I have had good experiences with Shaw's growing up, but I'm done shopping there. Recently, they started selling alcohol, and either their implementation is a mess, or their staff is vindictive and petty.
My girlfriend, who is well over 21, stopped in to pick up something briefly, and was harassed because she has an out-of-state ID. She has purchased alcohol at many places in the area, restaurants, etc, and never has the ID caused an issue, but Shaw's will not accept them. Except, though, several times they did (I was told by customer service that they shouldn't have - see my remark about implementation being a mess)... but fine, okay. She left without it.
Fast forward to tonight, we're both there buying groceries, including a bottle of wine and a choose-your-own six pack of craft beers. The cashier rings us up, then says she needs to see BOTH IDs. Again, has never, ever happened at any other establishment in the area. My girlfriend didn't bring her wallet, since she had no need of it.
I have a problem with stupid policies, so I start to register my annoyance, and ask some questions - what about parents and kids? Well, that's okay, but the kids have to be younger than 17 (and do you ask to see THEIR IDs? How do you know they're under 17?). Do they seek proof they're the parent's children and not simply kids an adult is buying for? I ask about calling to speak with a manager concerning their restrictive and inconvenient policies - after all, this is just a cashier, and she doesn't make the rules, it isn't her fault (or so I believed at the time). I want to direct frustration where it belongs. She tells me no one would be available tonight (apparently past 8:00 no manager is in the building), and does not elaborate on when a better time would be.
I pay with a card, and leave. As I'm leaving, she calls me back from the door, saying the card didn't go through. I saw it say approved, and frankly, I should have kept walking. In all likelihood, she cancelled the sale deliberately to harass us further since we took issue with their silly policies. When I came back, I put the card in, then took it out after less than a second, thinking I needed to wait for it to light up... but somehow, it magically went through. So, yeah, she was screwing with me for sure.
Come to find out, this SAME cashier - an older woman of unpleasant demeanor named Stephanie - is the same one that blocked my girlfriend from purchasing before when she was on her own. I only found that out after the fact. The cashier also dropped a line about out-of-state IDs when she mentioned the ID restrictions, unprompted - apparently remembering my girlfriend, who believes - and she's not one to say this lightly - that her race may well have been a factor.
I can't speak to that, but I'm quite sure she took the attitude she did because she wanted to, and very likely cancelled the sale to call me back and embarrass me.
I should have just ignored her and kept on walking, because I'm not going back. I recommend you avoid it, too.