View Full Version : The "other" grocery aisle
QuikSand
10-23-2006, 01:40 PM
So, baby and I were out shopping this weekend at a newly re-designed (gentified?) grocery store in our area. Seems like a nice place, overall.
As I'm wandering around, I come across a short aisle, I happened to notice the aisle marker and its list of items included there. Cracked me up, and with the aid of the ever-present cameraphone, I bring it to you:
http://www.fof-ihof.com/upload/QuikSand/photo_102206.jpg
Not sure if this begs for a caption contest... or even if anyone else will see the humor that I did. But I honestly can hardly imagine a more disparate grouping of items to possible be included on a tiny, 30-foot grocery aisle.
cuervo72
10-23-2006, 01:45 PM
lol.
And I see they got to your Food Lion, too. Damn that bloom. Just an excuse to raise prices and otherwise muck things up.
Peregrine
10-23-2006, 01:46 PM
It's a clever marketing strategy, knowing that guys have to run to the store from time to time to pick up feminine products, now they'll be able to come home with bags of charcoal and motor oil too! "But honey, it was in the same aisle!"
wade moore
10-23-2006, 01:46 PM
I guess for me the funniest part of it is the potential for multi-use items.
lordscarlet
10-23-2006, 01:48 PM
I guess for me the funniest part of it is the potential for multi-use items.
She'll probably survive if you put insecticide on that...
QuikSand
10-23-2006, 01:50 PM
lol.
And I see they got to your Food Lion, too. Damn that bloom. Just an excuse to raise prices and otherwise muck things up.
Yeah, Food Lion ==> bloom, and prices go up. But all told, I like the store a bit better now (the overall appearance if far, far better) and they carry more things that we'd be inclined to buy. So, if that means we pay an extra 10 cents for our can of peaches to pay for the snappy aisle signs and wooden floors, I can live with that. They had 37 kinds of mustard, for heavens sake!
lordscarlet
10-23-2006, 01:51 PM
lol.
And I see they got to your Food Lion, too. Damn that bloom. Just an excuse to raise prices and otherwise muck things up.
Just be glad your closest grocery store isn't a Whole Foods, like mine is. :)
Peapod is my solution.
wade moore
10-23-2006, 01:53 PM
Yeah, Food Lion ==> bloom, and prices go up. But all told, I like the store a bit better now (the overall appearance if far, far better) and they carry more things that we'd be inclined to buy. So, if that means we pay an extra 10 cents for our can of peaches to pay for the snappy aisle signs and wooden floors, I can live with that. They had 37 kinds of mustard, for heavens sake!
We often shop at the "expensive" grocery store in town (Ukrop's - a chain only in Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Williamsburg) because Food Lion just doesn't do it for me. Too often they don't have what I want and their meats just don't do it for me (and I don't mean the old "they bleach their meat" issue)
cuervo72
10-23-2006, 01:54 PM
Hmm. In ours, it seems like they have sacrificed some shelf space in the process of making the aisles wider and shorter, hence cutting down product selection. It is cleaner, but at the same time everything seems condensed, if that makes any sense. I had the hang of our store, and now I need to go and relearn everything. Nevermind the fact that they took the last couple of aisles (the left side of the store being the "end") and replaced them with a number of ultra-short horizontal aisles.
QuikSand
10-23-2006, 01:57 PM
It turns out that our home is something of a perfect economist's petri dish as far as grocery shopping -- we live in a spot such that our travel time to five different grocery stores is almost exactly the same. We have a Giant, Safeway, SuperFresh, Weis, and bloom all about six minutes away.
(FYI - many economic models try to eliminate things like transaction costs, making assumptions that each of the multiple sellers in a marketplace are equally available to the buyer -- when we know that really isn't likely to be true. For us, it pretty literally is -- the cost of gasoline and time/effort is virtually identical for us to travel to any of these stores)
It's interesting what drives decisions of grocery shoppers. Well, it's interesting to me, at least. But I'm one of those weirdos who actually think about these things.
wade moore
10-23-2006, 02:14 PM
It turns out that our home is something of a perfect economist's petri dish as far as grocery shopping -- we live in a spot such that our travel time to five different grocery stores is almost exactly the same. We have a Giant, Safeway, SuperFresh, Weis, and bloom all about six minutes away.
