We have five grocery outlets. Two are regional, Crest Market and another which I don't remember their name but I seldom use them. We have a Sprouts, a Walmart, and a Target. I spent the bulk of my grocery dollars at Crest, and Walmart to a lesser extent. I always enjoyed HEB when we visited family that had an HEB. Prior ro Oklahoma we used United Super Markets which has since been bought out by Albertson's.
Our. Kroger closed last year. That leaves Walmart...the closest to me. I hate Alidi..at least here. Hubby is meat cutter for TomThumb-Safeway. ..no employees shop there...too high...however they do have good meats and seafood ...and we only by those there when on sale.
We shop at the local Publix here. Nice, helpful people and the produce is top-notch. @Holly Saunders I would run down to the local Tesco to restock on my Pork Pies and Walker Crisps. Wife wanted nothing to do with a Pork Pie or a Roast Ox flavoured Crisp! Which just meant more for me...
I forgot to mention one of our middle range supermarkets, ''Morrisons''.. they used to be Safeway ( a subsidiary of the US chain)..and were trading as Safeway here for over a hundred years ...but then Morrison bought them out around 12 years ago. I use Morrison quite often because it's probably closest to me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safeway_(UK) @Tim Burr , were you still here when Tesco started opening their Huge Superstores (tesco Extra) ? open 24 hours a day... ?
@Holly Saunders I don't think so, can't remember it being 24 hour. We were there from 1987 to 1990. The Commissary on base sold local meat and pork. ( which is why I still can't donate blood here. Being A Positive, not much call for that anyway. ) Our local corner shop was our go to place if we ran out of something. The owner was from Pakistan and every time I would approach within 10 ft. of the Magazine rack, he would call out " NOT LIBRARY "! Always cracked me up
We only have Walmart and Harps here in Clarksville. I like Harps but they have higher prices and not as much variety as Walmart. Another reason I usually go to Walmart is that our shopping list almost always has some non grocery items that I can't get at Harps.
I mostly shop at Kroger, and until Walmart built the little Neighborhood Market, Kroger was the closest place to shop. They had senior discounts on Wednesdays, and their scan-rite guarantee, so if they overcharged you (something they often do) then you got that item for free. Now, they do not do any of that, at least most of the time, although they have given me a few things free after they overcharged for them. The new “baby-Wally” is even closer than Kroger; so I sometimes go there and shop, and since Kroger has raised their prices, Walmart is now cheaper for most things anyway. About once a week, Evelyn and I will go to the Veteran’s thrift store, and then to ALDI, which is next door. You have to pay 25 cents for the cart, but you get it back when you put the cart away, and you do have to bring your own grocery bags. However, ALDI has great fresh produce, and good overall prices in general. Apparently, both ALDI and Trader Joe’s belong to the same company, so some places it has one name, and some places the other. I have also been to the Whole Foods Market, and except for the expensive prices, it is an amazing place to shop. For regular everyday items, it makes no sense to shop there because their price is higher for the exact same item as elsewhere; however, they have some really interesting food items there that I have not seen elsewhere, so it is fun to shop and browse and find things other stores do not carry. They have an amazing selection of ancient grains flours and cereals. They also have a bulk section, and the prices on their bulk foods was very reasonable, and worth shopping there. We do have a Publix, but it is not close to us, and is in a direction that I do not usually go. Publix has great food, and the most friendly staff of any store I have ever shopped at; but their prices are also high. The exact same item will usually sell for a lot less at either Kroger, ALDI, or Walmart.
We don't have Aldis here but Ive been to them in different states. I don't think Trader Joe's is like Aldi at all. I see Trader Joe's as a smaller and cheaper version of Whole Foods. The Aldi by my son is pretty nice but the ones Ive gone to when I was a living in Illinois or Indiana were crappy. I wouldnt mind having one like the one by my son but not the others Ive been in.
Yep same here CC...some aldi's are crappy as you say...some are nice. One nearest to us is spotless and really big... but I do prefer the ones abroad. We don't have trader joes' here...we do have whole foods but only a handful in the whole of the UK and they're all in the centre of London, except for one which is the complete opposite side of London to me, so I'd only go in one if I was actually in the city, i wouldn't make a special trip
I don't know....but I think Safeway bought Vons but decided to keep the name. Ive been in Safeway stores and they look exactly like my Von's does.
Here is a little video that tells about how Aldi’s got started, what countries they are in , and also explains how one of the two became Trader Joe’s.
I saw. Trader Joe’s when we were in the Seattle area, and it looks like a more impressive grocery store than Aldi’s does, and from the videos I looked at about Trader Joe’s, it seems like it has more of almost a health food type of grocery, like Whole Foods or Earthfare does. I am sure that if we had a Trader Joe’s here, I would like it, too. Aldi’s probably carries many of the same store-brand products, just with different labeling, that you have at Trader Joe’s. They have been remodeling and upgrading the Aldi’s that is in our part of town; but it is an older store, and was just modified into a grocery. Madison, which is the upper-class part of Huntsville , also has an Aldi’s, and I think that one was specially built for them, and not an older remodeled building like we have. Another thing that I really like is some of the store brand non-food things that Aldi’s sells, such as small appliances like food processors, blenders, etc. They also have yard and garden items, and they seem to be a good quality, but a reasonable price. They have specials on seasonal items each week, and once they sell out, they are gone, and they have new items.
Hannaford bought Shop & Save about ten year ago. Most of the Shop & Save stores became Hannaford stores but some of them are still operated as Shop & Save; I don't know why. They both carry the same stuff.