Shaw’s Supermarket

SHAW’S PORTER SQUARE
49 WHITE ST.
Cambridge, MA 2 140
The address is wrong on Unilocal!Shaw’s is in Cambridge not Somerville.
Lisa at the Customer Service Desk is the best. I give her 5 stars! Always polite and a very good sense of humor. Give that woman praise and a raise!
As far as the items in the store, it is limiting and the prices are too high. Sometimes I go to Beacon Street Star Market located in SOMERVILLE as i can paHk my caH there and it’s not too crowded.

Does management at this place really struggle to wonder why NOBODY COMES HERE?!? It’s mind boggling. Highest prices around. 2 – 3 lanes open if you’re lucky. Save your money and go to Market Basket.

I used to come here all the time, and they’ve upgraded the store recently, which is kind of a shame, since I spent a lot of time shopping at the pre-​upgrade, inferior version.
It used to be generic and meh, with the downside of the worst, busiest, most annoying parking lot ever, that would’ve made me give it a 1-​star review just from the headache of driving here and attempting to park to do grocery shopping pretty much ever.
However, the combination of me never driving here again (I pop in after work to get something sometimes, but never specifically drive out to this store) and the store upgrades make it pretty neat. I really like the array of selections available, including stuff like (mediocre) sushi. Their bagels also taste way better than other grocery store bagels. And I don’t think it’s that expensive either.
On the flip side, there always seems to be a bottleneck at checkout and self-​checkout is too appealing of an option.
If you drive here and get so frustrated with the parking sitch that you decide to go somewhere else, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The produce often has mold in it and it’s always crowded. The one redeeming factor is it’s fairly convenient due to proximity to porter square.

Since a lot of the negative reviews here are a few years old, I have to conclude that they’ve stepped it up since then. I really love this grocery store. They carry everything any chain supermarket would and the staff, while nothing particularly special, have always been helpful and easy-​to-​locate. The lines are managed as well as can be expected for the high volume of customers. I would give five stars but the produce section is atrocious.

The inefficiency is completely awe inspiring.
Twenty five minutes to check out?
Spend your time fixing the operations versus just reorganizing the store every three months.

I just relocated to this area from the Midwest and I swear the most difficult thing to do was find a good grocery store. I was so happy when I found this one. I was able to navigate the store easily and loved the huge produce and deli sections. The best part was when an employee asked me if he could help me locate and anything and I said no but it was my first time there and I was just getting a lay for the land. And I was surprised when he replied «well, welcome home!». It was so nice. I will definitely be back.

I only went here when I was in a pinch and Market Basket was closed. I could walk to this place at anytime because of its great hours, but its produce was less fresh and ALL of the food was much more expensive than Market Basket. The two stars is for convenience.

I will avoid grocery shopping at Shaw’s whenever I can and will choose Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s whenever possible.
An abhorrently disgusting meat section with a dead-​animal/​chemical cleanser infused stench.
Expensive overall.
Good for convenience and abundance of boxed goods like brand-​name cereals, mac n cheese, and other basics.

I was just in there yesterday to buy a couple things. Among markets, Shaws is on the more expensive side, but I was short on time. Also picked up a couple other items along the way that had «sale» signs on them large enough to catch my attention.
Good thing I checked my receipt! It took about ten minutes of my time, and my running from the manager’s counter to the produce section and back to get my $ 5 back. The lady who helped me apologized. Apparently their database was wrong (possibly something from the IT guy being there the day before). She assured me it would be corrected. That’s a good thing!
One might think that Shaw’s would do more than merely returning the money that was justly mine, since I was, after all, doing THEIR job for them. Stop n Shop used to give mischarged items for free – that seems fair.
As it is, there’s no incentive for me to go back to this Shaws simply to be overcharged or else waste my time trying to avoid that.

The employees here are not generally helpful. I was very lucky recently, that after being sent to three different parts of the store by three different employees, who insisted they knew the location of what I was trying to buy, that I finally got a fourth employee to admit that they were changing the layout of some items and did not know where they were. He then helped me to find what I was looking for, but two other times, I have had to leave without basic ingredients (refrigerated pie crusts, diced hot peppers, BBQ sauce.
I tend to shop here at night, because during the day it is a madhouse… but at night, they often close the main entrance, which is where the large carts are… so when you enter the store, you cannot get a cart big enough to hold your food. Then, if you ask an employee for help, they shrug and walk away.

