What is your favorite, and least favorite Super Market?

[ptcruiser51]

I'm a devoted ShopRite fan. Its rival here in the Garden State is PathMark, open 24 hours and always dirty. Carpeting in the produce section - BLECH! S-R always has excellent prices and selection.

Once in awhile my sister and I will make a road trip to Stew Leonard's in Yonkers, NY. What a place! Excellent meats, seafood, deli, bakery and just all stuff in general. They make their own ice cream. Most things are pricey, but worth it. It's primarily a food store, so minimal catfood, detergent, paper products, etc. They have animated displays for whimsy, as well as cows, goats, chickens penned outside - you can PET THEM!

Another favorite place for a road trip is Corrado's in Clifton or Wayne, NJ. Aisles of ethnic foods not found anywhere else. Lots of really fresh and varied produce, a good amount of it targeted for the Hispanic and Italian customers. Mozzarella and other cheeses prepared on premises. Full bakery and deli. Good, varied meat and seafood selection. English spoken is definitely in the minority here! And it's always a busy place.

 

[jt1985]

Here in Denver...

I shop mostly at King Soopers (most items), Sunflower Farmers Market (produce) and Albertsons (meat & bakery) and avoid Safeway. Kings, Albertsons & Safeway recently rolled out their price cutting campaigns, but Safeway still remains high.

I wish Aldi would come to Denver.

 

[spiralator60]

Also in Southern California

Vons, Ralphs, Stater Brothers, and WinCo are supermarkets where I find myself shopping for groceries. Of these, Vons and WinCo are where I shop the most, usually after work on the way home because this is most convenient for me, and because it is easier to get the larger sizes of items at these two.

In terms of prices, I tend to favor WinCo because it is more of a warehouse store and environment, much like Costco or Sam's Club. With careful shopping, it is not hard to save 10 or 15 percent over what you spend at other chains. Ralphs and Stater Brothers are also good, I have found, but shopping there requires you to keep your eyes open when going through the aisles. The house brands are usually much cheaper than the national brands, but you need to make an effort to look at the small price placard on the shelf, not always easily done.

Like a lot of people these days, I'm carefully counting coins in the store, and I pay attention to the ad inserts (and coupons) in the weekend newspapers. Sometimes, if there is a special at a particular store on something that I want to stock up on, like a hard to find brand or grocery item, then I'll do the week's shopping there.

 

[mayguy]

I do most of my major shopping at HyVee. I go to Target to get things that I need last minute since it's right across the parking lot from work. Lately, Target been letting down.. Seems like they are out of things more and more... :-(

Have not step foot into Wal-mart for awhile.

 

[drewz]

FOOD FAIR! (LOL Kidding!)

Favorite: Harris Teeter!

Least Favorite: Giant

 

[hunter]

Colorado Front Range

Living on the front range in Colorado (howdy as does jt1985, cool!), we are VERY underserved with what I would say are good grocers.

We do have super walmart and super target. Yawn.

As jt1985 mentioned we have three major chains: King Soopers (Kroger), Safeway, and Albertons. Albertsons has been closing stores left and right, mostly because the prices are, well, shocking. Safeway can also be quite shocking. (Come on, $7 for an item that is $3.75 elsewhere? Spare me! IIRC I hit this with a jar of peanut butter or something like that, but I don't remember all the details).

Mostly I'm forced onto walmart, with some shopping at King Soopers. I don't really like either store. There is little I miss from the eastern seaboard, but a good produce department (and a SALAD BAR) is the biggest thing I miss seeing in a supermarket. I have not yet seen a salad bar in a Colorado supermarket, except maybe Whole Foods (who is a corporate monster no better than Walmart, as far as I am concerned...last time I was in one of them I picked up a pack of frozen organic vegetables...and put them back when I discovered they were grown in China).

NOTHING in my experience can compare to eastern supermarkets...Wegmans...Kings....heck even A&P on the east coast was pretty nice. Big Y.

Having said that, I shan't be leaving the west anytime soon!

Hunter

 

[bernina]

I'm a grocery store dropout

I am a *kook* that belongs to a local food co-op. We get probably 50% of our groceries from there.

Yes, it is a lot of work, but the prices and quality are very good and it helps if you want to eat less processed food, or bake a lot.

I do love buying direct from smaller local producers, and that's what the co-op lets allows us to do. It's great to be able to buy at wholesale prices.

Grocery stores often make me feel totally overwhelmed, especially now that there are video screens with ads blaring everywhere, in each checkout line even. It's just too much. I get exhausted when I have to go to Jewel (Albertson's) or Dominicks. And the "7 for $13.85, but only with our special club card" grocery store sale pricing drives me nuts!

 

[hunter]

I think food co-ops are great.

When I lived in the NYC area and then in New England I was a member of one. I haven't found any here.

Since we cook EVERYTHING from scratch co-ops work well for folks like us.

 

[perc-o-prince]

$6 for a gallon of RBST free milk, as opposed to the same ex

Hey Todd,

At Trader Joe's, we buy the 1/2 gallon usually, and it's something like $1.79. And, rBST free. I bet the gallon is probably $2.99 or something close. I'm surprized it's $6 there!!