(FYI - many economic models try to eliminate things like transaction costs, making assumptions that each of the multiple sellers in a marketplace are equally available to the buyer -- when we know that really isn't likely to be true. For us, it pretty literally is -- the cost of gasoline and time/effort is virtually identical for us to travel to any of these stores)
It's interesting what drives decisions of grocery shoppers. Well, it's interesting to me, at least. But I'm one of those weirdos who actually think about these things.
Oddly enough, so am I.
When we are making a big trip and know we want to save money, we actually bypass the closest Grocery Store (not counting the super-high end, almost butchery called Fresh Market) which is Food Lion (about 2 miles away), Ukrop's (about 4 miles away) to go to Wal-Mart (about 10 miles away).
I just REALLY despise Food Lion's meat and produce selection. It is just horrendous imo.
Drake
10-23-2006, 02:20 PM
Am I the only one here freaked out by the idea of Quiksand and his baby alone in a grocery store?
Ksyrup
10-23-2006, 02:21 PM
Food Lion...I didn't realize they were still around after ABC's hidden-camera investigation caught them bleaching bad meat to kill the smell and all sorts of other hideous, disgusting things. It spawned an interesting court case against ABC, though...
bosshogg23
10-23-2006, 02:21 PM
It turns out that our home is something of a perfect economist's petri dish as far as grocery shopping -- we live in a spot such that our travel time to five different grocery stores is almost exactly the same. We have a Giant, Safeway, SuperFresh, Weis, and bloom all about six minutes away.
(FYI - many economic models try to eliminate things like transaction costs, making assumptions that each of the multiple sellers in a marketplace are equally available to the buyer -- when we know that really isn't likely to be true. For us, it pretty literally is -- the cost of gasoline and time/effort is virtually identical for us to travel to any of these stores)
It's interesting what drives decisions of grocery shoppers. Well, it's interesting to me, at least. But I'm one of those weirdos who actually think about these things.
Im in nearly the same situation with store selection. 2 Pathmarks, 2 Shoprites, 1 SuperFresh, 1 Acme and 1 Shop-N-Bag. I tend to go where I know they will have the self checkouts. I avoid Whole Foods and Genardis when I can because their employees tend to move like molasses.
wade moore
10-23-2006, 02:24 PM
Food Lion...I didn't realize they were still around after ABC's hidden-camera investigation caught them bleaching bad meat to kill the smell and all sorts of other hideous, disgusting things. It spawned an interesting court case against ABC, though...
It's still one of the more successful Grocery Chains out there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_Lion
Food Lion is an American (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_America) grocery store (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grocery_store) chain with over 1,220 stores found in 11 Southeastern (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeastern_United_States) and Mid-Atlantic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic) states, including Delaware (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware), Florida (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida), Georgia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_%28U.S._state%29), Kentucky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky), Maryland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland), North Carolina (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina), Pennsylvania (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania), South Carolina (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Carolina), Tennessee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee), Virginia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia), and West Virginia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia).
Side note: Reading this I didn't realize Bloom as still the same company, thought some of the Food Lions were bought out.
I'm thinking that would only succeed in places where there are a lot of other grocery stories at a competitive level to Food Lion. Around here I think Food Lion has a pretty dominant hold on the "low-price" market so that a Bloom wouldn't make sense.
cuervo72
10-23-2006, 02:25 PM
Our former Food Lion is located such that unless we take a back route out of our development, we will pass it whenever we go out. So it is by far the most convenient store for us. My assumption is that what once was a bit of an outpost (that or a store primarily for folks living on-base at Ft. Detrick) is now a much richer location given the new construction (and new money) of the past 7+ years. So they're deciding to upgrade the store, to keep folks from driving that extra mile if looking for more upscale choices. I'm not a real upscale kind of guy where it comes to food (much less than Quik, that's for sure), so I'm kind of disappointed with the change.
