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I noticed a lot of Fred Meyer's in Boise. What's the impression of them? I've never heard of them.
I went to a Safeway in Reno on my way to check out Boise and I was SHOCKED at how great it was. The prices were super...the store was clean and upscale. I was shocked. I have Von's here in Cali and haven't been impressed with Von's ever (overpriced)....I assumed Safeway was the same since they're owned by the same company. Damn I was wrong. I was hoping Boise would have Safeway....didn't see them.
Albertson's is kinda of meh here where I live...decent selection..clean..
Jarndyce, don't feel alone about Von's. My one sister works for one in Fresno and I can tell you that is not where she does her grocery shopping!
I used to shop at Abs until probably the late '90s, when their prices started getting totally out of control. I think that coincided, roughly, with the beginning of the LJ debacle. Now I go into an Abs maybe once a year, mostly just to shake my head at their prices.
None of my friends and relatives from around the country have anything nice to say about the Abs near them. I really can't see how they have stayed in business with their prices.
I use Fred Meyers as more of a convenience store. With their self checkout I can blast in and out in no time.
Do all my major shopping at Winco.
It would be nice to have a Safeway.
Smiths were nice places to shop when they were around here.
I do most of my shopping at Winco since moving to Boise and have found that they are cheaper than Wal-Mart on food. For things like shaving cream, toothpaste and shampoo I just grit my teeth and head into Wal-Mart and stock up once a month on non-food items.
About the only negative that I can say about Winco is that their generic brand "Flavorite" is about the worst tasting private labeled food I have ever tasted. Our family has tried everything from their waffles, peanut butter, cookies and much more and none of the "Flavorite" stuff is any good. I love Winco's bulk food section and the new Winco in Eagle is nice and clean and easy to get in and out of.
I used to shop at Abs until probably the late '90s, when their prices started getting totally out of control.
That's what I was wondering about-- if it was once cheap or always expensive in Boise. In L.A., I would consider Albertsons to be one of the better stores in the area as far as pricing. Certainly nothing as ridiculous as in Boise (boy, what a shock that was). Yet it was still nowhere near as good when they bought up the Lucky stores and changed them to Albertsons. Lucky was the best and cheapest grocery store, hands down. Albertsons goofed on that one big time. Save Mart even bought up some Albertsons in the Bay Area and changed the name to Lucky because they know the Lucky name is held in so higher a regard.
All I have to say is that I'm very appreciative of WinCo.
Fred Meyer is in the Kroger family...not sure where in California you are but related to Kroger, Ralphs, Food4Less, others.
Umm, best description I could give you is a Mervyn's plus grocery store for Fred Meyer. Clothes are better than Wal-Mart, groceries were less than Albertson's, more than Wal-Mart Supercenter and WinCo.
This was the perfect discription.
I only go to Albertson's when I happen to be right next to one and need ONE or TWO things. I zip in a zip out with my one item. Thier sales are a joke and they are overpriced. I used to shop Alberstons in AZ and they were overpriced there too.
I shop at Winco for food. Their prices are excellent. They have a good stock of items and nice store layout. Additionaly, I've always found the staff to be very friendly and I like to bag my own stuff. That way I can catagorize as I bag and that makes unloading at home much easier
I go to Walmart and Fred Meyer when I need a few items of food, office supplies, socks or someother department store type product. If its a clothing item, I instead go the Fred Myer. Thier clothes are nicer and they have a good variety of housewares and gardening supplies.
If it's random house hold junk stuff I will go to Walmart. But, if I need quality gifts, clothes or speciality items, I go to the mall.
So I went into Winco last night for the first time in years to do my shopping. I found a few goods and a few bads. **WARNING: LONG**
First, the bads:
As someone mentioned, they had the store brand of Flavorite everywhere. I'm a big brand shopper, so I was disappointed to find they didn't carry several of the products I'm used to, had to look for substitutions. For example, they didn't carry any type of milk but Flavorite, and I'm really picky with my milk.
They also had a very very limited supply of bottled iced tea. My husband only has one kind that he likes, and they didn't even have anything similar, so I'll have to keep getting that at Albertson's.
I like to buy smaller packages of ground beef, as I only cook for 1 or 2 people at a time, and if I freeze it, I never remember to take it out of the freezer until I'm ready to cook, which doesn't work. The smallest packages at Albertson's are about twice what I actually use before they go bad. Unfortunately, Winco only had packages twice as large as that, so 4 times what I need to be getting. *sigh*
Someone mentioned the good layout of the store, which I have to disagree with 100%. They had food stuff mixed up with non-food stuff, and it is almost impossible to shop "up and down the aisles", since they aren't all the same length, you come to the end of one, turn around and find yourself in the middle of the next one. I'm pretty sure I missed a few sections. That won't be a problem once I learn where everything is.
The produce was only so-so. The apples looked ok, but the strawberries were very sad. I probably should pay a visit to the outdoor farmers market up the street, as it is probably much fresher.
Finally, they were absolutely swamped. I've always done my Albertson's shopping right after work. I will NOT be trying that again at Winco. Is there a quiet time to go in there that a person who works a 9-5 could manage? I'm thinking Sunday mornings when everyone is at church, perhaps.
Now the good:
The prices were very good. I spent about $80 on what would have cost about $100 - $110 at Albertson's.
They had larger packages of some things that I actually like to buy in bulk, like Cereal. Actually, their largest box of Cheerios was about the same price as the much smaller box that Albertson's sells.
They did have most of the products I'm used to buying. I was able to get the same brands of about 80% of my shopping list.
I was actually able to use my debit card. Every time I've ever been in before, they only took Cash, Check, or some sort of food stamp card. This was a minor thing, but it still made me very happy.
They are even closer to my house than the nearest Albertson's. In fact, if I had a way to carry the groceries home, I could easily walk. I may have to look at getting some side baskets for my bike to make shopping trips with.
So overall, I was mostly satisfied. I'll still have to make trips to Albertson's every few weeks, to get the stuff that Winco doesn't carry, but that should be pretty minimal.
Oh, and does anyone go to Paul's? I don't think there's one close, but they look nice in the ads. No idea on prices tho.
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This was the perfect discription.
