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Wegmans
Wegmans, with 79 stores in the Eastern U.S., ranked No. 1 in a Consumer Reports survey of readers.
Wegmans and Trader Joe's are the nation's favorite supermarket chains while Pathmark and Wal-Mart rank at the bottom in a Consumer Reports survey released Tuesday.
Wegmans, which has stores in New York and several other East Coast states, topped the list, with Trader Joe’s and Publix close behind, according to the survey, compiled based on feedback from 24,203 readers.
Pathmark, a chain based in the Northeast, Wal-Mart Supercenter and Shaw's ranked lowest on the list.
All of the top picks received very high marks for service and cleanliness. Pathmark and Wal-Mart received the lowest marks for service, but Wal-Mart got excellent rankings for its prices.
But even at the most highly rated stores, readers still found plenty to criticize.
In general, the most common complaint was a shortage of checkout lanes. About one-fourth of the people who surveyed had that complaint.
Other gripes had to do with customer service. Readers complained about congested or cluttered aisles, advertised specials that were out of stock and inept bagging.
Rising grocery prices also appeared to be weighing heavily on people’s minds. Forty-three percent of those surveyed said they had switched grocers because they were looking for lower prices.
The stores with the five highest ratings were:
- Wegmans
- Trader Joe’s
- Publix
- Fareway Stores
- Costco
The stores that received the lowest ratings were:
- Pathmark
- Wal-Mart Supercenter
- Shaw’s
- A&P
- Jewel-Osco
Consumer Reports' Tod Marks reviews grocery shoppers' biggest complaints, the shopping traps to avoid, and his techniques for saving while you shop.
Consumer Reports also offered a few tips for cutting your grocery bill, no matter where you shop.
Beware of sneaky signs: Just because something says “5 for $5” doesn’t mean you have to buy that many items.
Watch for the 9s: Just because something is $6.99 (or even 99 cents) doesn’t mean it’s a bargain.
Look around: Consumer Reports noted that vendors pay dearly to be right in your line of vision. Look for items that are high or low on the shelf, or those that aren’t featured at the end of the aisle. You may get a better deal.
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Whole Foods is starting to move up though... their organic produce is actually cheaper than many of the other stores in the area. Wegmans raised the bar here in PA because they were the first supermarket to offer a well stocked beer section. Whole Foods has begun to challenge that also. Their beer offerings have been excellent every time I've visited the store in Devon PA.
Whole Foods is great for finding specialty items, but as an everyday grocery store, they're massively overpriced. And by far my biggest gripe about Whole Foods is the chaotic layout of their stores. There is absolutely no logical flow to the arrangement of the stores; the aisles intersect at strange angles and the individual departments (deli, butcher, etc.) are randomly thrown into any available niche in the external wall.
Yeah, but that's designed to make sure you meander through as many of the aisles as possible and thus purchase more.
Yeah, that doesn't work for me. I grocery shop like Seal Team 6. Identify targets, make tactical insertion, accomplish objective, extraction. I hate wasting time shopping.
There is a reason it is called "Whole Paycheck"
lmfao Chris!!! Me too! I utterly despise grocery shopping (I have to go today meh) I always have everything I need and a plan when I get there, it's all about get in, avoid idiots, and get out!
I just love waiting for a perfectly healthy (bit over weight) human leach that pulls out their food stamps while buying fatty, processed foods and a 40oz beer! Not a vegetable in sight by the way.
Or the ones who can't speak a word of English, paying with food stamps whilst their 6 kids are already eating the Twinkies before their paid for by you and me!
Oh how the time flys watching this!
I shop at the DeCA commissary on the local Air Force base. Commissary privledge is one of the best perks for retired military members. Sometimes they run out of things, but the overall selection is reasonable, and the quality is pretty good. But since you pay cost plus a 5% surcharge, the prices can't be beat.
Whole Foods is overpriced, and they have now agreed to carry GMOs. I go to three different stores that sell the same quality organic foods, and my $100 stretch well past the one bag of food I would get from there. Luckily, my husband and I are in the process of building a hydroponic indoor garden, to grow our own organic veggies and fruits.
I'm going outdoor this year; I have to find some way to protect the garden, though; last year it got decimated by the squirrels, birds, etc. I might try the strawberry netting, but more often than not, that just makes your garden look like crap while still letting the sparrows through.
