Limited general stock choice, if you are able, go elsewhere as this coles is on the small side. If you want choice this is not for you. If you want a great Kosher or vegan selection you're in luck. Good fresh food choices. This coles needs to urgently expand into carpark and move carpark underground or multilevel as it's not keeping up with the extensive residential apartment growth in the area and therefore the increased shoppers. Don't go at peak shopping times if you have an issue with crowds as it's a nightmare to navigate people and staff stacking shelves at the same time. Update at 01/05/2022 As predicted this store can't keep up with influx of new residence. I didn't realise how bad it had got till I went to a couple other coles and woolies in adjacent suburbs. I've also started buying things online in bulk because there is always little to no stock of essentials like toilet paper or things like catfood and kitty litter. Lots of empty shelves in freezer and ready made meal sections. Its no better than a 7/11 hence downgraded to 2 stars.

I left my phone at register 13 last night. I realised 15 mins later and rang my phone with another phone. Twice the person hung up on me. I walked into Coles the old security guy in blue ignored me when I asked if anybody handed my phone in me . His response perplexed me..I walked out and rang the phone again . The person hung up. I walked back in and asked the polite young woman who was in self service with this OTHER MALE STAFF member who was rather rude. She says yes he has it. When she told me to give it to me he was very unpleasant to me. I knew something was not right. I checked my phone 3 missed calls . He had hung up on me three times. I rang my phone and it rang as normal. For a Coles staff member to try and steal my phone within 15 mins of me leaving it in the store. Not on. I do not like dishonesty. I do not like thieves. . Bye Coles. Hello Woolies.THIS IS MY SECOND GOOGLE REVIEW EVER other than last week review requested by cheeky real estate.

I've actually been coming here since 1982. It's changed alot from then, back then it was a real mecca for people that went in there under the Coles New World original brand line and Woolies was a Fosseys store so there wasn't any major competition back. The entrance walls originally had mirrors tiles that gave the illusion that the store was bigger than it really was?! The biggest aspect I remember was the red Beatle coin operated car that I use to rid in as a kid. There was also a sandwich store as well but this via the 1980's. Fast forward some 41 years later, the area is bleak and kinda dead but so is the whole strip sadly....

Service beginning to disappoint: 1. Hours used to be till midnight. Now till 11pm. 2. New paper bags easily rip. 3. New surprise tonight: after filling a full shopping cart I come to checkout at 10:20pm only to discover no regular checkout register anymore after 9pm, only the small items checkouts. Nearly impossible to checkout a full cart on those small decks. What further restriction will you put on your customers before we start going elsewhere? Less and less motivation for our community to come shop here at all if this is how we are treated.

The supermarket itself is perfectly fine but I've found that every time I enter the place the security guards snoop around me constantly making me feel like a criminal when I am simply going about my business getting my shopping done. It doesn't reflect well on the place when paying and loyal customers are followed about by either bored or incompetent security guards. I wont be returning to this location based on the last few experiences that I've had here. Poor treatment of a paying customer and I've had enough.

I went shopping there yesterday. They had a new employee on his first day. They left him completely alone, I could see how stressed he was. I had to lean over the counter to help him pick out the different types of tomatoes I had, mushrooms, and fruits because he didn't know the difference. Poor boy. I was stuck in line for 20 minutes helping him with my groceries. Poor form, sink or swim is not a proper way to train someone. I will shop at the Woolies next door from now on.

This Coles is my local supermarket but with the current lockdown I tried the delivery service and have to say that I am VERY disappointed as we received our goods in six plastic bags when the order could have easily fit into three bags. AND we were charged for six plastic bags. So not only did we have to pay for something we clearly didn’t need but I am also disappointed with the environmental impact of all these extra plastic bags Coles are putting out there

Once again disgusted by this place. I go in to do a major shop and ALL of the large trolleys have gone for repairs and or cleaning. There’s a Woolworths across the road so guess where I did my shopping. Of all the Coles stores I’ve shopped at, my consistent experience is that this one doesn’t have the customer in mind. I won’t be back as this is just another bad experience on top of rudeness, bad behaviour during the Covid crisis and poor stock levels.