As far as meat and chicken go, I'll admit that it is a little better now, though I'll typically buy my meat at Sam's.
wade moore
10-23-2006, 02:27 PM
Our former Food Lion is located such that unless we take a back route out of our development, we will pass it whenever we go out. So it is by far the most convenient store for us. My assumption is that what once was a bit of an outpost (that or a store primarily for folks living on-base at Ft. Detrick) is now a much richer location given the new construction (and new money) of the past 7+ years. So they're deciding to upgrade the store, to keep folks from driving that extra mile if looking for more upscale choices. I'm not a real upscale kind of guy where it comes to food (much less than Quik, that's for sure), so I'm kind of disappointed with the change.
As far as meat and chicken go, I'll admit that it is a little better now, though I'll typically buy my meat at Sam's.
I have used the strategy of buying stuff at Food Lion and then making a seperate trip for meat.
I'm a bit of a snob with meat and will also only buy my steaks at the previously mentioned high-high-end grocery store where I pay $15-$20/lb for my steak.
Malificent
10-23-2006, 02:27 PM
The Food Lion is the grocery store closest to our house (about 10 mins out). We routinely skip it to go to the Kroger about 17 mins out. Food Lion's selection and customer service has been hideous.
Ksyrup
10-23-2006, 02:33 PM
It's still one of the more successful Grocery Chains out there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_Lion
Side note: Reading this I didn't realize Bloom as still the same company, thought some of the Food Lions were bought out.
I'm thinking that would only succeed in places where there are a lot of other grocery stories at a competitive level to Food Lion. Around here I think Food Lion has a pretty dominant hold on the "low-price" market so that a Bloom wouldn't make sense.
They all but disappeared in several areas of Florida after that ABC investigation. The couple of stores I can recall in Tallahassee closed years ago. I guess they turned themselves around over the past 5 years or so. We never shopped there, but all Ican remember about that store is the dorky-looking President of the company in those stupid-ass commercials. At the time, they were an ACC sponsor and he was all over the TV (and I'm not sure why they thought that was a good idea).
lordscarlet
10-23-2006, 04:06 PM
Hmm. In ours, it seems like they have sacrificed some shelf space in the process of making the aisles wider and shorter, hence cutting down product selection. It is cleaner, but at the same time everything seems condensed, if that makes any sense. I had the hang of our store, and now I need to go and relearn everything. Nevermind the fact that they took the last couple of aisles (the left side of the store being the "end") and replaced them with a number of ultra-short horizontal aisles.
Sounds like an improvement to me. When I used to shop at Food Lion they had lots of shelf space, but all of it was empty.
It turns out that our home is something of a perfect economist's petri dish as far as grocery shopping -- we live in a spot such that our travel time to five different grocery stores is almost exactly the same. We have a Giant, Safeway, SuperFresh, Weis, and bloom all about six minutes away.
For me everything is magnified. I don't have a car and live in the city. I can walk a block and a half to Whole Foods (which is also on the 1.5 mi walk home from work), 5 blocks to Giant, or 6 blocks to Safeway. For a large grocery trip walking is pretty much out of the question. That means I have to get a zip car (~$8.75/hr), so it's easier/cheaper to just pay $5 for Peapod to deliver it to my house.
I have used the strategy of buying stuff at Food Lion and then making a seperate trip for meat.
I'm a bit of a snob with meat and will also only buy my steaks at the previously mentioned high-high-end grocery store where I pay $15-$20/lb for my steak.
I solve that two ways:
Vegetarian Fiance
I mainly eat chicken
Subby
10-23-2006, 04:19 PM
Food Lion was created for the others. It is unappealing in every single way.
Subby
10-23-2006, 04:20 PM
dola
Of course we shop primarily at Costco, so I don't really have a whole lot of room to talk...
terpkristin
10-23-2006, 04:23 PM
I'm so glad that Wegman's is close to me. Great produce, great meats, lots of cheeses, a nice prepared foods section...
And prices aren't bad (about same price as local Giant and Safeway). Have never gone into local Food Lion.
/tk
Galaxy
10-23-2006, 04:29 PM
They had 37 kinds of mustard, for heavens sake!
Counted?