I am amazed at the price increase of milk between the supermarkets in Saginaw, Michigan and the prices we pay in the West Branch area. In Saginaw a gallon of milk is around 2.50, in the West Branch area the prices jump to 3.50 to $4.00. I realize the gas situation, but come on a dollar to a dollar fifty a gallon, talk about taking advantage of a situation and riping off the consumer.
this is why I rarely shop at the commissaries I have available to me, yes we don't pay "tax" but sometimes the surcharge is way more than what tax would be, it's just not worth it to me (other than cat food) I always go to the commissary to buy my cats food in my local grocery stores it's 8 something for a 3.5 pound bag at the commissary it's 4.00
o_0 $8 fir a 3.5 bag of cat food? What do you feed your cats, gold-plated Iams?
If you want a deal on cat chow, swallow your pride and go to Walmart. You can get name brands like Meow Mix etc. in a 25-pound bag for like $14-15.
I miss my commissary privilege days!
I'm not sure where you are stationed, 1SGFitzsWife4ID, but between Norfolk and Pearl Harbor, I had better savings at the commissary than I ever found at Food Lion, Farm Fresh or Foodland.
I think the quality of the store depends upon where you live. Here in Salt Lake, we have a local chain that sets the bar high (Harmon's), forcing the other stores to keep their store clean, well kept, and well stocked. The only stores I see here that leave something to be desired are Wal-Mart and a local chain called Ream's. Another local chain (which is now owned by Kroger) named Smith's has jumped in the store renovation game and made shopping a pleasant experience, even in their older stores.
The hypermarkets here are fantastic...the new Harmon's in the heart of downtown is (for a grocery store) pretty breathtaking.
When I lived in Kansas for 4 months, I was shocked to see the places where I was expected to buy groceries. They were small, dank, horribly under-stocked places where I'd sooner dump my garbage than buy consumables from. I'd never seen such awful, rotted produce in my life. It's a little odd to grow up in a desert (Utah) with crappy weather and expect much higher quality produce than a place like Kansas, which is supposed to be known for farming. Even their corn (OF ALL THINGS, CORN!!!) was awful.
Whole Food is awesome. I go way out of my way to shop there and spend more. Quality simply cost a bit more...nothing new about that. There's a reason a BMW cost more than a Dodge.
The food that goes into the bodies of your family is not the place in the budget to cut corners.
When I lived in the Metro Area of D.C., I would always go to Whole Foods. I always found what I needed, even for that impromptu get-together. The soups are mahhvellous, dahling, and the staff became like my personal shoppers. I miss them although we have a very good, clean and surprisingly well-stocked Supermarket in our little mountain town. They have been expanding their organic section, with much of the produce being organic by now. Impressive.
Wakehead, I agree. Trader Joe's was always chaotic and cramped. And one never knew what one would find on any given day. I am surprised it ranked so high.
AGREED!!!
My cat eats Purina Naturals I mix a little bit with his fresh food
Charle- I live by Ft Hood in Texas, I don't live on post and it takes me up to 45 minutes to drive there depending on which of the two I'm going to, my husband's been retired for a year now so I don't have a need to go on post that often.
One of my favorite amusements is watching people pay twice the price for "organic" foods. I have news for you; there is absolutely nothing wrong with the regular stuff. Millions of us have been eating it for years with no ill effects. But, I know, some weenie in sandals and a beard at a liberal east or west coast university gave dire warnings about evil "chemicals" in our food, so react like sheep and pay throught the nose for stuff grown with composted garbage.
Whole Foods is la crème de la crème. However, it is also très chère. The Whole Paycheck reference certainly fits generally, but if you go to Whole Foods and commit to purchasing lower and/or sale priced items, you can do so without tapping your 401K.
I have news for you, sir...yes, it is harming you. Many of the things fed to those chickens to make them look like Mr. T on steroids do in fact cause many things, most of which are being linked to cancers.
I suffer from a combination sulfate/sulfite intolerance which is linked to the U.S. Government's program to artificially iodize table salt. Rather than help Americans to supplement their natural need for iodine by balancing out their diets with fish, the government came up with an ill-conceived plan that causes intolerances like mine, and metabolic problems like the ones suffered by most of my family after generations of artificial iodine. Great -- goiter isn't much an issue anymore...obesity and death by sulfates be damned!
