How do you choose your grocery store?

[scarlettdouble]

How do you choose where you shop for groceries? Price? Distance? Store decor?

I admit that I can be a grocery store snob. We have 5 decent stores in our area but I must say that I prefer one over the others due to the decor and "feel" of the store. There is a Food Lion that is very close to DH's office that has great prices but the store is older and the staff is not as upscale as the one I prefer.

We recently got a new Super Walmart - one of the few prototypes in the entire country - that is wonderfully decorated and has big wide aisles. However, I cannot get used to shopping at Walmart for food. I just can't process buying paper towels and steaks in the same location! :rolleyes: Crazy, I know, but I have to separate those trips.

[KLD1019]

I refuse to grocery shop at the store thats in our city. the selection of meat is not good. once, i bought a pork loin. got it home, openend it to cook and it stunk up the entire kitchen!! i was gagging!! their prices arent great either. and i worked at the store chain for 2 years....i loath them! :o

So i drive 15 minutes to the store in the next town....HEB!! amazing selection of meats, produce, foods, seafood, etc!! everything that Market Basket (the store in town) doesnt have!

ive tried doing grocery shopping at walmart. yeah....wont do it again! the veggies are bad, and i tend to spend twice as much cause of whats on the other side of the grocery section! :o the only time i will go there for things is for when we do weekend lake trips. everything is right there where i need it at good prices. but for a whole weeks worth of groceries....i'll pass

ETA: i take that back on HEB having good seafood selection. where we live, its a very prominent area to get seafood! We cook with shrimp quite often. i dont like making two trips to the grocery store then to the seafood market. so i pick up shrimp at the store.....thinking it was as fresh as the seafood market. like i said, its very available in our area. even though the sign said "previously frozen" i still thought it was from the area. Well one day, i was watching in the back of the seafood area and saw that they had frozen packages of shrimp (the ones that they keep in the freezer goods section) and they were defrosting them to put out for us to buy!! very shocked!!

[magenta]

I mostly choose by location. With a commute into Charlotte every day on a tight schedule (have to go by daycare each way) then I go to the store that is just a block off the interstate, easy in and out, etc. In the summer, most of my produce comes from the Farmer's Market though. We just got a new Ingles about 15 minutes past my house but I only go there if I have to go to the store on the weekends - it is out of my way to go by on my way home from work.

[charley]

It's all about who offers what. A lot of times price is a big factor, except when I'm shopping Whole Foods, lol.

I like the local independents for meat selection, although I buy Sanderson Farm chicken at Albertson's. Walmart has great prices for many things. I won't buy their meats, but everything else is usually available at a good price. I'll buy some veggies there, but I prefer the produce stand, although it's not as convenient. It all depends on price and selection.

[ozsmom1]

I love this question and it gives me a chance to "legimately" gripe about our lack of choice. We have 2 choices near us -- Albertsons (which I think used to be Super Valu), Walmart or Costco. Albertson's is considerably more expensive on everything than either of the other places. I refuse to buy meat at Walmart and so will only buy packages things there; canned vegs, chips, TP, detergents, etc. If I watch the sales at Albertsons I can get bnls/skls chicken breasts for as little as $1.88/lb and bone in for .98/lb. Costco is generally 2.99 for the bnls/skls and doesn't carry bone in. I discovered in Consumer Reports that Costco's largest markups are in paper products so I usually buy those at Walmart although the "experts" are saying to look for those things at like CVS and Walgreens. I had used only Costco's brand of laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent and dish washing soap for years. But, with only DH and I at home I've been buying all that at Walmart or Target when it's on special. I've been buying Arm & Hammer with Oxyclean in liquid form and I like it. On Friday I was at Walmart and it was $7.00 for a jug and at Albertson's it was $11.99! Flour in a 10# bag at WM was $5.32 and at Alb. it was $11.89. With all that said, my idea of a vacation is going to fancy grocery stores in larger cities. I love looking at all of the things thay have that we don't have access to! Love looking at different pastas, sauces, etc. Ordinarily I shop sales and watch prices closely, but in a "fancy" store I throw caution to the wind!

