Consumer Reports Best Supermarkets (USA) list (based on produce and store-prepared-meal quality)

[gfweb]

Fresh Market is in PA too, perhaps elsewhere. Agree about Central Market. I've been to the one in Houston a few times, just great.

[GlorifiedRice]

DDF? I have never seen what you are seeing (bugs and mold) at the Aldis near me. I live in Philly Metro and maybe its busier here, but everything is fresh and clean here.

I dont buy the frozen chicken, but I do buy the fresh pork chops and the fresh chicken.

Everything in their stores are relabled national brands.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I read the Consumer Reports article this morning.  ShopRite is the only store I can get to more than a couple of times a year, so I don't have much choice.  I will not buy seafood there.  Last two times I got sick.  But the produce seems to have improved over the years.

 

Wish I had more choice of grocery shopping.  I miss Grand Union.  Their meat and fish were excellent.

[gfron1]

This was my point about the NASFT list. Central isn't a chain (or if it is its very small) so it doesn't get included just like AJs and a host of other outstanding regional grocers.

 

And where is Central Market in TX? They have to be one of the best in the country imho. If Fresh Market can make this list, surely Central can too.

[weinoo]

...Whole Foods has no 'regular food"...Its not one stop shopping. If you go there you will spend a ton of money for 2 bags of food and then the next day you'll have to go to the regular supermarket ...

 

This is a crock. I shop for much food stuff at whole foods and go to a closer, "regular' supermarket for kitty littler and other dry goods.

 

What can't you buy at Whole Foods that forces you to go to a "regular" supermarket?

[radtek]

Central Market is HEB. Actually it's called HEB Central Market. San Antonio, Austin, Metroplex and Houston. I prefer to get my beef and bulk spices there. The concept reaction to Whole Foods' branching out of Austin in the mid 90's. 

[GlorifiedRice]

This is a crock. I shop for much food stuff at whole foods and go to a closer, "regular' supermarket for kitty littler and other dry goods.

 

What can't you buy at Whole Foods that forces you to go to a "regular" supermarket?

 

Well, for one thing I cant get my Perdue Perfect Portions chicken breasts I use, the dog treats I feed my dogs, Stouffers Lean Cuisine Sesame Chicken that my son LOVES and has to have 2 times a week, Oreos, Splenda, Viva paper towels, Gain powdered laundry detergent (I refuse to use liquid since its WATER) all toiletries, I cant even get the STIRABLE Almond butter I use there anymore. My fave dressing on and on......

 

The only reason for me to go to Whole Foods is for seafood...If I want healthfood or natural food stuffs I can go to Wegmans. I used to go to Whole Foods quite a lot but when they stopped selling my fave things I bought there (I have to go to Costco for Almond Butter now) I no longer bother.

[IowaDee]

I will give WH props for having the first olive bar I've ever seen.  Who knew olives came in all those shapes and sizes not to mention flavors.  And the cheese selection blew my mind.  Here in one place were all those exotic cheeses that I had only read about before.

Now amazing seletions of olives and cheeses abound but don't you always remember your first time?

[rotuts]

I shop at # 3 and # 5.  so that comes out to a # 4.

 

however, meat on sale, CkBr, Sirloin 'Tips' but trimmed to order   ie whole, and cheerfully done,  at two of the local

 

chains.

 

a 'news' article on the CR list mentioned that another 'site' ( it was ref'd but Ive forgotten it ) mentions that most people

 

shop by price or 'quality'

 

the CR group is not a random selection of people.   however the list seems fair to me for the places Ive been to.

 

I also found the ALDI video interesting.   its much further than Tj's, and at Tj's  there is a hidden bonus:

 

you can take stuff back.  even wine !  ( I only do this if my Wine Buds tell me about a wine to try, and after careful grilling

 

it might probably meet my standards, for table wine.   not the same as Table Whine, which I now pass on as those

 

bottles take about 10 - 20 years to mature in my now empty cellar.

Edited April 5, 2015 by rotuts (log)

[ElainaA]

I won't shop in our local Aldi's because of the odor. I'm not sure what causes it but it seems to be permanent and it is NOT appealing. I've noticed in it an nearby branch also. However when we visited out daughter in Austria we shopped at Hofer, which is what Aldi is called there, and everything seemed fine. 

I love Trader Joe's but the nearest one is a 40 mile drive. I do our basic grocery shopping at Price Chopper - meat and produce are usually good, it is close and clean and the points for $$ off gas are great. 

I've heard others (besides Martin) comment that Wegman's has gone down hill - I guess I haven't lived near one long enough to notice the difference. The interesting thing to me is that the same items cost more at the Wegman's in Ithaca (affluent college town) than the Wegman's in Dewitt (Syracuse suburb, less affluent.) The same thing is true comparing Tops in Ithaca to Tops in Cortland (where I work - very NOT affluent).  (This is all in NY)

When my daughter started graduate school, Whole Foods ran a bus from the graduate housing complex to their store during orientation week. She found it crazy that many grad students, who constantly complained of being broke, never shopped anywhere else although there was a Wegman's and a Trader Joe's very near by - both cheaper. 

