I think I’ve mentioned that I do all of the cooking and all of the shopping here at Chez Schuler. It was already becoming harder pre-Covid but it has become much harder post-Covid.
I have quite a few grocery stores fairly close to me:
2 blocks away
Whole Foods
Less than 2 miles away
Happy Foods
Mariano’s
Less than 5 miles away
Jewel
Fresh Farms
Costco
Aldi
Unfortunately, none of them carries everything we buy and they each have their strengths and weaknesses. I would do all of my shopping at my beloved Happy Foods but it doesn’t carry everything we use and there are better places for produce. Pre-Covid its meat was matchless. I believe they changed suppliers during Covid and it just hasn’t been the same. Still, Happy Foods has an amazingly broad selection considering its small footprint.
Mariano’s (acquired in 2015 by Kroger’s) has been declining in quality since its acquisition and the traffic getting there is daunting. I go there because my dogs’ prescriptions come from their pharmacy and they have a few things that Happy Foods doesn’t carry. With the Kroger’s-Albertson’s merger it’s going to get tougher. Our Mariano’s location will close. I don’t know what will replace it.
I rarely go to Jewel. It’s more than twice as far away as Mariano’s and has about the same selection. Like Mariano’s I don’t much care for its produce or meat and poultry.
Fresh Farms is sort of an odd duck. It has an amazing selection of ethnic specialties and its produce is probably the best of any grocery near me. Oddly, it carries Costco-branded items. I find competing with a retailer for stuff I buy at Costco troubling. If you’re looking for goat, Fresh Farms is your place.
Costco is Costco.
Whole Foods is Whole Foods. Its produce is pretty good but limited in variety. Its meat and fish are fine but price-y.
I went to an Aldi’s once about forty years ago. I doubt I’ll go back.
The bottom line is that I need to go to two or three places to get the things we need. I can get the milk my wife drinks at Happy Foods or Whole Foods. I can only get the string cheese she likes at Mariano’s. I get the skyr my wife likes at Whole Foods or Mariano’s. I get the laundry detergent we use at Happy Foods, Mariano’s, or Jewel. I get our dishwashing detergent, paper towels, and toilet paper at Costco. I get the breakfast cereal my wife likes at Happy Foods, Mariano’s or Jewel.
My impression is that Whole Foods, Jewel, and Mariano’s have been focusing increasingly on store-branded items. Items I used to be able to get from several different places I can now only get from one or need to obtain via shopping online.
Would you mind if I added a link to this on Wikipedia, on this page?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_World_problem
I, too, do our shopping, and most of the cooking. Locally (4 to 5 miles) we have a Kroger, Walmart, Aldi, and an IGA affiliate. I generally do Kroger and Walmart, and the IGA occasionally. I visited Aldi once, and never went back.
For some stuff, like knockwurst or Tin Cup whiskey or New England coney rolls, I have to go forty miles to the next big town.
I don’t know if shopping is harder since covid, but the supply chains have still not healed. And not only for food. I have been waiting two months for muffler parts and three months for a repair on my land line telephone.
PS. Kroger stopped taking my medical insurance, so I had to change pharmacists. The Kroger pharmacy has a huge personnel turnover rate, and I never saw the same pharmacists from one month to the next.
Scott:
Of course not. Welcome.
I would try Aldi’s again, though it’s not a one stop shopping place. If you are picky about your food I suspect most people shop at multiple places. We use 4 supermarkets, plus there is a really good butcher shop we use for special occasions and our farmers markets are pretty good for some stuff. We have large farms on 2 sides and the local farmers have set up a stand about 1/2 mile from us. The kind you pay on the honor system. Produce is very good right now.
Steve
Here on Vancouver Island we face the similar issues and finally got so tired of spending half a day shopping groceries because the items we are looking for may or may not be available that we have begun shopping on line and having everything delivered. It is not ideal but does save a lot of wasted time driving and wandering around in super markets.
The only reason I shop anywhere but my beloved Happy Foods is that they don’t carry everything we use although they carry a remarkable amount of it considering their small footprint.
I don’t mind paying a few cents more to support a local business which is what Happy Foods is. Even better its prices are almost entirely comparable to those of the large chains. I started buying Egg Beaters from Mariano’s because Mariano’s price was 30% cheaper than the Happy Foods price. Then Mariano’s stopped carrying Egg Beaters, presumably in favor of the Kroger brand, and I went back to Happy Foods (which had lowered it price a bit). Now I can only get Egg Beaters at Happy Foods.
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