Wegmans is a good store and was even better before. The store has always been expensive, but now they have moved from name brands to "Wegmans" brands on almost everything with little or no price reductions. In the past if I needed something Wegmans always had it, now I usually have to go to a few stores if I want the items. Still good store but declining rapidly in product offerings.
The Wegmans here are crowded and their prices are high. Traders Joes is has good prices, but limited choices and its cramped and chaotic.
Top,
Have to agree. What most irritates me about Wegmans is the lack of items on shelves, stocking shelves during the morning (hard to get around the employees and their carts) and the biggest irritant - lack of brands. If, for example, you want cheese; well just try to find anything other then the store brand. At most you will see ONE or maybe TWO different brands. All the rest are Wegmans.
But I have to hand it to them - they do an overall excellent job.
I shop at a local store called "My Organic Market" (MOM's) who's produce is ALWAYS FRESH, and they only carry organic produce. I also love shopping at Whole Foods, where I know I'll always get the best vegetables (they have an organic section too) and their seafood is top of the line. And of course, I love Trader Joe's too. There are certain things I get at each of these places, which mainly keeps me out of the run of the mill grocery stores.
I mostly go to Wegamns, as they are clean, friendly, and their prices aren't that bad (at least for the things I buy). My only major gripe with them are the cluttered aisles. It can be so hard to get through and is very frustrating.
I love Wegmans. But as Yogi would say, "Nobody goes there any more. It's too crowded."
No surprise that Wegmans is #1. Like someone commented in the vote, nothing really bothers me when I shop there. I try to go later in the evening when it's not too busy.
The issue of long lines for the grocer is that to add additional checkout lines requires adding labor that will increase the cost of the products. The grocery business is very competitive and operates on a thin margin. If you want shorter lines are you willing to pay more?
Very True . A'lot of folks never understand that . The grocery business is very competitive the profit margin is very thin. The big items that get the profit is deli and bakery goods , those have the big margins. I think some people need to really understand that also being rude to people in these stores gets you no where , in fact gets you less. You need to treat these people as you would want to be treated on your job.
I used to go to WalMart for everything except produce & meat because they were so much cheaper and had the widest selection, but for a while now I have found that they are constantly out of stock on the shelves of so many things. Plus, items that I have bought for months or even years are suddenly no longer stocked at all. It's very hard to find a one-stop-shop kind of place any more. I end up splitting my shopping between 3 or 4 different stores just to try and get the best balance between quality and prices.
After 20 + years in grocery business (working for big manufactures) Wallmart gets "special" packs. (same brand name...different quality) They have beat the main brands up so bad, they now run production lines for "Wallmart"only . This is also true for non food items. Check out electronics's and see they don't have or have a limited warranty on Wallmarts inventory. Not what you get at a Real store. You get what you pay for.
I agree about Walmart having alot of empty shelves and not having or getting a product that you have always bought. In Arkansas, we do not have very many places to buy food, except Walmart or a local market. Especially in our small towns and gas is so high you wouldn't want to drive very far away. Guess we will live with it.
In my area I have a WalMart, Kroger and Albertsons close by. Like other shoppers we go to different stores for different products. Lately I've been flabbergasted that WalMart has cut back drastically on all their shelf products. For instances yesterday I needed frozen spinach for a dip I make. ONE box was all they had and I really had to look to find that. I live in an area with thousands and thousands of shoppers. To have one package of spinach tells me something is either drastically wrong with WalMart bottom line OR I'm beginning to wonder if there isn't a food shortage we haven't heard about. Too many shelves have gaping holes where there is no product and other products are limited to WalMart brand and just one other. The other thing I've been wondering about is when did onions start growing to the size of a soccer ball? Potatoes too. And who uses the 30 green onions in a package? Kroger on the other hand is always stocked, clean and bright...you just have to be willing to pay more. And sometimes it's worth paying more. I really don't understand what's happening at WalMart but would love to know.
