That's the way it's supposed to be here . . .

Post #257,181 by Andrew Grygus 5/30/06 12:44:41 PM Reply	That's the way it's supposed to be here . . . . . but somehow they're squandering it. Surely all that money can't be going to executive salaries? The independents have, of course, formed their own giant buying groups, but apparently their distribution system is far more efficient. A few weeks ago Rose wanted some apples, so I told her to stop at Cordons on her way back from her bank. Apples, $0.39/# regular vs. over $1.00 at the supers. Her comment, "I don't understand, we used to pay higher prices at local independent markets just to keep them in business, now we have to go there for price and selection. What happened?" Of course no individual supermarket store can move produce in anything like the quantity Sunland Produce moves, same with meat, sausages and cheese, but you'd think they'd have unbeatable advantages in other stuff. Lets take a simple brand name item, Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar. Vons, $3.00, Sunland Produce $2.00 - that's a hell of a big difference, and that's not a special, that's been the ratio for years. Of course Sunland does have a pricing advantage when, say, Hilshire Farms thinks it's got too much Polish sausage to sell by expiry date, they make a deal with Sunland and it's all gone in two days. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #257,227 by Another Scott 5/30/06 6:14:39 PM Reply	Thanks for the prodding. I've been very dissatisfied with our local grocery chains for years. Giant Foods is overpriced but have recently added self-service lanes which would be a time saver if the system worked half-way decently. Shoppers Food Warehouse can have pretty good prices on some things, but their quality varies and their prices don't seem low enough to justify having to buy bags or bag it myself or whatever their latest low-cost methodology is. Food Lion isn't too bad, but they don't seem to have the selection of the other majors. Harris Teeter isn't local. Balducci's is grossly overpriced and has too small a selection. Trader Joe's is pretty good, but they're often sold out of things I look for and their prices are creeping up around here on some items. I usually go to Safeway once a week for staples, and TJs once a month or so for treats and special items. Safeway seems to be staffed by too many twenty-somethings who are more interested in talking to each other than running the checkout efficiently. They also seem to be instructed to put at most 3 items in a plastic bag too. I think I've ended up with close to 50 plastic bags after my shopping trips there. I really dislike most of the chains "use your card for a lower price" gimmickry, and that's one of the things I really like about TJs - the price is the price. (A few others are that their prices don't change every 3 days, they don't have stupid overpriced magazines at the checkouts, they know how to bag groceries and use nice paper bags with handles, they have a nice selection in a small space, and their prices are generally substantially lower than the big grocers.) I've taken to buying some things at Target (frozen pizzas and dinners, yogurt, some cheese, cereal and bread, etc.) simply because the big grocers are so annoying. I'll have to scope out the local smaller shops. Thanks for the prodding. Cheers, Scott. (Who agrees that the grocery chains need to get their acts together before they're run out of business by someone who knows how to do things efficiently and who cares about customers.)
Post #257,228 by Andrew Grygus 5/30/06 6:23:53 PM Reply	Well, I hope you have some good ones. I'm sure not every community has the kind of choices we have here. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #257,244 by admin 5/30/06 10:29:24 PM Reply	There's no such thing as a local grocer around here. The closest thing we have are the big Italian markets like Nino Salvaggio's or Papa Joe's. Regards, -scott anderson "Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
Post #257,252 by Andrew Grygus 5/31/06 1:30:32 AM Reply	And that's probably why the supers are the way they are. In most of the country they don't face the fierce "take no prisnors" competition of Southern California, so they can get away with being fat and lazy. Aside from a swarm of local and ethnic markets, in Los Angeles and Orange Counties alone we have over 100 community farmer's markets that operate about 5 hours one day every week. This is particularly an outlet for organic growers who sell organic below the supermarket price for industrial. Since some markets are midday and others evening growers can often hit two towns a day, and there's markets 7 days a week. This sort of community thing takes time to develop, and so do the local/ethnic markets. Sunland Produce started as a vegetable stand, moved into an abandoned wine tasting room and now occupies a full size supermarket building with a full size supermarket parking lot that's full most of the time (and there's a parade of armored cars on Saturdays). It takes time for farmers and distributors to learn how to sell their stuff through alternate channels too. It may not be as easy as here in the agricultural and trade powerhouse of Southern California, but it can happen anywhere. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #257,257 by admin 5/31/06 7:41:28 AM Reply	We have a local farmer's market once a week And there's also the [link\|/forums/render/content/show?contentid=212328\|CSA]. Regards, -scott anderson "Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
