What grocery stores in your town do you never go to?

[FiveDriver]

Within a half-mile radius of our home, we have a Harris Teeters, a Publix, an Aldi and a Lidl. And I know when Senior Discount Day is at HT and Publix.

HT emails their circular every Wednesday, and if there's a special on a particular cut of meat, like Rib Steak, Chicken Cutlets or Hamburger....I go and stock the freezer. I believe that once you get control of the cost of Meat, the rest of the items can be filled in as needed.

Aldi's has good prices on Breakfast Cereals, Dairy and healthy snacks.

Lidl's is new here and they have been papering the area with coupons, spend $75 and get $25 off -- crazy sales. Their prices started out well below market, but have been creeping up. They have had some 'door-buster' sales on meat. You've got to watch what you buy there. Some food items are well-priced, others, not so much.

The only stores we don't go to are Food Lion and Piggly WIggle....they're just too far away.

DW knows a Shrimp Boat Captain that sends out a text to a small group when he has fresh Shrimp heads-off. The shrimping season starts end of April. Our Farmer's Market in town runs on Saturdays May thru October and there are a few local farms that we like to support.

All of this is charged on CitiBank's 5% Cash Back Card, for tracking purposes. Comparing 2021 grocery spend with 2022.....there was not more than $50 difference over the full year.

[aaronc879]

I guess it depends what you consider a grocery store. There are two stores that I consider grocery stores in my town and I don't go to either of them. Those are Piggly Wiggly and Festival Foods. I go to the Pick N Save in the next town over(extra mile) because they have better sales. I also never go to the dollar stores if you count those. I have heard they do have a pretty good selection of food items. There are 2 in my town. Thankfully there is no Whole Paycheck Foods within 100 miles of me.

[rk911]

In our town we have several national regional chains. The only stores I will not shop in are ALDI and Costco. Costco is too far and both ALDI and Costco don't carry the brands we like.

[bltkmt]

Stop n Shop. Their selection and quality is bad. Luckily we have Shop Rite, Whole Foods, Trader Joes and Stew Leonards nearby.

[Out-to-Lunch]

I usually shop at a "Krogers" (locally branded version thereof), since it is about a 5-minute walk. Going the other direction, I walk past a Piggly Wiggly, a Walmart, AND an Aldi's before coming to my preferred little local co-op (think ~ Whole Foods-ish). That's about a 20-minute walk.

[Sojourner]

FWIW, we generally only go to Kroger, Publix, Walmart, and an international food market. That's because those are the only ones within 5-10 minutes drives from home.

Ones that are fairly nearby but I never go to:
Aldi — went there once and wasn't too impressed with their selection
Lidl — never been inside one
Food Depot — never been inside one
Trader Joe's — the nearest one is too far away, unfortunately
Costco — not a member and the nearest location is not convenient

[Beldar]

Of course this is a regional answer.

One "grocery" store we avoid locally is called Basha's. They consistently have expired food for sale. As in ~really~ out of date. The location closest to us has closed, and has been re-purposed into a movie theater.

_B

[Irishgirlyc58]

For those of you who shop at Walmart but don’t like going into the store, have you tried their grocery pick up service?
It’s free as long as you spend $35 or more.

Walmart has really perfected the grocery pick up process. You can set up your preferred substitutions and if you get the wrong item you can usually deal with that when they bring the order to your car.

It’s really convenient especially for those boxed/packaged items.
I shop at Walmart every week and haven’t stepped foot in one in over 3 years. It’s great.

[Trailwalker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beldar Of course this is a regional answer. One "grocery" store we avoid locally is called Basha's. They consistently have expired food for sale. As in ~really~ out of date. The location closest to us has closed, and has been re-purposed into a movie theater. _B

That would be really annoying. Out of date or spoiled food for sale on the regular shelves is one of my pet peeves.

[ShokWaveRider]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Irishgirlyc58 For those of you who shop at Walmart but don’t like going into the store, have you tried their grocery pick up service? It’s free as long as you spend $35 or more.

No, I like to choose my own produce.

[Sojourner]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Irishgirlyc58 For those of you who shop at Walmart but don’t like going into the store, have you tried their grocery pick up service? It’s free as long as you spend $35 or more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShokWaveRider No, I like to choose my own produce.