Draft Dodger
10-23-2006, 04:34 PM
we have 3 grocery stores.
- the closest (Shaws) is by far the cheapest, both in terms of sale items and regular items. It also has one of the worst checkout departments - slothlike cashiers and baggers who spend more time talking to each other than the customerm and self-checkout registers that only work half the time (and the person "helping" on them is almost always not around). Product availability is probably the best of the 3, and the perishable departments are overall pretty decent. Stock level is inconsistent - it's not uncommon to find important stuff (toilet paper or dr pepper) out of stock, as well as big ticket sale items. This store uses those stupid keychain things to get sale prices, which is annoying, but even worse they do have all kinds of dumb promotions (like spend $8 zillion dollars to get a free turkey) that also make me crazy (more so at the stupid lemmings who think it's great, rather than the store).
- 2nd closest, Hannafords, is a bit more expensive than store one, and has almost no sales to speak of. checkout department is excellent, with very short wait times and generally friendly staff. I almost never find anything out of stock, and the perishables are pretty decent. For a while, store A was giving out $10 coupons, which this store cleverly began accepting until store A caught wind of it. No keychain scan to get sale prices - basically a no-frills store.
-store C (Price Chopper) is brand new, built just outside of town. It's not really convenient, and I suspect much of it's business comes from people coming in from outlying towns (and especially people from VT looking to save on sales tax). They double coupons, have the best flyers by far, and pretty good perishables. The also have a bizarre layout, some VERY narrow ailes, and, most importantly, severely jacked up prices on non-sale items. If you were the type of person to shop the ads, or cherry pick the three stores, you could really save money here. Even though it is much bigger than the others and they have lots of stuff the others don't, several items I normally buy they don't carry, which is odd.
I go to store two. My goal is to get in, get my stuff, and get out. There is nothing that drives me crazier than going to Shaws, spending an hour going through the store...and then stand in line for 30 minutes while my dipstick cashier tells my fucktard bagger how the party was last weekend. I will gladly pay 3-5% more (my guess) and drive a mile farther to not have to endure all that. I don't need to be coddled - just don't slow me down.
Subby
10-23-2006, 04:35 PM
Of course, if I was fabulously wealthy I would go to Whole Foods to shop. They have the best produce of any store I have ever been in....
terpkristin
10-23-2006, 04:36 PM
There is nothing that drives me crazier than going to Shaws, spending an hour going through the store...and then stand in line for 30 minutes while my dipstick cashier tells my fucktard bagger how the party was last weekend.
I think this is a problem with Shaws everywhere, as the one I go to when I'm in New Britain, CT to see my grandmother has the same problem. Maybe Shaws just attracts the idiots..
/tk
Draft Dodger
10-23-2006, 04:38 PM
Maybe Shaws just attracts the idiots..
/tk
considering I worked there for 10 years, I can confirm this. :D
btw, great pic, QS.
ctmason
10-23-2006, 05:16 PM
Back home in GA I was used to shopping for groceries at the local Super Wal-Mart or the very clean Kroger nearby. And for those of you in some of the transition areas of Atlanta, you know that a clean Kroger is a rarity, and should be held close with the fury a mother would protect a small child.
Out here in sunny Phoenix, I am surrounded by Grocery options. All within 8 miles of the house are a Whole Foods, Frys (Kroger), Albertson's, Super Wal-Mart, AJ's (waaay too pricey), Safeway and Costco.
While I find each has its desirables (AJ's Deli/Bakery is far superior to any grocery store) I find myself going to Fry's mostly. In terms of the tacky "card savings" and other specials they seem to strike the best balance of cleanliness, quality and price. I have a Costco membership I rarely use, and probably should get rid of, but you just never know.
Living by myself, I've rarely found usefulness in Costco over the long haul, and this debate has long been raging among frugal living advocates (i.e. whether buying in bulk is "worth it" for the single person).
One thing's for sure, I miss Publix a lot.
Buccaneer
10-23-2006, 05:18 PM
Aren't all chain grocery stores either owned by Kroger or Safeway? That's probably an exaggeration but in all of the regions I've lived (east, west, southeast and midwest), the most popular chain was a Kroger-owned store.