Appalling service when trying to refund something from the online store. I ended up buying a substitute and as I was leaving a staff member approached me and said “so you wanted to exchange!”. I didn’t know if the product would be in stock and also wasn’t asked if I wanted to exchange for another. Won’t be back even though it’s my local store. Pretty upset I was spoken to like that, made to feel like an inconvenience and stupid.

I was right. I knew he took it because he was standing there staring at me and my daughter makeing me feel uncomfortable I paid with my phone then put it on the checkout then picked my shopping up left then realised about 15 mins later turned around drove back went in there walked up to him and asked for my phone he said no phone has been handed in I new he took it so I demanded the manager

Staff blocked the kosher dairy section with palettes, I asked one of the Indian staff members if he could temporarily move the palette so I could grab an item and he said "either I grab it for you or you try and squeeze in", which isn't COVIDSAFE at all. I found it very antisemitic/anti-Islam, I'm a Muslim and I specifically shop at this Coles due to their extensive halal and kosher range

The staff are extremely rude and act as if it is an inconvenience to do their job, if that's not enough to deter you the lack of personal hygiene should be. For those who work in a supermarket you would think that deodorant would be readily available. Serious review of staffing and hire policy would be recommended, from reading other reviews this seems to be an all to common occurrence.

I came into Cole’s to find some meringue nests for a dinner party tomorrow evening. I spoke to over 3 colleagues who didn’t even know what a meringue was and couldn’t help me. No one bothered to check stock, ask another colleague. 2 of them didn’t even understand what I was trying to say. I ended up being extremely frustrated and ended up leaving. No customer service whatsoever.

Always sell out of the higher quality breads (presumably to encourage you to get bread from their adjacent bakery section). Also, every time Lawson's bread is on sale, there won't be any available (but see how much Helga's they'll stock instead). Yes I like good bread lol and this annoys me every time. Parking can be impossible around noon on the weekends. Otherwise fine.

Not a very clean store but they do have a big range of products. Now the staff is a different matter, either they are yelling at each other, talking about inappropriate topics in front of customers (their sexy life) or you can't understand what they are saying to you when you are enquiring about where items are. Not a store I would go out of my way to visit again.

Ordered twice, both times had problems with availability of items. Latest order was for some Covid RAT test kits. Coles cancelled the order late the night before booked delivery and txt to say payment had been declined!!! It had not! Low confidence that what you order will be delivered, I would suggest using Woolies. I won’t shop online with Coles again.

Please teach your staff about personal hygiene. Yesterday, I was once again enveloped in a cloud of stinky BO, which I could smell from five metres away! In some countries, they rarely bathe, but this is Australia. Tell your workers to shower daily & wash their clothes. In a customer service role, it is disgusting to not be clean.

In all honesty the only thing going for this Cole's is the friendly staff. Last week I purchased garlic 3 day's in a row & it wasn't fresh. Absolutely disgraceful Cole's say their the fresh food people. The shelves are always empty & most customer's are rude. I'm going to try safeway as it seems a much cleaner & fresher place.

Okay store, to shop at, but they do need to pay attention at cigarette counter, I don't smoke or condone it but as I was waiting to be served at checkout I'd seen a lady had been waiting for awhile, the lady at my checkout went and served her plus others who were waiting, so in the end I waited for 10 mins to be served

For a metro Coles it does the job. Most staff are helpful and the product range is reasonable. Most frustrating experience is the self check out, getting bags is difficult always in short supply and slows down the entire check out process. Best to bring your own or if you forget expect to have to go looking for some.

A great store to shop for and the team members are excellent, especially the meat boy Chaz who helped me out with the shopping. Even at the deli he served me fresh salmon and also advised me on preparation when asked how to cook it fast. Coles balaclava you've have a ripper team and top notch customer service.

Like it's cousins at Port Melbourne and South Melbourne, it was a lot easier to do when there were storemen I got on with (well there were never storemen I got on with at Port, maybe one produce manager I could make conversation with but that's it) and it was 6am. Once it went back to 7, was never the same.

Easy for FREE parking convenient when not in rush hour times or weekends.. Has alot more stock range for an older style Coles supermarkets than the updated modernised Prahran CPoles that doesn't run a full range like Balaclava store. Can get what brands you need and they stock all the weekly specials..