I live in Michigan, and do most of my shopping at Kroger, and the customer service could not be worse. Most of the cashiers and other staff are rude, and if you stop and ask them a question, they look like you're bothering them. I actually asked an associate for assistance and he said "I'm on break". I wrote a pretty lengthy letter to corporate and got a phone call from the store manager begging me to give them a second chance, so I did. Other than the fact that I pass the local Kroger on the way home, I wouldn't shop there at all. When I lived in the Boston area, I did all my shopping at Star Market in Cambridge, and the customer service was outstanding. Unfortunately, they were taken over by Shaws, and I see that they were ranked pretty low in your survey. Note to store managers; tell your staff to smile and be friendly and respectful of customers, remember, we're the ones paying your salary.
It depends on the Kroger location in Cincinnati what kind of customer service you get.... The richer the neighborhood the better the service. I actually find it annoying. There are locations around my house that will unload your cart for you during checkout. I am too OCD to let them do it.
Jan we are originally from MI and lived in Boston for a while.......Aaaah Memories: I also loved Star Market......and the seafood prices were fabulous for us living on a reeeaalllly tight budget in those days.
Jan, on the west coast Krogers is Ralph's. A pretty good store. Interesting.
Ingles in the Carolinas unloads the cart for you and they're pretty good baggers as well. They actually put some thought into grouping items appropriately in the bags. The employees are very friendly.
My two complaints about Ingles -- I have to check the expiration dates on everything in the dairy section, and the produce is very unpredictable. Sometimes it is fresh, but other times, it looks like it has been there for two weeks.
I miss Publix and wish we had one here.
If you live in MA or NH, try Market Basket. The prices are as good as Walmart, but the shelves are ALWAYS fully stocked, unlike Walmart. They are the anti-Walmart...helpful customer service, registers fully staffed, always fresh meat and produce, great bakery and floral departments, and fresh made ready-to-eat foods. I can't think of anything bad to say about them...maybe except that they don't have stores in RI.
Hmm... I'm in New England and I've never heard of them.
My personal favorite for this area is Big Y... they're not the cheapest around, but they always have the freshest produce and meat. Also, their stores have the ideal layout for speed-shoppers like me: enter on the right, grab your vegetables and produce, hit the deli, grab your dry goods from the aisles, and then finish off with the dairy and frozen at the end (on the left) so it doesn't all melt in your cart. I can be in and out in 15 minutes with a week's worth of groceries.
Market Basket rules.
Anyone one from MA know if they still have Star Market around in the Boston area? ("Staa Maaket").
I remember going there growing up and being pretty horrified by the conditions... never saw so many flies at a deli section in my life.
Chris...MB is in MA & NH only.
http://mydemoulas.com/
Chris - Shaw's bought out Star Market long time ago.
I'm from MA,,and like Market Basket and Hanafords. Roche Bros is also good, but tends to be pricey. Hanafords has good Meats and their own brand is generally as good as the name brands.
Stop & Shop and Shaws are rip offs. Way overpriced.
I grew up fairly near the Roche Bros in Westwood and I always thought it was the best supermarket in the area, even though it was more expensive.
The Hanafords I've been to are awful, though; they tend to be dirtier than other stores.
Chris- I live in MA and "Big Y" is the absolute highest priced grocery store in the area. PLUS they make you pay $20 per year to join their "rewards club". NO ONE CAN BE IN AND OUT IN 15 MINUTES... THEIR CASHIERS & BAGGERS ARE WAY TOO SLOW. Hah.. just another way for the D'Amours to make more money. Like they need it.
BIG Y IS TOTALLY AGAINST UNIONS & HIRES PART TIME HELP SO THEY DO NOT HAVE TO PAY BENEFITS.
I AVOID THIS COMPANY BECAUSE OF THAT !!! STOP & SHOP IS CHEAPER & YOU GET GAS POINTS & IT IS UNIONIZED !!!! OH and you DO NOT have to pay $20 year for "sale items".
Whoa, Hannah, calm down. Maybe you have a crappy Big Y near you, but the ones near me are a pleasure to shop in, and if you know when to hit the sales and use your silver and gold coins, they're no more expensive than anywhere else. Not too sure about the union thing; never looked into it and frankly I don't care. Their cashiers and baggers are no different than any other supermarket I've been in; they're either high school/college kids or old folks with nothing better to do.
