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Farmers markets, like this one in San Francisco, offer a colorful but sometimes costly alternative to the traditional supermarket.
The grocery store is dead. Long live the grocery store!
A shining example of post-war success and convenience, supermarkets once were practically the only place most Americans went to shop for groceries.
Today, we’re all still buying groceries. We’re just not buying them at the supermarket anymore. Last year, Americans bought only 51 percent of our groceries at traditional supermarkets, down from 66 percent just 11 years earlier, according to the Wall Street Journal. So, where are shoppers filling their carts if not at the local Safeway or Kroger?
Low prices and convenience have made big-box discounters Wal-Mart and Target major players in the grocery game. In fact Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, is also the nation’s largest grocer. The hunger for bargains also is driving Americans to club stores, like Costco and Sam’s Club.
The quest for fresh and organic also has led some shoppers to small, locally owned specialty stores and farmers markets, which are booming. “People are looking to shop local. After years of struggling, local markets are having a resurgence,” said Mike Tesler, founding partner at Retail Concepts, a consulting firm, and adjunct professor at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass.
Traditional supermarkets also face growing competition from the Internet, with online delivery services like AmazonFresh and Pea Pod.
But how we go about getting that food can vary widely depending on our age. Baby boomers may be the last generation of consumers to faithfully shop the local grocery store, as brokerage firm Jefferies pointed out in a report. Retailers are now looking to Millennials, a loosely defined group born roughly from the late 1970s to the 1980s and beyond, to fill the shopping gap.
Even in an age when we’re busier and more crunched for time than ever before, younger shoppers are giving up the convenience of the one-stop shop grocery store and are, instead, shopping around. By mixing and matching, Millennials seem to be trying to satisfy a variety of needs. They’re saving money at Costco and Sam’s Club, getting quality and freshness at the farmers market and getting convenience at Target, Wal-Mart or the Internet.
Perhaps these complicated shopping habits are a reflection of the complicated times in which we live. Tesler noted that many of today’s college graduates are leaving school with tremendous debt. They’re having trouble finding good jobs and often find themselves underemployed. At the same time, we understand better than ever the importance of eating healthily. By contrast, when the Boomers came of age, jobs were relatively stable and people could expect to get a decent job where perhaps they could stay 'til retirement.
In the 1960s, Americans were worried about the Cold War, not the obesity epidemic. It seemed futuristic and progressive to grab space-age frozen dinners at the supermarket, and no one was fretting that they were filling their kids up with all kinds of preservatives and who-knows-what-else.
While Americans have changed a lot in the last 30 years, grocery stores haven’t. “People used to organize menus and plan meals. Most of us now have no idea what we’re feeding our kids tonight,” said Paco Underhill, author of “What Women Want: The Global Marketplace Turns Female-Friendly.”
These days, when we’re not looking for convenience and economy, we’re looking for fresh and healthy. We’re also looking to satisfy a need to connect on a more personal level. This may help explain the gaining popularity of the local farmers market.
“Farmers markets are a crossing of shopping and recreation,” said Paco Underhill, author of “What Women Want: The Global Marketplace Turns Female-Friendly.” “No one would ever describe going to the grocery store as fun.”
Grocery stores just aren’t doing it for us like they used to. But, could we really do without them? For the next 30 days, I’m going to try.
I’m going to participate in the “30 Day No Grocery Store Challenge” and see what it’s like to go without the conveniences of my neighborhood supermarket for a full month. The goal of the challenge is to eat healthier and support small, locally owned businesses at the same time.
The challenge allots you $30 to spend at a grocery store on items that you need but can’t find elsewhere. I’m going to attempt to avoid the grocery store altogether, and use that $30 instead in chain stores like Target and Trader Joe’s.
Theoretically, if you can do something for a month, you’ve formed a habit. Then you’ll forget all about your old chicken nugget, mac-and-cheese ways.
Do you like to enjoy organic and natural food, but don't want to pay big bucks to fill your grocery cart? Hip2Save.com's Collin Morgan shows how you can shop smart to get discounted prices on organic products at the grocery store.
They don’t call it a challenge for nothing. I don’t think the next 30 days will be easy for me. Between the Boomers and Millennials in age, I’m also between them in shopping habits.