[ozsmom1]

I love this question and it gives me a chance to "legimately" gripe about our lack of choice. We have 2 choices near us -- Albertsons (which I think used to be Super Valu), Walmart or Costco. Albertson's is considerably more expensive on everything than either of the other places. I refuse to buy meat at Walmart and so will only buy packages things there; canned vegs, chips, TP, detergents, etc. If I watch the sales at Albertsons I can get bnls/skls chicken breasts for as little as $1.88/lb and bone in for .98/lb. Costco is generally 2.99 for the bnls/skls and doesn't carry bone in. I discovered in Consumer Reports that Costco's largest markups are in paper products so I usually buy those at Walmart although the "experts" are saying to look for those things at like CVS and Walgreens. I had used only Costco's brand of laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent and dish washing soap for years. But, with only DH and I at home I've been buying all that at Walmart or Target when it's on special. I've been buying Arm & Hammer with Oxyclean in liquid form and I like it. On Friday I was at Walmart and it was $7.00 for a jug and at Albertson's it was $11.99! Flour in a 10# bag at WM was $5.32 and at Alb. it was $11.89. With all that said, my idea of a vacation is going to fancy grocery stores in larger cities. I love looking at all of the things thay have that we don't have access to! Love looking at different pastas, sauces, etc. Ordinarily I shop sales and watch prices closely, but in a "fancy" store I throw caution to the wind!

[KLD1019]

Ya know, DS little Welches fruit gummie snacks i only buy at Targetor walmart. They have them at HEB and Market Basket, but only in boxes that has 10 bags in it....for $3. At Target and Walmart they have the 24 count boxes for $3!! yeah!

[KathyNC]

We have Food Lion and Walmart. Not much to choose from. I buy mostly from Walmart and when I need to pick up a couple of things I'll go up the street to Food Lion. With an Air Force base here I don't understand why we can't have a decent grocery store, and mall too for that matter. We have to go out of town to go to a decent mall.

[Sandra C]

Proximity, selection, and price are probably what I consider most. I'm in a CSA so get fresh produce and eggs in a weekly delivery. I fill in at a small local market with CSA-quality food. Publix and Kroger are also very close, and a Harris Teeter is near completion. I usually buy from Publix based on its weekly buy-one-get-one-free ads. Meats there are fine, but its weakness is prepared foods. Kroger doesn't get much of my business because the parking lot is so darned crowded and I detest feeling as if it's Christmas at the mall before I even get in the store, but I'll usually get there once a month or so for items I prefer but don't find elsewhere. If the to-be-opened Harris Teeter is similar to another one I sometimes frequent, it will get my prepared food business.

[MindaAnn]

We have one locally owned store that has great meats. We know the butcher, the price is a little more but worth it. We have Food Lion and Lowes Food plus a super Wal-Mart. I buy according to price (and sometimes convenience). We have a Kroger about 6-8 miles away. Sometimes go in there.

[shannonmbp]

I just can't process buying paper towels and steaks in the same location! :rolleyes: Crazy, I know, but I have to separate those trips.

My issue is simply choice. We have . . . drumrolll . . . Kroger & Food Lion. And Wal-Mart if you want to count them as a groery store. Kroger is my choice. And speaking of buying PAPER TOWELS and groceries at the same place, what about bras and groceries while waiting to get your oil changed? Yeah, been there, done that. Lol!:D

[Nora]

My issue is simply choice. We have . . . drumrolll . . . Kroger & Food Lion. And Wal-Mart if you want to count them as a groery store. Kroger is my choice. And speaking of buying PAPER TOWELS and groceries at the same place, what about bras and groceries while waiting to get your oil changed? Yeah, been there, done that. Lol!:D


Big grin! Me too! I just check all the sale papers and see if I can get some good deals. I stock up on anything that is a good price so some weeks my $ amount is very high and other times not so much.

[Christi Wharton]

I grew up in a family that owned grocery stores. For that reason, I buy as much as I can from locally owned grocery stores. I have been able to get to know the butcher and the produce manager at a local store and that helps me a lot. When they don't have what I want at the meat counter, I just ask the butcher and if he has it, he will cut what I want and get it to me. He also knows what I usually buy and tries to have it available for me.