[Toliver]

It's interesting to see that #28 Food 4 Less is ranking higher than #44 Ralphs, since Ralph's owns the Food 4 Less chain.

 

And #49 Vons and #50 Albertsons are now both owned by #58 Safeway. Mediocrity sinks to its own level.

[rlibkind]

A nitpick about Aldi and Trader Joe's. Aldi's used to be one company family owned, based in Germany. The companies later split into Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud. In the United States Nord owns Trader Joe's and Sud owns Aldi. The same family owns both, but they are managed independently.

Wegmans. I've shopped there for 17 years and have not noticed any deterioration. The most significant change was about a dozen or so years ago when they changed pricing strategy on regular grocery items (paper goods, canned, dry, etc.) for the better to be more competitive, I.e. cheaper.

More on Aldi: far from my first choice, but it knows what it wants to be and does it. Shop intelligently there and you'll walk away with good deals. I've not been disappointed with what I've purchased there on my infrequent visit: yogurt, chips, cookies, etc. my greatest find there was deep discounted Peeps last year a week or so after Easter (gotta get back in the next few days).

Although most of my food shopping is at Wegmans and a public market (Reading Terminal on Phila. Where I get almost all my meat, fish, produce, cheese, baked goods) with occasional forays to TJ's, WF and BJ's, the other supermarket I visit most frequently is Shop Rite, which varies considerably store-by-store. There are two reasons for the seeming inconsistency, which is by design.

First, Shop Rite is a buying and marketing coop, not a single corporate entity. Different stores have different owners. At least three different families own the stores in the Phila-South Jersey market and while their prices and quality of products are pretty consistent, store design, upkeep, and stocking policy are not.

Second, what each Shop Rite stocks also varies by neighborhood. Chains do this to some extent, but not as devotedly as the various Shop Rite owners do. For example, the SR in South Philly is bigger on Italian items than the store in Cherry Hill, which excels in Kosher products (indeed, it has an entire sub-store with an on-site Kasruth supervisor).

While I found the CR article interesting, let your own experience be your guide. Lists like this can be a good starting point if you have no experience, but they're no more free from subjective opinion than I am.

Edited April 6, 2015 by rlibkind (log)

[weinoo]

While I found the CR article interesting, let your own experience be your guide. Lists like this can be a good starting point if you have no experience, but they're no more free from subjective opinion than I am.

 

Exactly - well said.

[GlorifiedRice]

 

 

I've heard others (besides Martin) comment that Wegman's has gone down hill - I guess I haven't lived near one long enough to notice the difference. The interesting thing to me is that the same items cost more at the Wegman's in Ithaca (affluent college town) than the Wegman's in Dewitt (Syracuse suburb, less affluent.) The same thing is true comparing Tops in Ithaca to Tops in Cortland (where I work - very NOT affluent).  (This is all in NY)

When my daughter started graduate school, Whole Foods ran a bus from the graduate housing complex to their store during orientation week. She found it crazy that many grad students, who constantly complained of being broke, never shopped anywhere else although there was a Wegman's and a Trader Joe's very near by - both cheaper. 

 

Just came home from Wegmans Collegeville, Pa. Havent been to Wegmans in awhile (so long that theres now a new housing complex popped up on the way)  and I have to say it HAS gone downhill.

A lot of shelves were bare, the hot food bars near the sushi have been reduced to 2 hot bars, there werent many people in The Pub, the produce section has shrank by a good solid 1/3rd, the cheese section is thinned out considerably...Something is up!

[Martin Fisher]

Just came home from Wegmans Collegeville, Pa. Havent been to Wegmans in awhile (so long that theres now a new housing complex popped up on the way)  and I have to say it HAS gone downhill.

A lot of shelves were bare, the hot food bars near the sushi have been reduced to 2 hot bars, there werent many people in The Pub, the produce section has shrank by a good solid 1/3rd, the cheese section is thinned out considerably...Something is up!

 

Yep!

I've shopped at Wegmans since June of 1986 (When the Corning, NY store opened) I used to be a BIG fan!!!!

It's obviously a serious management problem.

I think that the new generation, since Robert Wegman died, has concentrated too much on expansion (opening new stores) and not taking care of the stores they have!

[GlorifiedRice]

Yep!

I've shopped at Wegmans since June of 1986 (When the Corning, NY store opened) I used to be a BIG fan!!!!

It's obviously a serious management problem.

I think that the new generation, since Robert Wegman died, has concentrated too much on expansion (opening new stores) and not taking care of the stores they have!

 

Good, we agree on one thing then. I still love my Aldis though.

[GlorifiedRice]

Hhmmm!

I noticed that the Wegmans Facebook account hasnt been updated in 2 years

[Martin Fisher]

They're active on Twitter.