What is your favorite Supermarket?

[mtn1584]

I thought I would start a thread about supermarkets....we always talk about detergents, fab soft., but where do you buy these products, what is your favorite supermarket, and least favorite store and why?
Mike
I usually shop at Stop&Shop for groceries, and pharmacy, and the evil empire Walmart for non perishable items. I like the gas discounts that Stop&Shop is giving at SHELL, and I think their stores are very clean and their deli is very fresh.

 

[58limited]

The HEB chain in Texas. Their store brands are better than most national brands. They have a large selection of very good already cooked foods such as briskets too. Many locations have a large deli that makes gourmet level foods. They often pre-package these in "Meals for Two" that you just heat and eat.

 

[joe_in_philly]

My favorite supermarket is Wegmans. Their everday grocery prices are excellent, they carry a wide range of products, the prepared foods are delicious, staff is very helpful and polite, and every trip is like an adventure.

Wegmans - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[vacbear58]

Here in the UK

My favourite: WAITROSE
By no means cheap, but excellent quality (particularly meat), staff are almost always polite and I find them relaxing to shop in. And, in my opinion, they sell the best danish pastries of any supermarket (and some are really crap) which I have seen nowhere else, indeed they are better than some bakery shops too.

Runners up: Lidl (limited choice but CHEAP and I find staff quite polite), Sainsburys & Morrisons (generally OK overall). I dont like Tesco or Asda at all.

Al

http://www.waitrose.com/

 

[iheartmaytag]

I do most of my shopping at Dillons, Wal-Mart and Aldi.

 

 

[kevin313]

For a full-service traditional grocery store, I would be more than happy shopping only at Kroger for the rest of my days. But, as a supplement to Kroger and because I love the bargains and the interesting items they periodically get in, I also find myself a Aldi a couple of times a month.

 

[lordkenmore]

My main supermarket is Fred Meyer. It's a one stop shopping place. Once a Northwest company, now owned by Kroger. My parents were heavy Fred Meyer shoppers, and I keep the tradition alive.

It isn't just tradition that keeps me going to Fred Meyer. The prices are good. Of the stores I can get to easily, the prices are--usually--the lowest. I honestly don't see anything with the other stores to make the higher prices worth it. Most of the differences I see elsewhere are image touches, not any real quality improvement. Example: two stores have a fake fireplace to sit by on cold winter days while gathering the strength to push a cart. I have a set of fake fireplace logs of my own. I can sit sit by them before going to Fred Meyer, after coming back, or even both--and save a few bucks. I can also make a cup of coffee to enjoy that costs considerably less than the coffee in an in-store Starbucks.

I will go to other supermarkets--QFC (owned by Fred Meyer, but more upscale), Safeway, and Albertsons. Usually when I do, I'm after something Fred Meyer doesn't have, or after a really good sale.

With summer, there are various "open air" produce markets. I shop at these quite a bit. Prices are a little higher, but there is definite jump in quality. I'd rather have ONE good plum than 10 tasteless ones bought super cheap. Plus, I like supporting small, local business and farmers.

 

[petek]

I don't have any particular favorite store. I scan the newspaper flyers on Thursdays and make a mental note of who has what on sale for the week that I use and then I go get it. Living where we do smack dab on the US/Cdn border give me a lot of choice in stores and a really good selection of different brands that aren't available either in the US or Canada although probably 75% is the same stuff. I buy most of my milk and cheese at Kroger because Michigan dairy prices are 1/2 the cost of Ontario.. everything else.. not so much and sometimes even more. Funny how California produce and fruit can sometimes cost less here than 1 mile away in Michigan.

 

[washernoob]

Hy-vee. They always seem to have the best selection around.

I do like bakers every now and then.

 

[super32]

As much as i know alot of people dont like walmart, i dont think you can beat their prices on most grocery items. Stop-and-shop and shaws market are way over priced. There is a discount place here called price rite. I will go pick up alot of stuff there but they dont always have everything i need or want. When i still lived in Chicago, dominicks and garden fresh were my favorites. When i was in ohio, walmart was really the only place to go. There was a store called biggs but they closed alot of their stores and there was not a location near me. Only the richest of rich people shopped at krogers. Their prices were off the chain!

 

[whirlcool]

In Houston:

HEB - our current favorite.