Just be glad your closest grocery store isn't a Whole Foods, like mine is.
Hey.
RPI-Fan
10-23-2006, 05:46 PM
We only have two options in the entire Capital Region!
Price Chopper and Hannaford.
Draft Dodger's description is pretty accurate. I kind of equate Hannaford to Target and Price Chopper to Wal-Mart. Hannaford happens to be closer to my house so if I have to go the store I go there. But the dilemma comes when I'm anywhere other than home, which almost always means PC is closer. Then, I usually go to PC even though Hannaford is just an extra few minutes out of the way.
cuervo72
10-23-2006, 06:26 PM
I think this is a problem with Shaws everywhere
Yeah, we have occasional problems with our Shaw too. Though now and then we will get a hot deal out of it.
But I'm one of those weirdos who actually think about these things.
I can't tell you how many times I've read a post by QS and thought, He's one of those weirdos who actually think about these things.
I'm pleased to see my all-too-frequent assessment confirmed by the bot himself.
:D :D :D
Counted?
edited for redundancy
Counted?
You kidding? He not only counted the mustard in its present configuration, but ran 1000 simulations each with a demographic emphasis of 9 vs 1 for hamburgers, 9 vs 1 for hot dogs, and 9 vs 1 for sandwich meats, and all permutations. Yer damn right he counted.
Of course, if I was fabulously wealthy I would go to Whole Foods to shop. They have the best produce of any store I have ever been in....
yah, I was just in Denver during Raider weekend for the game and went into Wild Oats and Whole Foods for the first time. Was very impressed with both stores' produce. I'd give the overall edge to Whole Foods based on service and the huge prepared food selection throughout the store.
Galaxy
10-23-2006, 08:44 PM
You kidding? He not only counted the mustard in its present configuration, but ran 1000 simulations each with a demographic emphasis of 9 vs 1 for hamburgers, 9 vs 1 for hot dogs, and 9 vs 1 for sandwich meats, and all permutations. Yer damn right he counted.
I think this requires a diagram.
I suck. The rare chance at a legit triple-dola ruined by a rookie-ass double post. I feel like Lamont Jordan.
General Mike
10-23-2006, 08:49 PM
There's no food stores here. No good ones at least.
stevew
10-23-2006, 08:53 PM
I hated Food Lion when I lived in virginia. It was always dirty and expensive. Now I primarily buy from 3-4 different stores, Super WalMart, Aldi's and a local family type place. As well as a giant eagle sometimes too. It just really depends on the mood of the day, and how many days I am buying groceries for.
Daimyo
10-23-2006, 08:55 PM
I wish I had a Whole Foods nearby... they have the best produce and meats (for a chain at least). I have a Dominicks (Safeway's brand in Chicago) literally right across the street from my apartment so I almost always shop there although I refuse to buy meat there.
vtbub
10-23-2006, 09:08 PM
considering I worked there for 10 years, I can confirm this. :D
btw, great pic, QS.
Two words for you on the crap list. Grand Union.
Izulde
10-23-2006, 09:29 PM
Here in Lax, we have a mini-Quillin's a few blocks from the house (where I do most of my daily shopping), a bigger Quillin's further away and then over in Onalaska, there's two Festival Foods, a Wal-Mart, and a Woodman's.
The one Festival Foods sucks. Very limited variety.
The other Festival Food is where I do my shopping when I can get a ride over there because it has the best selection in town and a great organic aisle.
The mini-Quillin's is more like a glorified convenience store than anything else, but it's close enough to where I can walk back and forth with no trouble. Selection is nothing like the bigger stores obviously, but it's got enough for one of its size.
The bigger Quillin's I just started picking stuff up at this past weekend. Not quite as wide a variety as the better Festival Foods, but it's a lot closer and I'd probably rank it #2 overall out of the area stores.
Walmart is...Walmart. I never buy food there if I can help it.
CamEdwards
10-23-2006, 09:58 PM
I'm so glad that Wegman's is close to me. Great produce, great meats, lots of cheeses, a nice prepared foods section...
