As I mentioned in my last, having cut back on routine Costco shopping seems to be saving a ton of money. To give you a clue of how many tons, consider the fact that I’ve been doing most of my grocery shopping at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and Sprouts, and September’s bills came in at about 2/3 of budget.
Whole Foods is not cheap. But…its reputation as “Whole Paycheck” is suspect.
Couple of days ago, I stopped by the Safeway on the way to Whole Foods, figuring to pick up a couple of low-brow items that can’t be had in those more politically correct and environmentally self-conscious pastures. While I was there, I spotted the SAME baggies of red seedless grapes that WF sells. Thought, Might as well grab those here, because Safeway is bound to be cheaper than Whole Foods.
Well. No.
Paid $2.99 at Safeway. The very same product in the very same bags in the very same size was $2.69 at Whole Foods.
It’s not the first time I’ve found Whole Foods can have pretty good prices compared to other retailers. The only store that underprices WF on the prepared dog food I had to give the beasts when I was too sick to make real food for them is Fry’s, a decidedly downscale chain. Whole Foods’ price for the same product is about half that of Petsmart.
On the same trip, I spotted a few other items priced the same as or more than Safeway’s cost. The only thing at WF that’s consistently higher than Safeway is the meat. But Whole Foods’ meat is undeniably superior to Safeway’s. Usually the wines are higher, but WF always has a sale on something in the $8 to $10 range that’s not the usual California plonk. Veggies are all organic and so appear to be higher, until you compare the prices of Safeway’s bug-sprayed products with the prices of the organic produce in the same store.
So. Maybe shopping at Whole Foods is not bound to drive one to bankruptcy, after all.
With stores like this that are more specialty as compared to full out supermarkets, I’ve found that the prices are either lower or higher for most items. Few things seem the same price as the bigger supermarkets. If you can tilt the balance to buying the lower price items, then you definitely can come out ahead.
Yeah. That entails trotting around to two or three markets, which is something I abominate. However, they’ve built a Trader Joe’s next-door to the WF nearest to my house, and there’s a Sprouts and a Safeway directly on the way home. So — especially when it’s not hot outside — one can go 1) Trader’s (get as much as possible at a lower price); 2) WF (grab the good stuff); 3) Sprouts (get lesser produce items such as onions, which don’t need to be ultra-fresh, and things like bulk grains and Pomi packaged tomatoes, which can’t be beat); 4) Safeway (purchase politically incorrect detergents and a few other bourgeois items; on Wednesday when everything is marked down 10% for old folks, grab some cheap chicken to feed the dogs).
Pain in the butt, but it works. And apparently it saves more $$$ than one would expect over the Costco/Safeway strategy.
We don’t have anything nearly so exalted as Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s in our little county. Harris Teeter is at the higher end, though that mostly seems to mean they carry the higher-end stuff – I haven’t found their prices on basic items to be that much higher, and their sales are sometimes really good.
I’ve found the best quality meat at the best prices from the IGA, which is less than a mile from home. They’re a small store, so they don’t have the same selection as the bigger stores, but their prices seem to be comparable for basics. (Come to think of it, I think they’re good on dairy prices, too.)
Wal-Mart advertises the lowest prices, but I would actually pay a premium rather than set foot through their doors. Not that I absolutely won’t go there, but I avoid it.
We make a trip to Sam’s Club an hour away every month or two for specific items we can’t find in the other stores, but we keep a tight list so we don’t overspend.
We used to have an IGA! Their meat was very good — it came from the Midwest. Unfortunately, as the area went downhill the IGA was replaced by a downscale chain targeting the lowest SES, which meant the end of the good meat and the beginning of wilted produce. {sigh} Like poor people don’t deserve decent groceries, I guess…
In this neck of the woods a new dynamic is in place. They just opened a GIANT Walmart that covers a city block. I’m not a fan of buying my groceries at Walmart but many are….so something has to give. IMHO the Safeway will have the biggest problem and that store already looks “tired” and traffic has slowed . And their prices are ridiculous. We don’t have a Whole Foods close but I have been to Trader Joe’s and I am a big fan of their “cousin” Aldi. BUT the Walmart is going to be a “game-changer”…..wouldn’t surprise me if they closed the Safeway…
Possibly not as much of a game-changer as you might think. A surprising number of people simply refuse to shop at Walmart. Depends on the demographics.
The one near my son’s house (and the closest one to me) is in a down-at-the-heels neighborhood and is generally dirty and staffed by surly, unhappy employees. On one of those city crime maps, the mall stands out as a red zone — you park your car there at your risk, and you’re crazy if you walk across the parking lot with a purse in your hand.
On the other hand, up the freeway in White-Flightland, there’s a big, shiny, clean Walmart that’s not at all unpleasant. And it’s very cheap. Even I would probably shop there, if it didn’t cost a quarter of a tank of gas to drive out there.
Doesn’t seem to be the case with this Walmart….very modern….clean….well lit….and well stocked. I hear folks all the time “dis” Walmart and then when I am picking up DW’s meds in Walmart I’ll see those same folks in there WITH a cart full….And that is what gives me pause. I stopped in the other day on the way home to get some cough drops and a gal was kind enough to let me go ahead of her. She had a HUGE cart full and the gal ahead of her had a “tally” of around $400. To me these are big numbers and came out of someone else’s pocket in the grocery business. To tell ya the truth the new Walmart has a “Costco feel” to it….just without the membership fee…
Yeah, the new one up in the northerly suburbs is very much that way: Costcoesque, only with even more loot to grab. When Duck was nesting in the backyard, I went in there to get a styrofoam chest that could be cut into slabs to use as little duckling docks (if the tiny babes get into the pool, they can’t get out and soon drown). Came out with a kind of electrified tennis racket for swatting mosquitoes.
Works, too…
I suppose it’s a class thing. If the store is in a middle-class area (most of the outlets in Px are not), if it’s kept clean and tidy (not always the case here), and if you feel safe in the parking lot (good luck with that!), then I expect EVERYONE would like to shop there, whether they’re “Walmart People” or McMansion parvenus.
Totally agree on Whole Foods. If it’s a specialty item, it’s likely cheaper at Whole Foods than Publix (if Publix carries it at all). Trader Joe’s is the in-between. I usually end up at Whole Foods once a month, Trader Joes every couple of weeks, and Publix every week. Seems to balance my need for quality, specialty items, as well as cost and time optimization. =)