Stop and Shop bugs me because their layout is backwards. They have the produce on the left and the frozen and dairy on the right. I like to go right to left, not left to right when I shop. Just a personal preference. The gas discount is nice at S&S, but Big Y also offers 10 cents off per gallon with a silver coin... so six of one, half dozen of another.
I lived in MA/RI area until 2006. I totally miss the trips to Market Basket.
Market Basket gets my vote. I shop the one in Somerville, MA. For a really old store, they keep it looking good inside with updates to the shelving. This store is always packed with shoppers, and sometimes difficult to navigate, but the prices are generally 30% less than Shaw's and Stop & Shop on a lot of items. That's why it's so busy. Because it is so busy, the produce turns over fast, so is always very fresh. I think they have one of the best produce sections anywhere. Because there are so many people shopping there, the checkout lines can get long, but they keep all the lanes running. The checkout people and baggers are all really courteous and friendly.
I shopped in a MB in NH, and they had a great selection of beer and wine, including a lot of microbrews at far better prices than in a liquor store. I wish they could do that at my location.
Walmart is the worst !! The Supercenters are insane and trying to look/find anything while there are 50 people in an aisle at a time will make anyone scurry out of there fast. It may be cheap but it isn't worth the headache afterwards. Besides that, their meat looks crappy half the time and I think it is filled with preservatives and water for weight.
I have never heard of Wegmans. The area of Cincinnati where I live you have pretty much one option ~ Kroger Mariemont, Kroger Madeira, Kroger Blue Ash and Kroger Montgomery. I don't have much of a choice.
Wegmans. Love it. We had a Walmart move and Wegmans knocked it down and built a new store. Turned a dead corner into the busiest intersection in the Sterling (VA) area. During the holidays the Police have to come out and direct traffic there's so many people that go there. But what happened to Food Lion / Bloom? In Northern Virginia they all went out of business and closed up. Also pretty good is Harris - Teeter.
I shopped at a Harris-Teeter in Charlotte. Very nice store!
If I were in law enforcement I would post an undercover officer at every WAL MART.
Bet I would find many of the local MOST WANTEDs there.
Any questions?
Our Walmart Super Center is clean and the aisles are wide open and clear (except maybe in the clothing section). Employees are busy and sometimes you need to look for one but they have always been helpful and considerate. As far as the "MOST WANTED" comment goes, not sure what you are trying to say, unless you are trying to play subtle race card.
When we were stationed in Illinois, it became "fun" for my husband and I to go to the Walmart in Davenport, we'd make bets on how many people we'd see being taken down for shoplifting while we were there. And not subtle race card 9 times out of ten it was a huge black woman. Just sayin.
Kroger, as a company, is the worst both for customers and employees. They continually use bait-and-switch tactics, and if an employee tries to make the customer happy, they're soon gone.
Oh, and would someone please tell them that 10/$10 doesn't mean you have to buy ten, because the one here requires it for the price to come up correctly.
I live in Illinois, and our local Kroger is awesome! Everybody is very friendly, all items (including sales items) are always in stock, and the prices are the best in town. I have several choices in my area: Jewel, Kroger, Ultra Foods, Berkots, Super Wal-Mart, Target, Super K-Mart, and local produce stores. Kroger always comes out on top, and a big bonus for me is that they double your coupons up to a dollar. I then buy their gas, which my grocery shopping totals earns me rewards for money off of gas prices.
ralph's worst bakery dept--i wonder ---do they ever taste the stuff they sell---cherry turnovers are supposed to contain cherries ---novel idea---you're lucky if it contains even one cherry-just red guck!
Mark my word. People waiting in these long check out lines will be Walmarts biggest downfall. It doesn't seem to worry Walmart at all. They could care less.
The one thing that always amazes me at Wal-Mart is that you go in and see the 20 plus aisles and only 4 of them are open. As you stand in line for anywhere up to 35 minutes your frozen goods are no longer frozen. There are many grocery stores that are similar. Here we have Food City. They have a larger selection but the prices are astronomical...... I can see how they are able to build so many new stores.
Actually, if they could "care less", that means there's a flicker of hope that they might start to care more about your concern. Now if they "couldn't care less", you'd be in trouble.
