The 12 Worst Supermarkets in America

The Fiscal Times ^ | April 13, 2012 ?!? | Blaire Briody

[Daffynition]

...All ratings are based on 24,203 responses, and the four categories – service (includes employee courtesy and checkout speed), perishables (food quality), price and cleanliness – were scored from “very satisfied,” “fairly satisfied,” “neutral, “fairly unsatisfied” and “very unsatisfied.” All scores are out of 100. The highest-rated supermarket, Wegmans, received a score of 88. The following are ranked from bad to worst....

[steelhead_trout]

“Nicer”, not “nice.”

[bgill]

We have one grocery store here. It’s hands down the worse store ever. HEB. Instead of following Moo’s heavy handed suggestion that the Thanksgiving table have discussions about o’care, we discussed how awful our HEB store is. Empty shelves, products on sale are pulled or never ordered, doesn’t accept coupons, small inventory, old hard bread, etc.

[C. Edmund Wright]

i have been in North Carolina since last March... i have to say, i miss the supermarkets that are in the SF Bay Area... i am from the South Bay, and the supermarkets here in NC do not compare with the few supermarkets i frequented in Cali…

Interesting. Few questions for you.

A: what stores have you tried in NC

B: how do the prices compare?

C: how do the taxes compare?

D: how do the bath houses compare?

[Dr. Sivana]

Some CC’s offer money back, some give air miles, some give other benefits. It’s the paying off at the end of the month that counts.

Markups in the best supermarkets average about 2%. The CC fees wipe that out.

[wbill]

The FoodLion by me is decent. Not an upscale shopping experience by any means, but decent. It's clean, well-stocked, the selection is adequate, and the prices are pretty good.

BUT, I don't live in a "food desert" or in an (shall I say) "urban environment". Likely has more to do with it, than anything else.

[Fresh Wind]

The closest store to me is an Acme. Nice store, nice people, but it’s union, and the prices are the highest around. There must be a connection.

[Koschei]

Ha. Yeah, they have a few very “vintage” stores in their collection. One of their Sunbury store is straight out of the 1950s.

[the OlLine Rebel]

I already rained on the Wegman’s parade so tried to refrain from the Trader Joe’s parade. Until you brought it up.

Finally stopped at the TJs near us. Let’s just say I was unimpressed, and extra depressed that they didn’t have the vegetarian marshmallows as our local organic marts do. That’s all we wanted, but I was expecting a big place with lots of specialty areas and so on. It was not only small in area but I could see over all the shelving in the place. No real specialty counters. We have 3 local organics in the same area and they are all more impressive, especially the true individual businesses. If we had a Whole Foods in the area, I’d go there before TJs. Been to one a few times that’s 45 min away, and it is better.

[Publius Valerius]

You shouldn't be buying groceries with credit cards anyway.

Why, pray tell?

There is a grocery store about a mile from my house that doesn't take credit cards. I drive past it on my way to the other grocery store that does take credit cards. I don't write checks, and I don't feel like counting my pennies to see if I am carrying enough cash that day to buy everything on my list.

[rochester_veteran]

Visited a Piggly Wiggly for the first time when in Oostburg for my sons wedding. It was a smaller store, but very clean and they had a nice selection. The store staff were helpful and friendly but so were the people of Oostburg, nice place!

[henkster]

Now THAT’s a fridge!

We put the beer in a snow drift once when I was in high school (fewer questions that way). Made the beer taste nasty, even by high school standards.

[minnesota_bound]

Beware of stores that have a visible security guard. There must be a reason why. The local Ralphs has em and they walk around the store eying you. The Albertsons across the street does not have anyone.

[Ditter]

Once for Trader Joe's was enough. Not going back. We have too many good supermarkets within 3 miles of my house.
Besides, I saw more obama stickers on the cars in TJ’s parking lot than I have seen in years. If you see happy people in there then it is libs visiting with other libs.

What did you call me BTW?

[JoeProBono]

[trisham]

From Wikipedia:

"Eeyore (i/ˈiːɔr/ ee-or) is a character in the Winnie-the-Pooh books by A. A. Milne. He is generally characterized as a pessimistic, gloomy, depressed, anhedonic, old grey stuffed donkey who is a friend of the title character, Winnie-the-Pooh."

I'm guessing the above is what he meant.

[C. Edmund Wright]

Eeyore….the gloomy gus donkey in the Pooh series…..

Don’t know what you call a “good supermarket” - that Trader Joes’ doesn’t add up. Suit yourself, but almost everyone who shops at Trader Joes really likes it. They also have red wines in the 3-5 dollar range that would cost 10-20 elsewhere, and they have their own Mexican beer called Trader Jose’s, showing a sense of humor. And happy staff.

Again, not sure what you call “good” -

[Dr. Sivana]

There is a grocery store about a mile from my house that doesn't take credit cards. I drive past it on my way to the other grocery store that does take credit cards. I don't write checks, and I don't feel like counting my pennies to see if I am carrying enough cash that day to buy everything on my list.

I'm not sure why a debit card won't do the job. The idea is that CREDIT should be for things that are not regular expenses. Most utulities have a surcharge for using credit cards. Often, the best price to be had on gasoline is a cash price. If you want to pay a bit more for using a credit card, especially if there are no true low margin supermarkets around, by all means, use the credit card. (BTW, Walmart is NOT the lowest price supermarket in any competitive area I've seen.)

I would also make an exception for those people who are on long trips and/or want to track their expenses better.

[the OlLine Rebel]

So-called organic (”living?”) and “whole food” places are by nature liberal. Liberals congregate there because they think they are beating The Man with “natural” stuff and not enriching anyone. Sometimes they have good things there, so I do occasionally stop in. But it is one of liberalism’s religious sites.

[Dr. Sivana]

Visited a Piggly Wiggly for the first time when in Oostburg for my sons wedding. It was a smaller store, but very clean and they had a nice selection.

We recently moved to a small city (5,000) in WI, with the local supermarket being a Piggly-Wiggly. I expected a run down, dirty, high-markup store. After all, in a low-population center they could get away with it. While it ain't exactly Woodman's, by shopping sales,including the above average meat counter, we often decide to shop there instead of making the trek. Smart marketing.

Oh, and Piggly-Wiggly in many ways was the first modern supermarket, eventually spawning many of the larger chains of today like Kroger and Safeway, read the Wiki on it... fascinating.

[Daffynition]

Only time my Wallie doesn't have lines is between 10AM - 2PM....when all the *seasoned citizens* are out and about....doing errands after their cataract doctor appointments.

You just hafta quit your day job. ;)