Its Bala Coles, not much to say except I wish it was nicer like Elsternwick or Bay St Brighton Coles. Staff are 50/50 friendly/cold. Some basics are low in stock lately. Didnt have Coles brand ketchup only Heinz or Masterfoods(absolutely not). Gonna have to make it go further now its the good stuff.

Nice big shopping area. Lots of food takeout section. Kosher food aisle. Not sure why the front of store looks so nice while outside towards evening hour's, it looks like a homeless shelter. Overall it's safe to shop during the day. Lots of outdoor parking. And there's a barber shop right there

One of the worst groceries shopping experience I have ever had in my life. The smell was really bad next to the butchery and the fish shop. To see all that meat and fish piled up, did not look like it was very hygienic. In general everything was very untidy and the staff not so friendly.

Supermarket on the small size with probably what you need, as well as various kosher options. Sometimes I feel I'm hindering the staff members if I need help or do something to help them - once I moved something out of the way, and they just stared at me like I just broke the law.

Unlike Woolies next door, there is a deli here and much better variety. This Coles is wild… there’s always crazy stuff going on due to the characters that hang out in the arcade leading to it. However, the staff always handle the situations well and there is security on site.

NO STARS ARE YOU KIDDING ME I REFUSE TO SHOP AT THIS SUPERMARKET AS THE STORE OFTEN HAS UNPLEASANT UNHEALTHY ODOURS AND HAS HAD SUCH ON AND OFF MOSTLY WITH UNPLEASANT ODOURS I JUST RANG THE STORE OVER A BUSINESS INQUIRY AND YET AGAIN THE PHONE RANG OUT SAYS ALOT YET AGAIN....

10/10 Customer services, young man named Harry helped me with my shopping and was super helpful, I asked him about the male erotic section and he was able to guide me straight there and give me a great piece of advice towards my options, Love that bloke absolute gem!

This is why I don't do grocery shopping (I use online). Indecently long queue for the one person working a checkout. What's more, she was not happy and took it out on the items out through. It was "pension day". You would think Coles would know better!

Such an awful Coles. Homeless people and junkies always hang around the front entrance, the store is incredibly run down and has always run out of what I need. I hope they renovate it soon to look like some of the other fancy coles across Melbourne.

The male staff at the self-check-out this afternoon was not very helpful. I bought some grocery and a coles mobile sim card, but was told that flybuy dollar could not be used. Is it true or this staff just could not be bothered to do split payment?

Good variety of products and good prices. I went at 4:30pm and it was very busy. Everything was okay but the security guards. They seemed to be doing their job well but I felt a bit observed by them and felt that other customers felt that too.

Recently refreshed and expanded supermarket. Much expanded fruit and veg selection, in house bakery with superior flat bread. As previously this location has a good selection of foreign foods and a good kosher foods selection all year round.

Worst experience ever, had this old man checkout operator who was mean & horrible. Got to the checkout & the milk I bought was leaking. He shook it all over the place & seemed to be blaming me that it was leaking. He didn't even offer to

The staff here are great and knowledgeable. Always ready and willing to help. Good amount of options, and well stocked. As this is the main Coles in the area it would be good to have more variety in products, especially the deli section.

Rubbing shoulders and nudging elbows, the shoppers were incalculable in number. I have never seen this store as busy or the shelves as empty. The staff, however, were at their best and working very hard. I take my hat off to them all.

Too crowded during business hours. Parking is shocking, expect to have door dings/damage on your car after shopping here. Store layout has changed and is no longer convenient. Woolworths next door is so much nicer to shop at.

Small but well purposed , good range of kosher products in stock Good range of cat and dog food but if on sale the kitty litter will be sold out and not restocked often enough. Good parking behind serves the store well.

Has most products you would need also has kosher Part and Japanese part . Big beauty section and there fruit and veggies are always nice . The only thing that I would complain about is there toilets it is a shared

All registers are now self checkout? It's ridiculous. It took ages on Thursday evening. Came from work and now have to do Coles job too? Will look for another supermarket nearby which still offers customer service.