Walmart - On occasion. We HAVE noticed the price war between Walmart & HEB. Walmart
is not necessarily the cheapest anymore. Plus we HAVE noticed that Walmart
here is moving towards bulk sizes like Sams. Hell, you can't even buy a
2 pack of paper towels at our local Walmart. Only 12 packs. Now where in
the heck are we going to store all those rolls?

Kroger - The store with the best selections AND convenience store pricing. We were
in there a few weeks ago an a pound of Land O Lakes butter was going for
$5.59! Outrageous!

Randalls- We used to shop there all the time until Safeway took them over and
ruined them. Now some Randall's are still open, but they are ghost
towns. If you go into one of their stores chances are you'll be the only
customer in there.

 

[tlee618]

In Florida, we are lucky to have some really nice choices. I guess my favorite would be Publix. Really a first class store with all the service. Winn Dixie is another good choice. I'm like Pete, since I have the time I check the ad's and shop around. I hit Save a Lot about once a week, they have the best price on milk it seems. When it's time to really stock up then it's most likely Walmart.

 

[westie2]

Here in Northwest Arkansas we shop mostly at Harps/Price Cutter. Our Harps is very good and the deli and bakery are the best. Their store brand is good and they are always lower than WalMart as WalMart is the big competor here. We also do shopping at Aldi and Sav-a-lot. Used to shop Dillons until Harps bought them out 2 years ago.

 

[bajaespuma]

Slim pickin's

The supermarket where I spend most of my money is Stop & Shop, only because it is less than 2 miles from my home and in these days of gasoline price gouging, proximity is everything. As a market it is OK, and I get my prescriptions there as the Pharmacy staff are very patient and nice. It is an expensive store with good quality foods.

 

Wegmans is the best supermarket I've ever seen in my life and I have very fond memories of Fred Meyer's in the Pacific Northwest (had some wonderful breakfasts there). It astounds me that the food stores in Connecticut are of such low quality overall compared to what I've seen in many other parts of the US. Connecticut Yankee-ism takes a long while to die off (much more interested in their Scotch and Sodas than what they eat after they're drunk).

 

[jamiel]

I'm a bit of a connoiseur of supermarkets...prefer Meijer or (believe it or not) Super K-Mart to Kroger if you're talking about standard super/hypermarkets (Super K-Mart in Michigan is still a reasonable place to shop, they're dwindling outside of the midwest though). My partner prefers Hollywood Market (local 6-store independent)

For upscale around here, prefer Plum Market or Nino Salvaggio to Whole Foods or Holiday market (the family which owns Plum sold their earlier stores, "Merchant of Vino" to Whole Foods and had a 5 year non-compete).

We've got some phenomenal produce-oriented stores nearby where we buy a lot (Western Market/Westborn Market/Produce Palace/Joe Randazzo's). Prices vary a lot here, though...PP or Joe Randazzo's are cheaper and "bulky-er" than Western or Westborn; but none of them has particularly good pricing on anything but produce

Elsewhere, really like Dierberg's in St. Louis (St. Louis is blessed with 2 strong local chains; no Kroger/Safeway and slightly reduced Wal-Mart competition), Hen House in Kansas City. Also, places like Wegman's, Byerlys and Loblaw's are a lot of fun when traveling.

 

[dirtybuck]

My three are the same as IheartMaytag. However, I like the meat (especially beef) selection at Dillon's MUCH better than the other two!

 

[peterh770]

Kroger has ruled the ATL area for a long time, but they are very hit and miss. Lots of "Cracktown" Krogers around. But then Publix invaded and have been consistently better in quality, cleanliness and customer service.

 

[58limited]

Aside form HEB, I shop the local Market Basket too. They are not as big as HEB but carry a different selection of some of the wines and beers I like. The their meats are top quality too but they have no fresh seafood.

 

[retropia]

Central Ohio

We are blessed with many choices here. The two big traditional chains are Kroger out of Cincinnati and Giant Eagle out of Pittsburgh.

The big supercenter stores are Walmart and Meijers, a regional chain based in Michigan.

We also have Aldi, Trader Joes and Whole Foods. There are a few independent grocery stores that have been around forever, like Weilands and Carfagna.

I shop everywhere but most often stop at Marcs, which is a small discount chain based in Cleveland.

The prices at Marcs are lower than even Walmart. Plus they have interesting items that are Cleveland-centric, such as items from their little Italy and imports from Poland.

A section of Marcs is devoted to closeout merchandise they buy for resale, similar to Big Lots. Sometimes you will find amazing bargains there.