For us, the closest grocery store is a Walmart sized HEB. That’s a dedicated grocery store. Imagine fighting traffic, hiking from the parking lot, then gathering groceries on opposite sides of the store, waiting in line with 5 people ahead of you, then hiking back to your car, then fighting the traffic to get out. It’s self torture. I could do curbside, but I still have to fight traffic. So we do Amazon now.
Yep, that’s called grocery shopping!
With Amazon, we found that we can “grocery shop” in 10 minutes and it arrives at our doorstep. We can now focus on other shopping activities that drive us crazy.
I agree 100%
Also, if you’re shopping in-store they are moving to more of a self-checkout model, so they only have one or two regular checkouts open at any given time. I mostly drive further to a Publix, which I like much better. They are finishing up on a new Publix about a mile from my house. Once that’s open, I will kiss HT goodbye for good!
We have a Wegmans opening about 15 minutes away (IYKYK). I’m sure I will hit that up once it’s open.
On a related note, I just returned from a trip to Trader Joe’s and that was like a new circle of h#ll being that it’s so close to the holidays
You should shortly be hearing the angels sing as you walk thru the doors! Shopping in Wegmans is so different than my Giant or Acme. Employees are great, wonderful store brands, prices are right. I love it.
All in-store here. I, too, avoid Amazon as much as possible. I like to support local stors and the workers there as much as possible. I avoided self checkout for a long time, and will still use in-person checkers as much as possible, but will go to the sel-checkout at peak times when there is a line.
Several grocery stores nearby and even though I work full time I can time my shopping to avoid peak times (e.g. Saturday late morning to late afternoon) and almost never wait in line for more than one person finishing up. We also have TJs in town and again, as long as I avoid peak times, rarely have to wait.
i do not do order online and pick up. Part of it is that our needs vary by week and I keep the list in my head. I find the online ordering more frustrating than hopping in the car and buying what i need. Also allows me to much more easily compare prices. Is that deal actually good? Do the grapes look good for the sale price? Does something catch my eye?
All in store here. I am another one who tries to minimize supporting Amazon whenever possible.
We live in a metropolitan area which is unusual in that no major chain supermarket is dominant (D works in the food industry and confirms this). Most of our shopping is at one of two local grocery chains (one of those stores is within walking distance). H does Costco runs and we also shop our local coop (also withing walking distance) and Trader Joes.
We have never had delivery, it was not available in NoVA suburbs when my kids were young and it would have been a lifesaver.
I order cleaning products, toilet paper, dish soap, detergent, etc. from Wal-Mart and it’s shipped within a few days. I usually order enough so that these supplies will last for 2-3 months.
Otherwise, I shop in-person. I go to a local green grocer for fruits/vegetables/meat/fish and prepared foods. For anything else I go to a local supermarket chain in my area. During Covid, I did do curbside from this chain. They never did curbside delivery before and have kept it after Covid.
I’m not a huge fan of Whole Foods and I don’t care for Trader Joe’s either.
I’m going to disagree with the ease of checking prices. I find it so much easier at home to search “eggs” and compare the cost of each egg.
I avoid Walmarts, mostly, cuz of the politics of the top people. Hmm, I bet this is true of most CEOs.
Anyway, I have Publix and Fresh
Market nearby.
A smaller, high-end supermarket chain (5 or 6 stores only) opened a store near us right before covid. It’s a bit more expensive than the big chain stores near us, but I love to shop there. I have joked that shopping for others’ online orders there would be a very happy job for me!
It’s a bit more expensive, but I like that the choices have been curated for me, and that the quality (particularly meat, fish, produce) is consistently excellent. I would not give this up!
I know what you’re saying. Getting the cleaning products shipped is just so convenient. I have a friend who grew up in the same town as the Walmart headquarters. She’s not a fan, but admits that one reason she could go to Oberlin College was because of scholarships from the Walmark people.
We used amazon fresh when we both had broken bones from skiing, and it was convenient. But overall we prefer selecting out own fruit and produce, and the greater variety available in store. We tried the “put the selected items in my car trunk” during covid, but found lots of mistakes, poor substitutions when they were out of something, and generall while it met the need at the time, its not a service we will continue to use. You also can’t apply the store discounts, for some reason.
I have monthly amazon subscribe and save deliveries for basically everything except for food. It’s so easy and flexible to specify what products you want and how often you want them to come. Not only has it saved me money directly, but has saved me time and indirect costs from not buying stuff I don’t need when I go into a physical store. I generally still go to the grocery store in person, but most of the time it’s just my husband and I at home now. Since neither of us really cook, we don’t go to the store that often.
We did instacart a few times during Covid but didn’t stick with it. I’m odd but I enjoy grocery shopping. When the kids lived at home I shopped Trader Joe’s and Vons (owned b Albertsons). With just two of us I like a smaller southern Ca local chain. I shop at Whole Foods weekly as it’s conveniently located next to my gym and my physical therapy office. I like the idea of the farmers market but honestly it means getting up and out of the house on Saturday morning. I buy bulk items from Costco.
My husband loves Amazon. He hates going to any store and loves that he can order and have something in a few days.
My kids with kids of their own like to order grocery pickup from Whole Foods.
I used to go to TJ’s needing nothing (at times when it was empty, our parking stinks) and go up and down the aisles. The kids would get excited seeing those bags. I no longer go to TJ’s.
The parking at all of our TJ’s is like a present-day Hunger Games. I think it’s something they prioritize when scouting locations.
I go maybe once every 6 months and only early in the morning before it gets crowded. I have to scrutinize every label because I have a kid with a tree nut allergy and many of their items contain tree nuts or possibility of having tree nut contamination (another reason why I don’t go often). I sometimes get the impression that the regular TJ’s shoppers get frustrated when I’m stopped reading a label and they want to grab something and go. I don’t go often enough to have the confidence to just grab something without reading the label.
I have 2 with celiac so I get it about reading those labels! It was years ago, but our local ShopRite used to put a bunch of organic food in the labeled gluten free frozen section. I did complain, explaining gluten free and organic weren’t the same thing.
My college student has worked at Wegmans for years. They treat their employees so well, that I think it shows when you interact with them.
In our area they are moving away from self checkout because the theft is so out of hand.