And prices aren't bad (about same price as local Giant and Safeway). Have never gone into local Food Lion.
/tk
Do you go to the Wegman's in Fairfax, or is there one closer to Ashburn? We'll drive the ten miles or so to go to Wegman's once a week. The prices are much cheaper than the neighborhood Giant, and the selection is a whole lot better.
sterlingice
10-23-2006, 10:18 PM
So, baby and I were out shopping this weekend
This part of the quote disturbed me more than anything and I have yet to see a comment about it. Who overwrote the grammar engine of QS so he could say "So, baby and I were...{anything}" without doing significant permanent harm to his circuits?
SI
Warhammer
10-23-2006, 10:27 PM
They need batteries on this aisle.
wade moore
10-24-2006, 05:31 AM
Aren't all chain grocery stores either owned by Kroger or Safeway? That's probably an exaggeration but in all of the regions I've lived (east, west, southeast and midwest), the most popular chain was a Kroger-owned store.
Definately not true in the Mid-Atlantic..
The most popular grocery stores are Giant Food (now oned by Ahold in Europe), Food Lion (owned by themselves), Safeway, and probably next at this point is Super Wal-Mart. I don't have exact numbers to back this up, but my mother has worked in an office position in Giant Food for years and I know that in some NJ, some PA, MD, and VA they are the dominant chain. And just from my experience, Krogers isn't even around in many places and where this is a Safeway it is usually the 2nd or 3rd option.
Ksyrup
10-24-2006, 06:56 AM
In Florida, I don't recall any Kroger's. Publix was the biggie (based in Lakeland), followed by Albertson's (although they recently got bought out and are closing stores), Winn-Dixie, and Super Wal-Mart and Target Greatland, of course.
Here in Kentucky it is primarily Kroger's, and Meijer's replaces Target as the "competitor" for Super Wal-Mart (we have a Target, but it isn't a full grocery). I'm sure there are a couple of others, but I haven't been here long enough to notice them.
Drake
10-24-2006, 07:51 AM
This part of the quote disturbed me more than anything and I have yet to see a comment about it. Who overwrote the grammar engine of QS so he could say "So, baby and I were...{anything}" without doing significant permanent harm to his circuits?
SI
Am I the only one here freaked out by the idea of Quiksand and his baby alone in a grocery store?
;)
Coffee Warlord
10-24-2006, 08:10 AM
I wish I had a Whole Foods nearby... they have the best produce and meats (for a chain at least). I have a Dominicks (Safeway's brand in Chicago) literally right across the street from my apartment so I almost always shop there although I refuse to buy meat there.
Having acquired a quite brown ribeye at Dominick's once, I completely concur with this statement. Dominick's is not a bad grocery store, except for the meat.
Have to hit a real butcher for steaks around me. Grocery stores consist of Jewel (of which I have never seen a non-shithole Jewel) or the aforementioned Dominick's.
cuervo72
10-24-2006, 08:16 AM
Definately not true in the Mid-Atlantic..
The most popular grocery stores are Giant Food (now oned by Ahold in Europe), Food Lion (owned by themselves), Safeway, and probably next at this point is Super Wal-Mart. I don't have exact numbers to back this up, but my mother has worked in an office position in Giant Food for years and I know that in some NJ, some PA, MD, and VA they are the dominant chain. And just from my experience, Krogers isn't even around in many places and where this is a Safeway it is usually the 2nd or 3rd option.
Those do seem to be the big ones around here. We also have some Giant Eagle stores too:
Operates more than 200 stores, with the purchase of Riser Foods in Cleveland and County Markets in Maryland. Giant Eagle now has stores throughout Western Pennsylvania, Central and Northern Ohio, Northern West Virginia and Western Maryland.
Growing up, we had a couple local ones, like the Shop 'n Bag (Thriftway owned?) and the Mad Grocer (great name, there). We also had an Acme, and a Pathmark until that particular location became a Genuardi's (bought by Safeway).
cuervo72
10-24-2006, 08:18 AM
Am I the only one here freaked out by the idea of Quiksand and his baby alone in a grocery store?
