Martin’s IGA Plus

Finally ! I found a nice grocery store in Effingham !
I’ll admit, from the immediate surroundings of this area I was not expecting much from this location, HOWEVER, I was pleasantly surprised as soon as I walked in and greeted by the ever so pleasant smell of fresh baked goods emanating from the bakery. Their bakery, deli counter and overall selection far exceeds other local grocery stores such as Aldi and Walmart.
The store is very clean, the aisles are wide and the shelves are well stocked. There is a nice little floral shop near the back, the dairy area has a nice selection of cheeses, the produce area was well stocked with fresh veggies & fruits, the deli has a nice selection of Boards Head meats which is a huge bonus in my book ! Also over by the deli is a little, cafeteria style café, called the «Iron Horse.» (see separate review).
The staff I interacted with at the Bakery, Florist, Deli and Cashier were all very friendly.
In closing, I’m in heaven! I’m really glad I found this place via Unilocal ! Another successful Unilocal story.

This IGA has a great variety of selection. It is a family owned business that has been a part of Effingham my whole life and more. I worked here during my years in college. I was the lucky guy who got to clean up the mess in the meat department after the day of butchering; it wasn’t a fun job.
The meat department has a great selection of fresh, quality meats. They will cut any piece of meat, sharpen your knives and special order anything you want. The butchers are very knowledgeable and helpful.
The produce department has a wide variety of fruits and vegetables that are all fresh and beautifully displayed.
Possibly the best bonus is the Iron Horse Café connected to the store. When I lived in Effingham and tended bar I would always stop in here after work to get a late night breakfast. At that time they were open 24 hours a day, but now I believe they close at 10pm. In any case, the food was made fresh to order and delivered quickly to the table. They do offer a hot case of foods that already prepared. Such items as fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, etc. Very «down home» dishes, but all made very well.
I’m so glad that this place has been able to survive since Wal-​Mart added their grocery department to the local store. However, the four-​star rating is due to pricing. I know it’s difficult to provide low prices compared to Wal-​Mart and I’m ok with paying a little more to get better quality produce and meats, but some people don’t understand value. Also, I’m really disappointed the restaurant is no longer 24 hours. Of course, maybe they had to start closing early since I left town; who knows?

This was a pretty nice grocery store. They had a good selection of fresh deli items, and they had a lot of Amish noodles and cheese and other things, that was really neat. They even had a natural foods section.
Found everything we were looking for, it was clean, organized, and the staff were friendly.