I had lots of typical, menial jobs in high school: bus boy, dishwasher, line cook, landscaper. But I never worked at a grocery store. Shaws lets me fill that glaring gap in my employment history when I shop there because I get to BAG MY OWN GROCERIES! The check-​out aisles are usually staffed, but there’s always no more than three baggers on duty at Shaws. More often than not I’m left to hurriedly stuff all my groceries into a couple of bags and get out of there before the next shopper’s stuff comes flying down the conveyor belt. Thanks, Shaws.
Sooner or later the they’ll expect us to ring ourselves up. Err. wait…
This store gets credit for being open 24/​7, but that’s its only redeeming quality. It’s expensive and crowded, and I don’t think the produce is anything special.

I mean, it’s a Shaw’s, you can’t expect much.
But as far as the chain goes, it’s a really decent store. The produce is good, and the checkout aisles are always manned.
Can never find the damned quinoa though!

A convenient location, but the worst price gouging i’ve seen anywhere.
I always feel a bit of sympathy for the people that I see wasting their money here including myself.
If you have a car and some time, go to
1) market basket about a mile away,
2) whole foods or trader joes about 1.5 miles away
3) stop and shop about 4 miles away
4) russos of watertown about 10 miles away
5) lexington farm about 7 miles away
The selection, décor and quality here seem fine enough but nearly everything you buy is here that is not on sale is priced as if it was on a list of protected species. But damn this place is just so convenient and that’s how it gets you.

I’ve only been here thrice, and found it to be reasonably priced, clean, and well stocked. While on my first visit, it was unusually crowded at 10:00 on a Wednesday night, I have since found it to be quite manageable.
I am not wowed by this store, nor do I think ill of it. To me, it really serves as any other grocery store does: simply as a means for me to procure sustenance. It is, as Unilocal three star ratings are declared, «A-​OK»

The positives:
— the fish is usually pretty good quality, and competitively priced. their salmon is cheaper than Whole Foods and fresher than Stop & Shop
— if you have a shaw’s card and an item you want is on sale, you can really clean up
— the u-​scan checkouts are great, except when some idiot tries to ring up an entire cart load of grocies in the «10 items or less» lane and none of the employees try to stop them
The negatives:
— it gets crowded
— most items are more expensive than at Market Basket or Stop & Shop
— PITIFUL produce section. there’s more bagged salad mix than actual salad ingredients
— the regular seafood counter guy is kind of surly
–the layout of the store can be confusing. a lot of things aren’t where you’d expect them to be. example — the Boboli pizza crusts are at an end-​cap down by frozen foods… not in baked goods, baking needs or anywhere near the cheese

If I can help it, I don’t shop here. The lines are always horrendous, and god forbid you try to do your grocery shopping on the weekend. You’ll be standing in line until Monday morning.
The aisles are small and some have columns in awkward places, making it even harder to navigate. Thankfully they recently got smaller shopping carts. That’s one reason this Shaws is getting two stars instead of one. The other is the fact that its open 24 hours. (A surprisingly rare thing in Boston.)
While I’m grateful they have a free parking lot, its very cramped and nearly always time consuming to find a space. In the end I would much rather drive to Stop & Shop 5 times than come to Shaws.

If you live or work close by, Shaws does meet a need. I think of it as a convenience store with a great selection. The prices are actually better than at most convenience stores, even if the lines at peak hourse undercult the convenience. I’d give it three stars as a convenience store.
As a supermarket, Shaws is pretty awful. The biggest thing is the price — you will normally pay a 15% premium over Stop and Shop and a 25% premium over Market Basket for identical items. Getttting things on sale can cut into the premium and every once in a while you will find a killer deal, but often sale prices don’t even come down to the regular prices at Market Basket.

I like Shaws, they have a large selection of grocery items especially the ethnic section which is usually sparse in major grocery stores. I always find what I need here.
BUT…
They are RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE. The same items I buy at other grocery stores in the area are 30% more expensive here. A couple extra dollars on every item adds up fast.
So yes, it is conveniently located right down the road from my apartment, and yes, the selection is great, but I simply can not afford to spend more than I have to. Unless I’m looking for a specialty item, I will driving a bit farther and shopping at Stop & Shop.
Sorry Shaws.

I live and love on Mass ave near Arlington. I frequent Shaw’s, Whole foods, Market basket, and Trader Joe’s. I feel very different towards all of them like I would with four different women.
Shaw’s is the easiest girl. She is always there, reliable and available to service you at any time of the night.
Intellectually she requires a little more depth (Organic Produce is limited) but I’m not necessarily sure how important depth is to my relationships with women at this time in my life (Organic food is comparably expensive to standard any where you go, if you know any deals let me know).
She is big in good places (great selection) but requires a little bit more fat trimming (they can be expensive) to be considered my physical dream girl.
Overall she is the girl I see the most since I have many fond memories of her being available at times when none of the other girls would pick up my phone calls (They are open ²⁴⁄₇). I will stick with her but I haven’t put a ring on her finger (low brand loyalty).