We do, too, so we avoid ordering fresh fruit and produce when placing a Walmart pickup order. We just order packaged/canned/frozen foods, and things like milk, eggs, cheese, etc. They do a perfectly fine job of picking those items out for us 97% of the time. We go to a local "international farmers market" to get fresh fruit and produce.

[athena53]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptTom 25 posts before anyone mentioned Whole Foods. Sorry, I must have stumbled into the BTD thread. I'll let myself out...

Whole Foods locations aren't convenient for me and I don't go out of my way to shop there but may stop by when in the area. I used to find that some of their bulk foods items were cheaper than the grocery store. They eliminated them during COVID- can't remember if they brought them back (which shows you how often I shop there). I like their salad/hot foods bar for a healthy lunch break and occasionally pick up some fancy soap or shampoo while I'm there- that's about it.

[Qs Laptop]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Irishgirlyc58 For those of you who shop at Walmart but don’t like going into the store, have you tried their grocery pick up service? It’s free as long as you spend $35 or more. Walmart has really perfected the grocery pick up process. You can set up your preferred substitutions and if you get the wrong item you can usually deal with that when they bring the order to your car. It’s really convenient especially for those boxed/packaged items. I shop at Walmart every week and haven’t stepped foot in one in over 3 years. It’s great.

I looked into this before Thanksgiving (there was another thread here about it) and yes, I could place my order and then go get my groceries for free...five days in the future. That's how popular it is. Also, I think they now have a membership fee.

I would definitely do this since most of the stuff I buy at Walmart are repeat items and not much produce.

[jollystomper]

I cannot think of a grocery store that we actively and deliberately avoid. For us it is more a matter of need, timing, expense, and location. Within 20 minutes of our home we have probably a dozen different store brands and at least 2 dozen stores within those brands. There are certain stores than we prefer for certain purchases, but none that we choose to avoid.

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Irishgirlyc58 For those of you who shop at Walmart but don’t like going into the store, have you tried their grocery pick up service? It’s free as long as you spend $35 or more. Walmart has really perfected the grocery pick up process. You can set up your preferred substitutions and if you get the wrong item you can usually deal with that when they bring the order to your car. It’s really convenient especially for those boxed/packaged items. I shop at Walmart every week and haven’t stepped foot in one in over 3 years. It’s great.

I totally agree, Walmart pickup is the best. I've only been inside a Walmart a few times in the last 3-4 years. They're not my preferred grocery store but I always order my dog and cat food there along with any fill in grocery items I might need at the time. It's so much easier to have them load 50Lb bags of dog food for me than me going into the store to get it. For grocery pick up, they require a $35 order but you other store items there is no minimum. Many times I order an item that's $5 or $10 and no minimum needed so they get a lot of my business that way.

I prefer Aldi and Winco for my groceries.

[Chuckanut]

I don't even think of Whole Foods. It does not cross my mind. I used to go there every few months to purchased their low sugar baked beans. But, now I make my own. I guess the price shock was so great my mind has driven the store from my consciousness.

[JPatrick]

WalMart, Costco, Sam's. and Aldi.

[Tom52]

We grocery shop primarily at a Wal-Mart neighborhood store and occasionally go to Winn Dixie and Publix for certain items. We shop at these stores because they are close enough we can go in our golf cart. We sometimes go to ALDI but we have to drive the car there. In the area is Target, Sprouts, and a few more but are farther away, 5 to 10 miles, so we do not shop there.

[plex]

Just saw the thread, definitely Whole Foods stands out as a never go, despite it being practically next door all my working life. Absolutely never stands out on any item, even organic ones, as there are at least one or two other stores that have better prices for the same thing. Dollar stores as well for the same reason, just for the very low-end items, but the mark ups aren't nearly as rampant.

The best mix changes by city/region, but for me it is currently Kroger 70%, Walmart neighborhood 20%, Sams/Aldi/TJ's/Amazon (online) 9%, 1% from specialty grocery stores (they are too small in the city I'm in to compete well, in larger cities things like 99 mart and local Indian store would take up 15-20% of my shopping).

[Out of Steam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GalaxyBoy We've mostly shopped at Kroger for many years but lately it's just becoming too much of a hassle.

My wife just switched from Kroger to Wegman's as her main supermarket because of too many things missing from the shelves at Kroger. We both go to Lidl for basic items that they have very good prices on, and I'll go to Food Lion, where my wife won't.

Neither of us shops for groceries at Walmart, but I'll occasionally go there for other things.