I buy about half my groceries from Costco and half from my favorite chain grocery store. I rarely if ever shop at farmers markets or the local butcher.
I’m one of the many Americans who wants to eat healthier, believes in organic food (in theory, if not in actual purchases) and loves the idea of supporting small, local businesses. But, I almost always find practicalities outweighing these ideals.
As the mother of two, preschool-age children, I worry about the extra time commitment of this challenge.
I also worry that this commitment won’t be sustainable for my budget. Will budget considerations make me consider other changes to my diet as well?
Over the next several weeks, I’ll report back on my progress and let you know about some of the alternatives to the grocery store that I find.
Dana Macario is a Seattle-area writer who is terrified, yet determined to eat healthy and local for full month.
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I have a large kitchen garden I freeze and can my harvest. I have a doz laying hens eggs and chicken I have two black Angus beef on the hoof. I do buy a pig for the freezer off a neighboring farm. There are some things you have to go to the grocery store for Flour I have to buy but I bake my own breads and rolls. When I have to much of something I take it out to the highway and put it along the road with a sign help your self it always disappears quickly. I have been married for forty two years every anniversary we buy each other a fruit tree, we now have a beautiful orchard.
What a ridiculous premise.
Walmart IS a grocery store, as is Target.
In the era of Mega Shopping institutions it is frankly possible to go into a Walmart and never leave, living ones life merely wandering the aisles.
I strongly suspect the oppposite of this is what is to be expected.
With the cost of transportation and the potential for geo-political strain, anyone who believes our "open markets" system shall endure is silly. If conflict develops between the US and China, you may find Walmart is in SERIOUS trouble.
I agree. Except for the addition of the farmer's market, all those big boxes are grocery stores at least in part. And the author has no need to worry. With Seattle's Pike Street Market, there is ample fresh food for years not months of eating. Somehow when reading the title I was expecting a real food challenge.
I shop at Meijer (local to the great lakes region) and Farmers Market, and occasionally Sams Club.
I dont really think it's possible to get all your needs met in one location.
I've found that getting veggies at the farmers market - they last 2x as long in my fridge, and I waste less. Yet, there are things you cant get at the farmers market (in some places) because the items are local - like where I live i never see mango's at the farmers market, and i like to make salsa with them.
I would NEVER get my groceries at Walmart or Target, mostly because Target is overpriced and the freshness isnt that great. Walmart, the prices are about the same or slightly lower than Meijer (where i live) but the service is piss poor - AND Meijer is a local company, hq in Grand Rapids, first store in Greenville MI. I like my money staying here in Michigan rather than leaving and going to Arkansas - because we know the workers are taking most of those profits.
Sams Club, sometimes there are good deals in bulk - but mostly anything i've ever bought there goes to waste because I cant consume it all before it goes bad. I've come to learn which things i can use before I lose and so i only get those things there now.
I've wanted to for some time get my meat from a local farmer and buy in bulk and store in the freezer...but for whatever reason, i've just not gotten around to figuring out how to do that. Would be nice if there was a meat market in my area, where you could get educated on the process and shop between vendors/farmers to find the right deal for your needs...i like variety, so some pork, ck and cow would be what I want...different cuts for different uses too!
anywho...and im a big fan of going to eateries/food trucks/restaurants that purchase their food from local farms...Michigan can really use as much money as possible staying local to help Michigan rebound from the devestation the Auto Industry caused when they shipped manufacturing to china...slowly but surely, we'll find our way back to stability and prosperity...not just for a few.
If I buy anything at all at Walmart it's just canned or dry goods and paper products. Their produce is terrible and the meat scary looking. Even items like bottled OJ are terrible if you don't buy the major brand, and the major brand isn't any less expensive than the supermarket.
One the area supermarkets has good produce, another one has good meat. One stop shopping means sacrificing quality and it's easy to plan shopping around other errands so that I can get the freshest food at reasonable prices.
Their produce is terrible and the meat scary looking.
Guess what?? The Beef industry is dominated by 3 producers --- IBP (Tyson) Excel (Cargille) and Swift. They're all buying from the same cattle from the same feeders. All 3 sell Walmart, Kroger, you name it.
