Voilà By Sobeys/Safeway Grocery Delivery & Curbside Pickup

My overall rating

Disclosure: I received a discount off my order in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are 100% mine. Sobey’s has introduced a new shopping experience for me “Voilà By Sobeys Curbside Pickup”. Pre-pandemic I would not have...   +

Disclosure: I received a discount off my order in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are 100% mine.

Sobey’s has introduced a new shopping experience for me “Voilà By Sobeys Curbside Pickup”. Pre-pandemic I would not have considered ordering my groceries online, but the pandemic has changed everything, including how I shop.

The first step is to create a free account on the Voilà by Sobey’s website. From there you begin your shopping experience. You will need to select your preferred location and Book a time for pick-up. There is a small service fee for the earlier times during the day and the times between 7:00-9:00 are free. The time slots are set for 1 hour times slots. I like that there is a window of time in case I am delayed at one of the children’s activities. There is a time limit to place your order so be sure either create a list, or complete your orders in time.

There are a few options to make your shopping experience easier. You can make a list and add to it throughout the week and place your order from it when you are ready. There is also an option to add an item to your favourites and quickly identify the items you purchase week to week. If you have an item added to your Favourites it will also show you when you last purchased the item.

The search feature isn’t as simple as I feel it should be. For instance, when I was looking for ground turkey the day I placed my order none appeared in the results, even though I knew they had some in stock as I went in to compare prices earlier that day. Today when I searched for the same item, using the same key words, it showed up in the results. There are also categories on the side to search as well as a the ability to filter items.

Product sale prices are reflected in the search results, although it appears that some deals are missing. Again, back to the ground turkey, in store if I purchase 2 the price is $5.00 but regardless of how many I purchase online the price remains at $6.00. Perhaps the price will change after the checkout process is completed.

Placing the order was easy, we simply followed the steps on the checkout. We were able to add our discount code during the process and apply it to our order. Your total isn’t finalized until the store ‘picks’ your order as produce items (and perhaps others) could possibly be different than estimated. We received an email notification when our items were picked.

We had to contact customer service and it was very prompt and helpful and quickly corrected our problem.

Pick-up was easy, although initially we went to the wrong spot. The groceries were neatly packed in brown bags.

Overall, I am satisfied with the process. It will be useful if there are restrictions set in place again because of the pandemic, but for my family we will most likely continue shopping in store as we like to choose our own produce and meat products. For someone who is shopping for someone else or struggles going into stores “Voilà By Sobeys” would be an excellent option.    -