I also find their eggs on par or cheaper than 'regular' markets, plus they have the date stamped on each egg. They have quite a bit there that's a good value for the $$. Their frozen veggies, fish, wine, hummus (I can get 16oz for a little more than the regular market charges for 8oz of Tribe, and it's better!) all seem to be good deals.

I have a banana or an apple every AM on the way to work. Their bananas are $0.19 each (store = $0.69/lb... aprox 2 bananas). I also have a fruit/cereal bar mid-way through my morning on the bus. Theirs are $1.69 for a box of 6 with NO preservatives or artificials. Try to compare that with Sunbelt, Quaker, or the others! Higher price and long list of ingredients!

Maybe your TJ's are a lot higher out there, but their Charles Shaw wine is a buck less there!

Chuck

 

[washabear]

Here, I like Redner's, Giant, and sometimes Weis. I also like Whole Foods, but there isn't one in my town. I go to one not in my town once in awhile, but I do find it pricey. I sometimes go to Shop Rite as well, which recently took over a local chain here that used to be called Klein's. It's OK but doesn't have self-checkouts, so I don't like that about it.

 

[hydralique]

I like Trader Joe's too, especially for small odds and ends like their fat-free meringue cookies. They're also good for hard liquor and beer. On the subject of the latter, liquor stores tend to put Tsingtao in the premium imported beer section with a price to match. Drop in at a 99 Ranch Market (Chinese grocery chain) and Tsingtao is always, always on sale . . .

 

[jaytag]

Limited Choices in Atlanta

In a city that is all about service...we have little choices and they vary greatly.

Kroger and Publix pretty much sums it up.

1. Publix is the cleanest and has great quality but I cannot afford them, so I rarely shop there.

2. Kroger - in my book the best value in Atlanta, our prices are much lower here than in my home state of Illinois. But the have great deals and I can really tell the savings, most generally lower than Walmart in many items.

We have Ingles, not impressed, Wayfield way over priced, IGA a nice change but still pricy. We have a local store in Decatur that is in South Dekalb, the hood, Big Bear Supermarket, I love it, cheap and good produce and cheap and good meats.

Dekalb Farmers Market, great selection and huge.

Atlanta does not like the bag your own grocery concept therefore we have little rock bottom price stores.

Other areas:
Chicago always like Jewel
San Antonio H E B is the deal
St Louis Schnucks when I could afford them

 

[jt1985]

Atlanta Grocers

Aldi has been expanding recently in the metro area. They opened a store in Kennesaw right before I left for Colorado in 2006, which is hard to get to, but it's worth it. Food Lion is also expanding, as they've opened stores in Newnan, College Park and Fayetteville. Out of the former operators, I miss A&P and Harris Teeter, as H-T had an awesome deli and bakery and A&P was the closest store and had fairly decent pricing (Red Dots). I even miss Bruno's with their chandelier and carpeted floors (the one I visited when I was a kid used to be Ogletree's). Out of the current operators, Food Lion, Trader Joe's and Aldi get my money.

 

[polkanut]

Chuck,

The Charles Shaw wine you mentioned in your post wouldn't happen to be "2 Buck Chuck", would it?

 

[lordkenmore]

Charles Shaw is "2 Buck Chuck."Although it's not 2 bucks if I recall right. (Been a long time since I've regularly shopped Trader Joe's--no location convenient for me now.)

 

[circlew]

A store I forgot to mention that I go in occasionally is the Dorothy Lane Market, with locations in Springboro, Kettering and Centerville (Dayton area). It is a little pricy, but has lots of specialty items, and an excellent meat dept. One of the few places to get Heinz Ketchup in glass bottles.

 

[defoedude]

As far as favorites, Dierbergs gets my vote as they have fresh made from their kitchen heat and eat meals at reasonable prices and great flavor, plus their Tippin's pies are yummy to boot. For regular shopping, it's usually Shop N Save and Aldi's, plus Paul's Meat Market for their $1.99/lb ground chuck specials.

Jamie, Walmart has started converting some stores to Supercenters in the St Louis area, the Telegraph store behind Jefferson Barracks converted last year and so did the ones in Arnold and St. Peters off 94.

 

[perc-o-prince]

Chuck, The Charles Shaw wine you mentioned in your post

2-Buck Chuck it is! I believ that's still the price in the CA stores. Out here it's $3. Their Merlot and White Zin are very good. I'm not big on their chardonnay, but the TJ's French Country Market chardonnay for a buck more is very good. Then there's the seasonal on they come out with. Also VG!!!

Chuck

 

[DADoES]

 
Only two grocery choices here ... Wal-Mart or the regional chain that Bob and others previously mentioned. H.E.B. has a much larger selection but also higher prices. I do go there for a few things, such as Mexican Downy. Wal-Mart is a 24-hr SuperCenter, opened 6 or 7 years ago. It's on the route to work so is convenient for me. I stopped by there last night 3:30 AM. Five cars in the lot, other than employees. A few aisles were partially blocked by stockers & employees taking inventory, that didn't bother me. The cashier (who often works the night shift) was pleasant, we wished each other good morning, or evening, whichever was applicable to our respective views.