I shop everywhere. When I'm in California I buy fruits, veggies and sometimes bread to bring home. When I'm in NY, I buy all sorts of specialty food I can't get anywhere else. When I'm in Pennsylvania I frequent a small farm butcher I like and when I'm home I shop the farm markets, Costco, Meijer, NEVER Walmart. I hate Walmart and they are very expensive if you don't buy boxed, heat it up garbage. I shop Trader Joes, the nearest being about 40 miles from me, I shop The Fresh Market, it's 20 and I shop Whole Food as well as several delis and orchards. I like to buy eggs and cheese from the farmer.
I don't know what that says about me except I'm not laced into a habit, I guess.
I don't know about the rest of the world but -- Target has "select" food brands...so if you're looking for a particular brand food, you won't find it at Target and sometimes not even Walmart. So the large super market is still my choice. For example, I drink and eat soy products. You won't find a lot of soy products are Target, like soy butter or soy creamer. I like probiotic products. Ditto. I end up going to the supermarket or Whole Foods. Sometimes I make a run to 3-4 stores to get the lowest prices and brand names.
No, Walmart and Target are NOT grocery stores. At best, they are merchandisers which have brought in food items. If your interest is cheap food, then by all means, stick with Walmart, Costco, Sams Club, and Target. You get what you pay for.
If your interest is fresh, high quality food at a competitive price, then go to your local grocery store or supermarket. They specialize in FOOD, not merchandise. You might pay a little more for certain items (such as Tide or Dawn or toilet paper) but the quality of the food (produce, meat, baked goods, fish, chicken, deli meats) by far makes up the difference.
In the Chicago area, the Walmart is comparing its pricing to the highest price chains in the area. Likewise, Walmart is running ads to convince people that its food is of the same quality as a steak house. While fun to watch, no one is convinced by either advertisement.
Across the nation, Walmart ran many small businesses, from appliance stores to clothing stores and hardware stores out of business. With no competition, the quality of the goods from China has declined and the company is forced to find additional methods of luring people into its stores. People have learned, Walmart = cheap stuff from China, where quality does not matter.
Charlie sez...
We have Fresh Market here, and all meat products, especially beef, comes from Australia. All of their meat is antibiotic and hormone free. I bake my own bread, I grow my own organic garden, and we can, and preserve, too.
I do purchase grains like jasmine rice once in a while. Not a lot of need for the grocery store. Now, if I only had enough room for a Jersey or Guernsey cow. Nothing like rich, fresh milk and you can make your own butter easily. I adore my chickens, they are comical as heck to watch, and the eggs are as fresh as one can get everyday.
"I’m going to attempt to avoid the grocery store altogether, and use that $30 instead in chain stores like Target and Trader Joe’s."
Um, hello... last I heard, Trader Joe's WAS a grocery store.
30$??? Lucky you! That amount wouldn't give us a passing glance at food here! It is VERY expensive where I live and getting worse by every month. Not as bad as the arctic, mind you, but still WAAAYYY more than most poor families can afford.
Lately I've been only eating at Chic-Fil-A!
Typical liberal, out of touch article: or was it really an ad promoting Target and Wally World? Crap food/goods from China? No thanks.
Shopping expensive organics or farmers markets is for the richies of the world: you know, like the ones that wrote the article.....
For most of us, shopping is not a hobby, it is survival. $30? Where do they live?
How about an article that is actually helpful and geared toward real people in the real world?
I shop for most of my groceries at BJ's Wholesale, and get a lot of fresh produce from local farm markets during the summer. When I do traditional shopping it is in a Walmart which I do NOT consider a traditional grocery store as someone else stated. They are primarily discount stores that also sell groceries. That is different in my opinion.
That's delusional.
It's not delusional, it depends on where you are. I lived in Las Vegas and they had Walmart Neighborhood Market and it was only groceries. They had Super Walmart which was half and half. Now I live in Washington State and the grocery section at the one near me is abysmal. It's just a few aisles with canned goods, staples like flour and sugar, and a few displays up front with prepackaged strawberries and onions. (Walmart doesn't get a lot of support up here because people have ethical concerns and would rather shop at local sellers.)