A great place to catch COVID. Plenty of customers not wearing masks at all, and others wearing it under their noses. The security guard at the front does nothing about it. “Shop safe at Coles”? I don’t think so.

Quite a messy store, cigarette counter is always unoccupied and is a hassle to get service, deli section is nice although wearing a hairnet or hat it seems is optional. Overall quite a big store and well stocked

Spacious shopping space, friendly staff and a huge parking lot makes this place the place to shop, it's not for nothing that this Coles is one of the two most profitable stores of this supermarket brand.

Apparently it's safer to separate entry and exit points. What genius thought of this? How many years of medical school did this store manager do? We're all in the store together! You lost my business!

Re: thanks for fixing that up. (I payed for my items, the lady at the self serve checkouts did not provide customer with the toilet paper I payed for and removed it. I consider this stealing from me).

They have added a couple of new shelves, which make it awkward to get around, but the staff are still as friendly & happy to help in any way. Only thing I don't like are the self service units

If you bring your own bag (like we're supposed to) the self serve checkout asks to wait for assistance every time. Go to Woolworths instead where they don't weigh the bags, so it's far less

Extremely busy. Staff average. But there's a pretty good variety here. Hot tip - if you're after vienna loaves of bread, come here early in the morning and snap them up for 50cents. Unreal.

Good choice of products, well stocked store, nearly always enough staff on duty to process and pack. Well trained not to put laundry products with food items unlike other venues …

Its not bad, it probably needs an update. The new baskets are clunky and hard to carry. Lots of parking but very full unless you go early. They brought back the old baskets, hooray!!

Not great. Small selection, and the packing staff can often block off all the room there is to go through with a pram or trolley. Staff are nice. Store is average.

Lot of staff replenishing stock today. This store has 3 entrances. One thru the mall, one on Camden St and one from the rear (?) carpark area. Plenty parking.

They've recently converted all their registers into self-checkouts, and it's been very inconvenient, especially when handling a larger shopping list.

Great as always, a good variety of products. Try and avoid Sunday as that is when it is totally busy. Staff are all helpful and friendly …

Busy store, staffs are okay. But small and congested store . Not like new coles store. Not all coles usual products and services are available.

Prices keep increasing and some stock like the pasta is always missing, need an allocated reduced/clearance section for fridge and dry options

Clean, well lit and fully stocked, Coles makes grocery shopping a pleasant experience. Helpful and friendly staff. Best produce around!

Smallish Coles but bigger than St Kilda. A lot of products not stocked, especially the ones I need. I'll stick to Elsternwick Coles.

one of the better supermarkets in my opinion. To me it seems the cleanest and best value for money. it seems to have more specials.

The kind lady at the self check out “Peta” made our day. Was friendly, efficient and smiley. Thanks for making our visit enjoyable.

always packed, isles too narrow, not enough stock, restocking happening during busy periods getting in the way, hard to navigate

Very convenient opening hours 6am till 11pm. Good size place and friendly staff. You can find almost anything you need

Out of date wallaby on the shelves. No manned registers at 6:45pm on a Thursday??? I don’t come for ‘self service’

Excellent display of products. Easy to reach and best prices. Employees at counters are very kind and humble.

Complete options and food sections. Reachable and big parking lots. Many discounted items with good quality.

Peta is the kindest and most responsible Coles attendant I have meet. Great respect to her wonderful job ;)

Good overall supermarket Will say that cleaning and organising shelves should be happening more frequently

1/12/2023 time 8.45 pm wish the Indian lady who help me had some common sense . Very bad customer service

Rude staff! Store manager had asked security to lock the entrance at 11:53pm. I saw them

Small supermarket but very good. I just couldn't find the Brazilian cheese bread there.

Incredibly slow checkout staff, not enough cashier's. Good carpark though.

Always busy, so everything is fresh. A little hard to park at peak times.

Busy, no one at the cigarette counter ever. Staff are nice, stock varies

Good and fresh stocks available all the time. The staffs are friendly.

Love their selection of bread, coffee, teas and.. ice cream!

Excellent Coles - with cute Valentines leftovers …

No stuff waiting 45 minutes free for millions company

Full of junkies, feel unsafe.