Which grocery stores do you prefer?

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  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    stephanne13 wrote: »
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    I currently often use a local meat market that's close to my house and L stop, and has a lot of produce and other things I like (good yogurt and cheese selection).

    I'm also less than 2 blocks from a regular grocery (local chain) that I go to. It's pretty similar to the Jewel I used to go to, but a little smaller and has more ethnic stuff (the neighborhoods are somewhat different).

    My old place was walking distance to the Jewel (most convenient), TJs, and WFs, and I'd alternate depending on what I needed. (WF had the best produce and fish/seafood, TJ's was easy for staples, but the produce section was small, and a lot of the appeal is the packaged stuff I didn't get much, Jewel is a basic supermarket, but was super convenient since it was between my L and home, so I could stop in any time, and also sold drugstore stuff.)

    I get some stuff at the farmer's market even in the winter, and in season I'll get the vast majority of my produce from my farm share + the farmer's market.

    Isn't Jewel what used to be the old Alpha Beta? I think so, but if you're not 40+, you may not remember it.

    I don't remember it. (I'm 40-something, but my local store growing up was Safeway.)

    Wiki says there is a connection -- American Stores bought Alpha Beta and also bought Jewel (which owned Osco). Some of the Alpha Beta got rebranded as Jewel-Osco (outside of Jewel's traditional area), but others got rebranded as other things, and it looks like some of the ones rebranded as Jewel may have purchased by Albertsons.

    Jewel is mainly in Illinois, eastern Iowa, and northwest Indiana, so everyone around here (I'm in Chicago) knows it, but it seems like many elsewhere don't (not that they are missing out!)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Beta

    Very cool, I love that kind of stuff.
  • Cbean08
    Cbean08 Posts: 1,092 Member
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    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Cbean08 wrote: »
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Cbean08 wrote: »
    Out of both convenience and preference, I do most of my shopping at Marianos or Whole Foods. I absolutely despise Jewel Osco. Occasionally I do a Trader Joes run, usually to check out any seasonal stuff.

    I'm pretty glad that Jewel isn't my convenient store now (it was halfway between my place and my L, so even though I was a short enough walk to WF and TJs it was often just too convenient to run into Jewel for some last minute staple I was low on, or paper towels or whatever). Main reason is the service had gotten so incredibly dreadful, almost always understaffed so lines were stupidly long unless you were just lucky.

    I thought it was just my Jewel, but yes! Multiple times I have waited in line for over 20 minutes because they are understaffed or the cashiers have no idea what they are doing. I have some incredibly terrible cashiers and baggers there, gone home with food spilled out, broken eggs, smushed bread, broken sugar bag, cakes turned sideways, donuts squashed, pies put in upside down. It's terrible.

    I'm also really close to a Tony's Finer Foods which I stop at occasionally. Great produce that is very, very inexpensive.

    The local chain I mentioned going to sometimes now (besides my meat market and the other places mentioned) is a Tony's! (I think it's just local, as in this metro area, but not sure.)

    I think so too as I've never seen them elsewhere. There's a few throughout the city and a few in the southern burbs towards Oak Lawn.

    The one by me has a really heavy Mexican influence so lots of foods geared towards that cuisine. They have some really good pre-made rice with peas and sausage. And, if you're ever in a pinch, they have these chicken wraps that I swear have 1/2 a rotisserie chicken inside and it's only like 5 bucks.
  • rmcswain9372
    rmcswain9372 Posts: 6 Member
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    I stick with Publix, Harris Teeter or Food Lion (for the cheaper non produce or meats). Publix is by far superior in terms of customer service, but I can’t always find what I need. HT has amazing produce and meats. And I know the store layout so well.
  • OddDitty
    OddDitty Posts: 248 Member
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    I used to shop Kroger but they don't have them here. So, its WalMart and HEB and sometimes Aldi now. Well and the Commissary on base. The problem is they all are so different in what they carry. I really have no favorite since I go to each for different reasons. And I hit a local farmers' stand and meat market.

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