I buy eggs and most meat from a local farmer, fruits and vegetables from a combination of my own garden, farmers markets, grocery stores, and Costco, and the rest of my supplies from Walmart and a grocery store.
It was "Sticker Shock" at the grocery store that sent me else where to find bargains. The old adage that "you're wasting more in gas than you're saving" is no longer true since I have developed a fairly efficient system of what I buy at Costco, Dollar General and local markets. My menu is based on what I can get cheap and I split the large quantity buys with family. If I can't get something I like cheap than I go without. The grocery stores try to hide their inflated prices with sales signs $3.99 now $2.99 and telling me, at the checkout, what I "saved." How can you save when the price was inflated to begin with. I'm tired of being treated like I'm some mindless fool who doesn't realize they are being taken.
Do you have Aldi's. They are very LOW priced!
If the purpose is to support small, locally owned stores, how does shopping at Trader Joes or Target help? At least when I spend my money at Winn Dixie, I am supporting a local company, not a national one.
How much of their produce is local and how much comes from South America (especially out of season fruit)? I think that it what people mean by " local".
Trader Joe's pays a more fair wage to their employees... Walmart pays a low wage with little to no benefits and expects the gov't to supplement their employees' low salaries with welfare, Medicaid and food stamps.
Walmart is not so low-cost. It all circles around back to us at the end.
In rural areas where it is 40 miles to a Walmart and even further to Target, the local grocery store is the only choice. By the time I drive my truck (the only one I can afford, that gets 10 miles per gallon) I save money by buying local over driving 80 miles round trip to buy food. It's my choice to live and work where I do, but I would not move back to a big city on a bet. I may be a corner case, but I'm happier here than anyone I know who lives in a city.
I'm over 50 and under 60, am I a boomer? I stopped shopping traditional grocery stores a long time ago. I grow my own with the garden increasing in size every year, farmer's markets, local shops and sometimes Whole Paycheck (but that's dwindling). I support local farmers, mainly organic local farmers, and grass-fed only ranches and farms, where the animals are sustainably raised. Brand name foods mean nothing to me anymore.
When I lived in the Seattle area, I went to the grocery store about once a month, I did all the rest of my shopping at Pike Place. It's way cheaper to get almost everything there, bring your kids with you. If you live in the south end you can also get dairy products delivered by Smith Brothers Farm, they put an insulated dairy box outside your front door and come by once a week with milk, eggs, butter, cheese and yogurt. We moved to New York last year and it took me awhile to come to grips with the fact that I had to buy my produce from the supermarket. It costs way more, tastes way worse and there's less of a selection.
Exactly why is it preferable to shop in Target rather than Safeway? Both are corporations, both sell groceries, and neither offers much, if any, local food.
Safeway is better ( quality and price) on meat and dairy.
Hi Dana,
I enjoyed reading your article, Avoiding The Grocery Store and wish you well on your 30 day challenge.
In your article, you state that you are "one of the many Americans who wants to eat healthier". There are many organic foods, products sold at Whole Foods and the like that consumers believe are healthy, but a reading of their nutrition facts labels shows that the product contains a large amount of sodium.
When it comes to prepared foods, including prepared dishes sold at Whole Foods, the ingredients are listed, but the amount of the ingredients that are in the prepared dish is not provided.
So, what is your definition of healthier? What are the benchmarks that you will use to determine if a food is healthy?
Helen
helen-woodward.com
Personally, I buy a lot of stuff from the bulk bins to eat cheap and healthy.
Many people complain that they don't have time for that. But I bought a rice cooker for $10 and I throw in some brown rice and lentils and 45 minutes later it's done. Them I sautee some veggies and I have a healthy dinner for pennies. I have fruit for dessert. I'm not buying prepackaged foods anymore. Nasty and full of chemicals. I tried clipping coupons but they were almost all for unhealthy processed junk so this is my solution for cheap eats. (I throw quinoa in the rice cooker, too. It also works as a steamer!)
30 day challenge? With obesity in America growing faster than ever how about a "every day" challenge, I'm noticing more and more over weight people leaving the local grocery store with 90% fattening foods and about 10% fruits/veggies. My local Safeway promotes unhealthy fatty foods in the main isle and the fruits and veggies are in the back un-promoted.
