Misc Grocery Shopping
Twice Retired
decided to try something. Over the past 4 weeks I purchased a few basic
items at 3 stores, W-M, a local small grocery, and the typical “snob
grocery”. No produce, frozen, or meat items were included. Items included
tissue, detergent, bread, canned food, milk, coffee, coffee creamer. I
purchased the exact brand/size of items at each location. The results:
1. Snob Grocery $33.17
2. Small local $31.62
3. Wal-Mart $25.32
Milk pricing per gallon was nutty. W-M $2.74, local $3.79, snob $3.91.
Coffee creamer about the same, W-M $2.53, local $3.59, snob $4.09.
Since all brand/sizes were identical quality is not a variable.
One disturbing item was the milk at the local. The expiration dates on most
jugs had passed and when I called it to the attention of one of the
employees I was told “Somebody will buy it”.
Each one of us has to make our own decision as to shopping. I would not rule
out W-M for all items but I may be selective as to purchases.
Thomas
news:_W4Bk.15565$rV4....@newsfe03.iad:
> There has been so much rhetoric about Wal-Mart vs. other
> stores I just decided to try something. Over the past 4 weeks
> I purchased a few basic items at 3 stores, W-M, a local small
> grocery, and the typical snob
> grocery. No produce, frozen, or meat items were included.
> Items included
> tissue, detergent, bread, canned food, milk, coffee, coffee
> creamer. I purchased the exact brand/size of items at each
> location. The results: 1. Snob Grocery $33.17
> 2. Small local $31.62
> 3. Wal-Mart $25.32
> Milk pricing per gallon was nutty. W-M $2.74, local $3.79,
> snob $3.91. Coffee creamer about the same, W-M $2.53, local
> $3.59, snob $4.09. Since all brand/sizes were identical
> quality is not a variable. One disturbing item was the milk at
> the local. The expiration dates on most jugs had passed and
> when I called it to the attention of one of the employees I
> was told Somebody will buy it. Each one of us has to make
> our own decision as to shopping. I would not rule out W-M for
> all items but I may be selective as to purchases.
I take all my local (other store) ads in to WalMart and they will
match sales prices on identical product. One stop shopping for me!
val189
Please shop the same list at your local big chain supermkt and let us
know the results. I did this once with my two major chains and the
total came out the same, to the penny. That was in the preWM days,
however.
clams_casino
I did a similar comparison about two years ago - Stop & Shop (Major New
England chain) vs. Walmart.
A basket of identical goods (cereals, dairy products, cleaning products,
personal products, paper goods & snacks - no meats / produce) where
Walmart came out about $65 vs. $100 at the major grocer.
The major was essentially 50% higher on the identical items. Some items
will occasionally be lower priced as sale items at the major grocer, but
for as for staples, it's hard to beat Walmart, provided they have the
size & brand you want.
For an even better buy, I've found Aldi's to be the best price, although
their selection is quite limited where much is off (house) branded.
However, I have found their house brands are usually as good as name
brands & typically better than other generics.
George
I don't find anything like that here. There are a large regional chain
and a large family owned Italian market where we buy our groceries. I
have compared a number of times with wally and I don't see any
difference to write home about. Plus I don't care for adulterated or
poor quality meat products. Walmart meats are pumped up with
preservatives and water. I can buy fresh real meat at great prices at
the other places. If I want say sausage Walmart offers total garbage
like that Hillshire stuff. I can but freshly made good quality sausage
at the other place at a similar price instead.
val189
> Whats a "snob grocery"?
.
I know all about snob markets. It's a place in an affluent town where
no one looks at prices, lots of fancy cocktail party items, good wine
selection, imported cheeses, nothing but BMWs in the lot, plenty of
kids to schlep to your car, and you can run a monthly tab and get
billed later. .I used to shop at one strictly for convenience. It was
an independent store, owned by a family, and catered to the
wellheeled. But, their meat was top notch and the produce decent.I
was sorry to see them close, but the big chains won in the end.