Post #257,248 by boxley 5/30/06 11:07:30 PM Reply	around here we have Krogers Ingles Publix IGA and bodegas. I shop publix for meat because they dont foliate it. I shop krogers for canned goods sales and ingles and IGA for the bony meats. There is no local on affiliated food stores here in the boonies except for the food a lot. They charge a low price but add a 10% kicker on checkout. One has to be savvy to actually find something cheaper. thanx, bill Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 50 years. meep
Post #257,260 by drewk 5/31/06 8:25:42 AM Reply	Same here It also coincides nicely with a series they're running on the local NPR about the immigrant communities. In particular, the Asian community has grown like crazy in the last 10 years. There are apparently a lot of Asian markets centered around E 36th, and they're doing so well they're in negotiations with some new people to open a Mexican market. Yeah, immigrants to the immigrant neighborhood. I think it's time for a field trip downtown. === Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link\|http://DocHope.com\|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats]. [link\|http://DocHope.com\|http://DocHope.com]
Post #257,271 by Andrew Grygus 5/31/06 11:25:06 AM Reply	Yes, that's the way they got started here. Small stores that stocked specialty items for the local immegrant community and kept the price down (supermarket prices on specialty items are completely unafordable). The successful markets grew and started attracting the more adventurous white folks and other eths, and the markets grew more, still keeping the prices down, and the regular white folks started shopping there. There's an even bigger multi-ethnic than Sunland Produce out in the far valley but I haven't had a chance to visit it yet. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #257,256 by pwhysall 5/31/06 3:04:32 AM Reply	They're also banging the "quality" drum. While you can buy baked beans that are nothing but salt, sugar and starch, (plus xanthan gum - I don't know what it is, but it's in everything in Sainsbury's "value" range), you can also buy The King Of Beans. (I shop at Sainsbury's, which is the middle-to-posh supermarket chain in the UK - between Morrison's, Tesco and Asda and Waitrose, so that's what I base things on). Sainsbury's fresh pasta, for example, is very tasty; we had the tortellini with gorgonzola and walnut last night. Maybe UK consumers are just pickier; but there's a definite trend towards sourcing in-season produce from the UK, that produce being of a decent standard, and organic stuff is a significant minority of product lines. Overpriced, of course, but the aforementioned vast buying power will rectify that once the economies of scale ramp up. Peter [link\|http://www.no2id.net/\|Don't Let The Terrorists Win] [link\|http://www.kuro5hin.org\|There is no K5 Cabal] [link\|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org\|Home] Use P2P for legitimate purposes!
Post #257,279 by Andrew Grygus 5/31/06 12:54:13 PM Reply	Tesco is opening in Southern California . . . . . and other Southwest states. Right now they're shopping for distribution centers. This should be interesting - we'll find out just how competitive they know how to be. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #257,290 by pwhysall 5/31/06 3:21:24 PM Reply	If they do business in the US like they do in the UK... ...then they'll be ruthless. They're not the biggest supermarket in the UK (by some margin) for nothing. Peter [link\|http://www.no2id.net/\|Don't Let The Terrorists Win] [link\|http://www.kuro5hin.org\|There is no K5 Cabal] [link\|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org\|Home] Use P2P for legitimate purposes!
Post #257,296 by tonytib 5/31/06 3:53:41 PM Reply	They're already in Thailand I remember seeing some there. It'll be interesting to see how they do in the US. --Tony
Post #257,334 by Meerkat 5/31/06 8:09:42 PM Reply	Speaking of quality.. Coles supermarkets are heavily promoting their 'direct from farmer to you' thing, where some fresh fruit and veg are packed into crates at the farm, and it's that same crate that gets plonked in the fresh food section of the supermarket to vastly reduce the amount of handling that goes on. I usually get my fruit and veg from a local fruit and veg shop, as it's generally heaps cheaper (and often better quality) than buying from the supermarket. As for supermarkets in general - here in Sydney the biggies are Coles and Woollies (Woolworths), then there's Aldi, and the tiddly ones like Food-For-Less, Bi-Lo, Franklins, which I think are all subsidiaries of Coles or Woollies anyway. Or if you're feeling posh, you go to the David Jones Food Hall for all the cool stuff. I get my tea there. Mmmm... Taylors of Harrogate... Two out of three people wonder where the other one is.
Post #257,520 by static 6/2/06 1:01:39 AM Reply	More info. Franklins got themselves bought and are now owned by Pick-n-Pay. IGA is another small fry. Bi-Lo is owned by Coles-Meyer, though, and Food-For-Less is owned by Woolies. I stopped buying bread from Woolies years ago after reading about unnecessary preservatives put in their bread. We now get most of our bread from Baker's Delight, which proudly states that their bread is preservative free. Wade. "Insert crowbar. Apply force."

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