Good luck with 30 day challenge Dana, way to set a trend in this obese age!
I walked into chain grocery store near a college campus and was blown away by the chips and cookies and soda that was front and center. A lot depends on where you live.
"The goal of the challenge is to eat healthier and support small, locally owned businesses at the same time." Trader Joe's and Target? Really?
I have nothing against Target (not fond of TJs) but am doing better toward those goals by supporting the local chain grocery stores that serve my community and avoiding packaged/processed foods (which, BTW, both Target and TJs carry as well).
I would love to go to the farmer's market but where I live they put them on Tuesday and Thursday from 12-3. Since I'm at work during that time and on those days it doesn't work for me at all! If it was say on a Saturday from 12-3 then it'd be all good but no--they place them on days and times that most working people can't get to them.
I am so angry about grocery stores, I went grocery shopping last Saturday and was screaming in the aisles about how they are ripping us off and getting away with it. Everything has gone up in price - but the funny thing is that the experts say that the drought won't affect our food supplies until next year - so why did Kraft Mac-N-Cheese go from $0.79 two weeks ago to being on "sale" on Saturday for $1.53!!! I am mad as hell and I will not take it, from now on farmer's markets, side of the road dealers, going to make a bigger garden next year, purchase a side of beef for the freezer. It will be a lot more work for me with a full-time job, going to college part time and a teenager in the house but it will be healthier for us, and cheaper - I refuse to pay $1.53 for processed food that took Kraft 5 cents to make!
Define "grocery store." After reading the article, I think you are really talking about chain stores. I shop at a locally owned grocery store that predominantly sells local products. I have never once bought a chicken nuggest or frozen dinner there, so I'm not quite sure how boycotting my grocer for 30 days will benefit locally owned businesses and expose me to non-frozen foods.
Since I live in a city, let's see my options - A)Farmer's Market where produce costs at least 3x more than the grocery store to support that guy who drives 20-40 miles to sell his 'local' produce because he's somehow more deserving of my money than the grocery store that employs people who live in my neighborhood. B)Discounted produce market on Saturdays that DOES beat the grocery store, but the produce is only so cheap because it's about to expire and will have to be thrown out if I haven't finished it by Tuesday. C) Grocery store where I can afford to put food on the table.
Here in SLC, we have a food coop, local produce (organic) meat, chicken, pork and grass fed beef, I can order in advance and it's way cheaper. Milk and eggs I have delivered by a family farm so I rarely have to go to the grocery store for food. Every community should have a food coop!
I don't understand. You start the article with the line: "the grocery store is dead". You go on to say how nobody's shopping there anymore, nibbled on one side by the big boxes and by farmers' markets on the other.
You then tell us you're going to, essentially, boycott grocery stores, you know - the stores no one shops in anymore, for 30 days in hopes of making it a lifetime habit. And, of course, encourage readers of this article to do the same. Why? Are you looking to kill them off? You may be successful. And this will reduce competition, increasing prices and reducing variety everywhere else.
I say keep all options open and shop wherever you want. Isn't that the American way?
And, by the way, I don't usually equate "grocery store" with supermarket. I remember grocery stores as being about the size of a typical shoe store, having maybe eight or ten isles and being very easy to navigate and shop in; not the behemothic warehouses of food that we have today.
That's right. The local grocery store I usually shop at is small, and all produce is organic (Mom's Organic in the DC area). It's something like 2/3 the cost of Whole Foods, and the people are totally nice (always carry everyone's bags for them out to the car).
When I lived out on the east end of Long Island, there were few, if any, large grocery chains. All were "IGAs" (Independent Grocery Association stores) and the stores were small, often with old wooden floors and shelves, and many closed at 6:00 or 7:00.
Love both experiences. And yet, I'd consider both "grocery stores." Why would we want to boycott them? This article makes little sense.
The IGA's were all but wiped out in Indiana when the bean counters put them on a net-30-days payment requirement, instead of the usual 90 day period to pay for truck shipments. Most local owners couldn't turn over cash that fast. Another example of corporate greed destroying a good thing.