<p>Here is my town. We don’t have a Wegman’s because the major chain here is headquartered in Schenectady and it’s well known, though never actually stated, that there is an agreement between the two chains not to invade each others home towns. </p>
<p>But we do have a Walmart!</p>
<p>“Estimated median household income in 2009: $80,627 (it was $63,169 in 2000)”</p>
<p>Having lived in Wegman’s territory for years before moving here - their stores are in both wealthy suburbs, middle class suburbs and blue collar/working class suburbs. Where they aren’t is in inner cities but neither are any Walmart’s that I know of. Inner cities are notorious for being grocery deserts.</p>
<p>“Walmart has pretty much wiped out other regional grocers like Winn Dixie”</p>
<p>Winn Dixie is right across the street from Walmart near where my parent’s live and is where I go when I need to pick something up when I am there. It’s always crowded, too. The Publix is 5 minutes further away so I never go there.</p>
<p>We have a Food Lion a few miles away and it is worse than the Walmart when it comes to produce and meat. There is no shelf life to their products at all. I don’t know if they inject water into the meat like others or not but the quality is suspect.</p>
<p>You can see how beautiful the stores are and how much the company cares about their employees and customers. They interview an employee who explains the training they receive and opportunities for growth.</p>
<p>Wegmans has been said to have a “fanatical cult following.” I’m proud to say I’m one of them!</p>
<p>The Walmart in Bethlehem is 3.6 miles from the Wegmans.</p>
<p>The Walmart in Allentown is 4.1 miles from the Wegmans.</p>
<p>The Walmart in Scranton is 1.0 miles away from the Wegmans.</p>
<p>The Walmart in Northborough, MA is 1.9 miles from Wegmans.</p>
<p>Sure looks like they are in pretty much the same neighborhoods.</p>
<p>
Wegmans has a very slow expansion policy. Who knows what their criteria are? If they were chasing rich people, why didn’t they open in Sudbury or Brookline or Newton instead of Northborough?</p>
<p>We have two Food Lions in our area. Both are absolutely horrible. Whenever I drive by, the parking lots are almost nearly empty. Honestly, I’m shocked they haven’t closed.</p>
<p>I’ve been to numerous very nice Publix in Florida. We usually either shop there or at Whole Foods when we’re visiting.</p>
<p>Currently the furthest south they are is Fredericksburg, Va. There is one planned for Charlottesville but no firm opening date (I thought 2014, but the website says TBD).</p>
<p>There are some things I will make a special trip to Fresh Market to buy. I like their fresh chicken. I also love their store band dry rub. My biggest love there is the Heath Bar crunch cookies, however, so I do my best to stay out.</p>
<p>Food Lion is also my least favorite supermarket. Hoping one near me closes so they can use the space for something much better. Trader Joes would be perfect–or Fresh Market. Can live without Whole Foods. Do have some very nice expanded Krogers that carry better quality items than most.</p>
<p>sorry if this link has already been posted. I really don’t feel like going back and reading all of the twists and turns to find out. Please just ignore if you have already seen it.</p>
<p>Sudbury doesn’t have the best in access unless you think that 117 and 27 are highways.</p>
<p>Newton already has two Whole Foods (one between Newtonville and Newton Corner on Washington St and the other on Walnut and Beacon). Locating anything large and new in Newton would seem to be difficult, perhaps due to the village system. The other big supermarket is in Newtonville and it’s been there since I was a kid. It was a Star Market before; not sure if it still is or if it’s a Shaws or something else now. There are some smaller grocery stores in the villages.</p>
<p>I do not know Brookline that well. Perhaps Lergnom can comment on grocery stores there.</p>
<p>I lived in Westboro for a while and had friends in a pricey subdivision in Northboro. Westboro was seeing a boom in subdivisions at the time in the southwest corner. There are lots of parts of Westboro that weren’t the best but there were parts that were very nice. I guess you could say the same for Northboro and Shrewsbury too. Southboro was still a lot of farmland at the time - I assume that some of that has been developed since when we lived there.</p>
<p>Burlington, though, is a place with money, both residential and industry.</p>
<p>I’m not a fan of Food Lion and we don’t have any locally.</p>
<p>We have a regional grocer that competes with and often beats WalMart which is probably why there are only two in the area. Someone asked about the price of Cabot 1/2 pound cheese a while back. I checked this weekend and it’s $2.19 per half-pound at this grocer. We do most of our shopping at this place and supplement with Trader Joes and Whole Foods.</p>
<p>The is another grocery chain in town and it’s expensive and it appears to be losing money.</p>
<p>There are a few other chain stores here and there but they don’t have the commanding presence of the two main chains.</p>
<p>Do people tend to do most of their shopping at one store? Just curious.
I live in an area that is choc a block full of food retail options. Everything from certified farmers markets (2) to large national chains. Since we are now a 2 person household, I shop where I do not have to buy bulk and one stop shopping trips to large discounters are out of the question. I really do not do more than 20% of my spending at one particular store.
(However, i do occasionally leave the tiara, powdered wig and ball gown at home to slip into Costco for a few dozen bottles of wine)</p>
<p>Publix is our local store (also have Kroger) and we shop at Publix, Costco, Whole Foods (special occasions) and Sam’s. H does all our shopping, which works for me!</p>
<p>That Wegmans in the CNN clip is in Mechanicsburg PA. Estimated per capita income in 2009 was $27,974; it’s not exactly the Main Line. Walmart is less than a mile down the Carlisle Pike.</p>
<p>When my kids were young and when they were undergrads (aka, the Decade of Denial) I went through the food ads every week and shopped three stores to take advantage of sales and loss leaders. Now that the kids are off the payroll I usually shop at one store (Wegmans) and for the most part buy whatever I want (within reason). I also shop one or two farmers’ markets during the growing season.</p>
<p>I do my shopping at Walmart, the regional big chain, sometimes Shoprite, TJ, Fresh Market, The Meat Store, farmers markets in season and the farm store at a farm near me all depending on what I need. I definitely spread my money around.</p>