When I was kid, we could drop a list of nonperishables at a local
grocer, and pick it up in a cart later in the day. Talk about
service. Don't get me started on the milk delivery, the fish truck
which ran around on Friday, a converted schoolbus which delivered
produce throught the streets, the bakeries who came to the house with
a basket of pastries and breads.........had an egg man who delivered
fresh from the farm - you almost didn't have to leave the house except
for canned goods and meat.
Seerialmom
You're not saying where in the world you are; based on the milk prices
though I would think you're not in the US?
Seerialmom
>
> - Show quoted text -
Snob grocery = Bel Air, Raley's Nob Hill, Nugget. It's not about the
attitude as much as the atmosphere and the items they carry.
Personally I love Raley's in general, especially when they have Dutch
Crunch bread on sale...it's so good fresh!
SMS
> There has been so much rhetoric about Wal-Mart vs. other stores I just
> decided to try something. Over the past 4 weeks I purchased a few basic
> items at 3 stores, W-M, a local small grocery, and the typical “snob
> grocery”. No produce, frozen, or meat items were included. Items
> included tissue, detergent, bread, canned food, milk, coffee, coffee
> creamer. I purchased the exact brand/size of items at each location. The
> results:
> 1. Snob Grocery $33.17
> 2. Small local $31.62
> 3. Wal-Mart $25.32
> Milk pricing per gallon was nutty. W-M $2.74, local $3.79, snob $3.91.
> Coffee creamer about the same, W-M $2.53, local $3.59, snob $4.09.
Yes, milk pricing can be bizarre. A lot of stores around me (California)
claim to sell milk for the minimum price the state allows, which is
around $2.65 a gallon for low fat (this week) if you buy two gallons at
a time. Even 7-11 sells milk a lot cheaper than some of the regular
supermarkets.
> Since all brand/sizes were identical quality is not a variable.
> One disturbing item was the milk at the local. The expiration dates on
> most jugs had passed and when I called it to the attention of one of the
> employees I was told “Somebody will buy it”.
I've run into that too. I get an answer like, "so?," with the attitude
that who the hell am I to tell them that they can't sell expired milk.
Actually I'm pretty sure that for milk they are not even allowed to sell
it past the "sell by" date, while for a lot of other food items it's not
illegal. One time I contacted Trader Joe's about this issue and they
investigated it, found that the store had a history of this problem, and
sent me $20 in gift certificates.
Seerialmom
There's definitely a difference between the "best if used by" date and
"sell by". Some items are good up to a week past the "sell by" date;
on canned or packaged goods the "best if used by" is relating more to
quality, not safety. I still think some of it is a ploy to make
consumers rotate their stock at home and buy more though.
James
Milk is a very common permanent loss leader.
In other words, if you are headed out for a quick buy of milk at a
cheap price, they hope you will pick up one or two other items at
regualr pricing that will make up for the discount on the milk. Milk
buying can lead to regular visits to some of these type of places, and
over time they hope you buy more and more kinds of items.
James
Seerialmom
>
> - Show quoted text -
Which explains why the "milk refrigerated section" is in the back of
the store...so you have to walk past all those end caps with their
teasing come ons :)
Twice Retired
"Seerialmom" <seeri...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:e5a950eb-5011-44dc...@i24g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
Southern IL, 25 miles from St. Louis, MO.
clams_casino
Paid $1.99 this afternoon at Cumberland Farms (RI) for 1%.(gallon)
Truly Stunned
<1d4f994a-b314-4dc2...@c65g2000hsa.googlegroups.com>,
James <jl...@idirect.com> wrote:
> Milk is a very common permanent loss leader.
While buying milk in CA once, I apparently took too long seeking the
latest expiration date I could find. From somewhere in the darkened
back, a loud voice said sarcastically, "Take your time."
"Thanks," I replied calmly, "I will." Then I picked the latest dated
milk I could find and proceeded to stand there for five minutes opening
and closing the doors as if looking for something while whistling Dixie.
I have no idea whether the blowhard pussy was back there the whole time,
but I hope it irritated him. I was happy to help their dairy shelves
lead the store's losses that day.