What determines where you grocery shop?
I caught part of this story on NPR the other day about shifting grocery store shopping in Chicago -- it starts at about 39:30 in the audio, if you want to skip and take a listen. Did you know ALDI has the largest number of stores in Chicago of any grocery chain? Fascinating. 🙂 It was also interesting hearing the variety of stores people went to and the number of people who shop at multiple stores, which I think has changed over the past few years.
Distance, by far the number one thing. We have a gas guzzler as the "mom-mobile", so I try to drive as little as possible with it. Then sales. I might drive to Ultra or Jewel should they have a good sale. And I sometimes drive to the other Meijer in town because I know they are better at lowering prices on their clearance stuff compared to my "regular" one.
Location, basically wherever it's easiest to walk or close to a bus route as I'm carless.
Location and prices - there is a Meijer and an Aldi on my regular route, so they get most of my business. I might go to Jewel for a sale, or Walmart for something I know will be cheaper than Meijer but Aldi doesn't carry (like Luvs diapers!). Aldi is my go to most weeks and Meijer gets my business for great sales and products Aldi doesn't carry.
In my town we have target, aldi and jewel. I go to target and aldi the most. The next town has walmart, meijer, aldiand jewel.
I hardly ever go to jewel, it not worth the hassle. I wish we had a ultra!
I have a Jewel and a new (not a chance in heck I will shop there) Wal-Mart grocery very near my house but I am willing to drive a bit out for Valli w/a Aldi next to it or Fresh Thyme & Ultra w/a Target and Aldi on the same corners. Jewel is way too expensive and not really coupon friendly all the time and Wal-Mart simply does not get my $ (plus I haven't heard anything positive and it just opened a week ago).
This time of year I spend 2/3rds of my food dollars at the Evanston farmer's market. This last week I also bought some milk on sale at Walgreens, and bought some frozen organic dinners on clearance at Jewel as well as a quart of plain yogurt. I also bought a bag of tortilla chips at Whole Foods. I do not drive 5 miles to chase a bargain, and next to the farmer's market, I go to Jewel the most because it is convenient.. I have a Jewel, Trader Joe's and a Whole Foods right next to each other, a mile from where I live.
Shop Smart, the magazine put out by Consumer Reports has an interesting survey they just did, and they found out that 28% of the people they surveyed never used coupons, and 10% of their shoppers were heavy users of coupons.. They also found out that people were more likely to shop at Walmart and Target for groceries now than they were a few years ago.
In the summer, we ride our bikes to stores, so whatever I can carry on the bikes, that's where I shop! Naturally, if the things I need are frozen or refrigerated I will try to pick a store that has the stuff on sale and I have a coupon for it. Most of the time whatever season it is, I try to go to the closest place to home to save on gas and make several stops right in one area. Today I went to Kroger (in car) and also picked up my Redbox I got for FREE with my Olive Garden deal on Monday! Kroger is about as far as Jewel for me but Ultra or Aldi are not very close, so I usually only go there when there are super deals. I have so much in my stockpile right now, I basically only shop for some item (God forbid) I am out of! Plus we have lots of stuff in the garden now. In the winter my choice of stores depends on the weather and the distance. It kills me, but I will let a coupon or deal expire if I do not actually NEED it.
I am also quite surprised that Aldi has the most stores in Chicagoland. I think this is because the other popular chains are not in all the towns, like Meijer or Kroger. There are Aldi's everywhere now! That is interesting.
Aldi's has the most stores in the city of Chicago, not in the Chicagoland area. I was confused at first myself. I think when you factor in the whole Chicago area, Jewel has the most stores, and the two Jewel stores I usually shop at are super busy since Dominick's closed their stores. When I stopped in the Wilmette Jewel on Green Bay, on my way home from Winnetka, this last Saturday at noon, the parking lot was packed. I finally ended up parking on the street since I was in a hurry to make it to the farmer's market
You are right, and I read that twice! There are tons of suburbs around the actual city of Chicago. I would not even consider myself "Chicagoland" as I am 60 miles south. Kankakee is sometimes considered for those deals, but sometimes not. And I would agree that Jewel is probably the biggest since Dominicks closed in the city. I have NEVER shopped for groceries in the city of Chicago.
before couponing i used to just go to jewel because it was so close and i was a loyal jewel shopper (as well as an employee who met her husband working there). now that i coupon i shop at jewel, meijer, ultra and target depending on sales and coupon match-ups. if its a "need this minute" item and not on sale i go to jewel.
Quality, location, price, shopping experience. Walmart is the closest store to me. Probably less than 5 min. But I rarely shop there. Pretty much only the emergency I forgot to buy X for the dish I'm making tonight. Oh, and it go the for ribbon for my sewing biz, cuz it's a lot cheaper. Their fresh food sucks and I just don't care for the feel of the store. I drive about 15 min to go to target instead. I think the prices are pretty comparable between Walmart and target, but I just like the feel of the store better. I was driving About 25 min once a week to go to Meijer because we really don't have any good fresh food options, but since Mariano's opened I don't have to anymore. It's right by target. And I'm good with buying shelf items economically at other stores and paying a bit more for good produce. So...several factors depending on what I'm buying.