I like to shop at the farmers market as well, but, I always ask where the produce is grown. If it is not local, there is no advantage to buying from them. Yesterday, I was looking at some cantaloupe at the farmers market. The ones they had were pretty blemished and had mushy places on them. She told me that this was because of the weight of the cantaloupes when they were brought in on the truck. Sorry, didn't buy it. It looked to me like she had just had them to long and they were over-ripe. I have bought from her before, but, since there are other vendors at the farmers market that sell the same things, I'll probably pass her by next time.

There may be more selection at large chain stores but I really like supporting local businesses. And, if I am unhappy with them for any reason, I know they live here and I can find them!:D

[luckydog]

This topic is an ongoing point of contention between DH & I. We only have 2 grocery stores: Food Lion & an independent local chain. The two of us do not share the same opinion about where to shop.

FL recently remodeled & upscaled their store here, when it seemed imminent that Farm Fresh was coming here (but they DIDN'T:(). It's nice inside, as far as FL's go. They are cheaper. They do have a greater selection of most products. That's about it for the pros, as far as I'm concerned. The cons are: The layout is completely different than it used to be, so I don't know where everything is anymore. They are far & away the most popular grocery store in my town...everyone & their brother goes to our FL, which is a big con for me personally. The place is always wall to wall. The aisles are too narrow. They're always sold out of stuff. Most of the already too narrow aisles are crowded up with dollies, boxes & restockers. They don't remove their expired perishable items like they should. The checkout lines are LOOONG & they never have enough cashiers. I DESPISE to wait over 20 min. in the checkout line. The parking lot is horrendous...Packed. Crazy drivers. Carts everywhere. It's like driving into a demolition derby because people cut through where they shouldn't, at high speed. Their meats are injected to the MAX with "enhancing solutions"....I firmly believe they do so to a much, much higher % than their label indicates, at our store. I could seriously rant about the meat dept all day. The produce department seems to suffer a perpetual fruit fly plague...I have to wash stuff IMMEDIATELY upon arriving home or I end up with one myself.

The independent has it's cons too. It's small, old & "run down". More expensive. Less selection. Their #1 pro, in my book, is their meats. They never inject their own meats with solutions & they don't sell brands that do. Other pros: They often sell locally grown produce. They have a larger department for plants, flowers & balloons...not a really big deal, but it's great to have when you are occasionally in need of such. Their aisles are spacious. The store & parking lot are never crowded & long lines at the checkouts are rare.

DH chooses FL, based on price. The place doesn't drive him nuts because he shops at the break of dawn. I'm not gonna do that. He despises the thought of paying more for the same item at the independent.

I choose the independent, based on their meats & being able to shop in peace. Grocery shopping is a chore in my book, and not one of my favs. When I go to FL, I rarely leave without acquiring the feeling that I might snap someone in half. I concede that shopping at the independent is more costly, but it's worth it to me. Even if it ultimately means shopping in dinky, run down store with far less selection.

I cannot tell you how many times that DH & I have debated this. Lots. Routinely. My comeback to him: I'm don't care to go grocery shopping at dawn. I know you think I'm throwing money away...but have you really saved $, if you just paid for 12%+ enhanced solution in FL's meats? And exactly how is that worth the saved $, if it makes me livid when I have to cook that crap?:rolleyes:

[maryc]

Usually time is the factor in choosing. I'll stop at the one nearer our home for a quick run in and out but if I have time Lowes Foods is probably my favorite.

[missymomof3]

How do you choose where you shop for groceries? Price? Distance? Store decor?

I admit that I can be a grocery store snob. We have 5 decent stores in our area but I must say that I prefer one over the others due to the decor and "feel" of the store. There is a Food Lion that is very close to DH's office that has great prices but the store is older and the staff is not as upscale as the one I prefer.

We recently got a new Super Walmart - one of the few prototypes in the entire country - that is wonderfully decorated and has big wide aisles. However, I cannot get used to shopping at Walmart for food. I just can't process buying paper towels and steaks in the same location! :rolleyes: Crazy, I know, but I have to separate those trips.

We have a wal-mart, Wal-mart market and a super wal-mart within six miles of each other lol I love the regular old Wal-mart but not the other two . Anyway, I choose by price, quality and nothing else. I never shop in only one place.

[magenta]

Usually time is the factor in choosing. I'll stop at the one nearer our home for a quick run in and out but if I have time Lowes Foods is probably my favorite.
I love Lowes too, but we only have one and it is on the opposite side of town from me. But they have great produce!