocery store. Yeah, it’s relatively cheap, but you will be getting an inferior product. I bought a gallon of milk from this place and it went bad well before its sell-​by date. Like any normal customer, I spoke to the manager about it and he told me that they can’t give me a refund or exchange because I didn’t come within 24 hours after purchasing the milk. I showed him the gallon of milk and he would not even consider it. So basically, he wanted to save himself $ 3.79 for a gallon of milk over years of me being a loyal customer and contributing hundreds/​thousands of dollars of my money towards his business. This is plain idiocy.
This incident was the culmination of a multitude of other grievances, namely:
1.) I’ve had to correct them multiple times over the receipt because the cashiers will mistakenly charge me on items purchased.
2.) The bottle/​can deposit machines constantly malfunctioning.
3.) The produce being horribly inadequate. Basically, don’t expect anything here to be fresh.
4.) The store being extremely dirty.
Yeah, it’s my own fault. I should’ve stopped shopping here a long time ago. I began shopping here because of the proximity to my apartment. However, the convenience of proximity definitely does not trump the poor customer service and poor product. If you want to save yourself the trouble, avoid this place at all costs. There are a number of other places in the neighborhood where you can get your groceries. But certainly, don’t just take my word for it. Please go there yourself — you will see exactly what I’m talking about.

I’m confused as to why this place has such a low rating, but with only a few reviews its easy to get dragged down I guess. I’m new to the neighborhood and am still licking my wounds over losing my former amazing grocery store and 24 produce market in Sunset Park, so I’ve been really hunting for good groceries. For all it doesn’t have, this area of Lefferts Gardens has more than its fair share of grocery stores and produce markets. I’ve been to more than was really necessary in the last two weeks and so far Pioneer is my favorite. Its right outside the Parkside train station, which makes it easy to swing in on my way home. Compared with the Key Foods, Associated, and produce markets I’ve been to in the surrounding blocks, Pioneer has the best stock and seems the cleanest and most well organized. They also have a Boar’s Head deli counter, I don’t believe most of the grocery chains nearby have deli counters at all. I didn’t have any encounters with the staff, which some people seem up in arms about, but the deli counter guy and checkout girl seemed nice enough.
This will definitely be my go-​to local store. The produce markets nearby seemed more appealing at first, but their stock is no more local/​fresh/​well kept than the grocery stores and its more expensive/​less expansive. Because of the ethnic makeup of the area all the chain stores have a wide variety of Caribbean and Hispanic produce and products, including Pioneer, so you don’t have to count on the produce market to get something unique. I still need to investigate Flatbush Food Co-​op, which is out of my way but I’m guessing going to have the best option for organic and fresh produce. I’d also suggest you head to the Greenmarket at Grand Army Plaza, then you can get your fill of super fresh and local produce and round it out with affordable chain store groceries.

Decent neighborhood grocery store, they have most things that you’ll need although the pricing seems to be on the high side.
The Western beef a few blocks north has a much better selection, and the pricing seems much more reasonable.
Nonetheless, I’m usually stopping by here at least once a week to grab stuff in a hurry, and it usually fills that need.

Unfortunately, this place is the closet «grocery store» there is in my immediate proximity. Shain E., I couldn’t agree with you more – TERRIBLE customer service! What’s worse – I heard a manager drop an F-​bomb at one of his employees today – in front of customers!
Today, however, I reached my tipping point. I was about to purchase some packaged tuna when I saw that one of the packages was leaking WORMS! At first, I thought that one of the packages had been punctured and the tuna was seeping out. But then when I looked closer, the things started to wiggle around. The employee that I told seemed annoyed that I needed help – until he saw exactly why I needed his assistance.
This place needs A LOT of work. If you can avoid it, I recommend you do.

As soon as you exit the Q train on Parkside Avenue, the supermarket awaits you next door. I think they have a few great options. Pretty standard. Some of the prices may be a bit high due to its location near the park. The sales are good, I usually dont stop in unless I’m walking to the park and need something quick. I give it 3 stars for the variety, and somewhat clean ambiance of the place. Don’t like the outside ghetto appearance though. There’s a bottle redemption station outside and there’s always homeless, or drunk old men out there, major turn off.