Maddog...and what's worse is that of those 4 registers that are open, in our local Walmart, 3 of them would be the express registers, leaving one full service register open for the 8 people in line with full carriages. Absolutely moronic.
Stop the hypocrisy...if you're going to insist on playing grammar cop, at least get it right. If someone "could care less", they haven't hit bottom yet. Someone who "couldn't care less" is at rock bottom...nowhere to go but up.
@Mark-865096:
Ooo, somebody hasn't had their coffee yet this morning.
Oh snap...great comeback STH. Judging by your original post, it looks like you need the java much more than I do. Hate when someone corrects your corrections, do you?
Mark-865096: You're just mad because I got two likes to your none. (You know you can thumbs-up your own comment, right?)
lol @ the two of you, I'll give you both thumbs ups just for making me laugh at the hypocrisy.
Sorry stop...not wrapped up in myself enough to even think to "thumbs up" my own comments. Touche, you win the vanity contest.
1SGFitzsWife4ID...not trying to be a hypocrite. I just hate wannabe schoolteachers on internet sites, and his screw up was too deliciously ironic to pass up.
I laugh when people complain about long lines. Big deal. I worked at a supermarket, and it boils down to how many personnel they can afford. Want more people, pay extra. As for the "surly customer service", I was a customer service rep, and let me tell you, after 20 or so people complaining about the tiniest, dumbest things in the world, including making it seem like it was your fault for them forgetting coupons, or not reading signs properly, it starts to wear on you. I have seen even management lose their cool after so many STUPID CUSTOMERS with outright STUPID COMPLAINTS. I had one lady try to bring back a crock pot, still full of food, because it stuck to the bottom of the stupid thing, and it was obvious, by the smell, that it was a few days old! Don't want surly customer service? Stop being an A-hole to them and they won't be that way, and if you call out some a-hole about being an a-hole to the person behind the counter, that person behind the counter will bend over backwards for you.
I wouldn't shop at a Wal-Mart if you held a gun to my head. I will not continue to contribute to keeping our economy down, by shopping at such a place. It has helped in the downfall of our economy, and can well afford to pay their employees much better, if it were not for the excuse that it disrupts their "business plan". Why anyone supports a place like that, then has the nerve to complain about the state of things, and has the nerve to blame Obama, is well beyond me!
I grant you the last word, Mark-865096. And cheer up - it is a gorgeous day here except for the storm clouds, threat of thunderstorms with hail, and high humidity.
I wasn't calling anyone in particular a hypocrite Mark though I had to laugh at myself after I hit post comment because of Hypocrisy's name and me using the word hypocrisy, I'm a grammar nazi from way back (I blame my mother lol) so I very much enjoyed y'alls banter.
I've got storm clouds and all that good stuff too Hypocrisy where are you? Texas here.
Here, in the Memphis area, unless you live in midtown, you really only have a choice between Kroger and Super Walmart. I would certainly pick Kroger any day. Our local Kroger is not the biggest, so it doesn't always have what I need. The meat selection is average, but not spectacular. However the customer service is top notch. I wish Wegman's would move down here. When we visit family just outside of Williamsport, PA, going to Wegman's is almost like going to Disney World. The artisinal food selection like meats, olives, breads, and cheeses is top notch.
We check the shoppers on Tuesday and shop the best prices. Once a week, usually early Saturday, Walmart for staples and dry goods, Oroweat bakery outlet store, Sunflower Market and Farmers Market for produce, Albertson's (SuperValu) and Smith's (Kroger) depending on what they're having good sales on.
I purchase all prepackaged items from a Walmart store. In Texas we have Tom Thumb stores, (part of Safeway) which is the closest store to me. Many times the same prepackaged items are considerably more at Tom Thumb. It seems silly not to drive the extra mile to Walmart. Without being on sale, a pound of bacon recently was $2 more at Tom Thumb. People are picky if the price of gas is different by five cents but will pay more for food just because it's a mile closer. By the time they leave the store they're $30 poorer for buying at the higher price store for the same product. That seems silly to me. I've seen little if any difference between the two stores with produce and meat.
I hate all grocery stores equally because they all so stubbornly and stupidly insist on me giving them money for the groceries I take home. And I represent a long-unserved portion of the grocery store's customer base - freeloaders have rights too!
You can always quit your job and get SNAP. Just an idea.