Well, imagine the damage he could cause with motor oil, light bulbs, insecticides, charcoal, and feminine products at his disposal.
Drake
10-24-2006, 08:33 AM
And a baby! Never underestimate the damage a man can do with a baby at his disposal. They're like shoulder mounted poo rockets.
Critch
10-24-2006, 08:39 AM
Of course, if I was fabulously wealthy I would go to Whole Foods to shop. They have the best produce of any store I have ever been in....
It's worth going there just for the free samples of Parrano cheese. It's the cheesey equivalent of angels dancing on your tongue. Fantabulous.
lordscarlet
10-24-2006, 09:16 AM
I wish I had a Whole Foods nearby... they have the best produce and meats (for a chain at least). I have a Dominicks (Safeway's brand in Chicago) literally right across the street from my apartment so I almost always shop there although I refuse to buy meat there.
You wish you could pay $5+ per pound of chicken? :)
Oh yeah, amidst my douple-post-triple-dola-ruining angst, I forgot to mention that I manage a Publix, and we have a similar aisle. Pretty much anything that's not edible or a cleaning product got crammed onto one aisle because of the odd configuration of our store facility (lots of aisles, but they're all about 8' shorter than normal).
So I got a chuckle as well out of that pic, as it reminded me of my first day in my store when I got to aisle 13, paused, and thought, "wtf?"
terpkristin
10-24-2006, 04:50 PM
Do you go to the Wegman's in Fairfax, or is there one closer to Ashburn? We'll drive the ten miles or so to go to Wegman's once a week. The prices are much cheaper than the neighborhood Giant, and the selection is a whole lot better.
There is one in Ashburn. If you were to take the toll road to 28 North and then exit 28 onto 625 west/Waxpool Road, it's right there. Near the Carmax off of 28, actually. Conveniently, I work at 28 and Waxpool (more or less) and live off of Waxpool, so I pass by Wegman's on my way home every night.
Edit to say: Technically according to the Wegman's website, the store is in Sterling/Dulles. Doesn't impact its closeness to me. :D
/tk
Buccaneer
10-24-2006, 06:25 PM
You wish you could pay $5+ per pound of chicken? :)
For chickens raised without antibiotics nor animal by-products in the feed nor beak trimming for broilers? Absolutely.
CamEdwards
10-24-2006, 07:58 PM
There is one in Ashburn. If you were to take the toll road to 28 North and then exit 28 onto 625 west/Waxpool Road, it's right there. Near the Carmax off of 28, actually. Conveniently, I work at 28 and Waxpool (more or less) and live off of Waxpool, so I pass by Wegman's on my way home every night.
Edit to say: Technically according to the Wegman's website, the store is in Sterling/Dulles. Doesn't impact its closeness to me. :D
/tk
Nice. Of course I have no willpower when it comes to food, so if Wegman's were actually convenient for me, I'd probably be fatter than I already am.
sooner333
10-24-2006, 10:06 PM
For some reason, from my house the two closest grocery stores are the same (Homeland) and are both less than a mile away. The other options within a few miles are Wal-Mart, Albertsons, Super Target (brand new), IGA, and some other off-brand discount store.
I usually just go to the Homeland, even though it's more expensive than Wal-Mart because it's closer, also open 24 hours, the crowds aren't as big, and the store is smaller and more manageable.
Also, interesting to see the regional difference in grocery store chains. We hardly have any listed on here. Food Lion was here, but it closed before I moved here and a nightclub/gym is in its place now.
Peregrine
10-25-2006, 01:55 AM
I have a Harris Teeter across the street from me in one direction, and a Food Lion in the other direction. Needless to say, I haven't seen the inside of that Food Lion in a long time. Harris Teeter and Whole Foods are pretty much the only places I shop.
Ben E Lou
10-25-2006, 06:07 AM
It's a clever marketing strategy, knowing that guys have to run to the store from time to time to pick up feminine productsI have been married for 8 1/2 years, and this still weirds me out a bit, to the level that if I don't know the cashier, I make a point to get the receipt from them with my left hand, so that my wedding ring will show. :p
vBulletin v3.6.0, Copyright ©2000-2026, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.