[Arcenal813]

Originally Posted by LKJ1988

Not anywhere near me. I almost never drive more than 4 miles from the house ever for anything unless i go fishing offshore from Clearwater.

Gotcha…
Well, I have to admit, after an evening/night of rare drunken debauchery a few weeks ago, I ended up at Waffle House in New Port Richey, and between that and a recent used furniture purchase in Spring Hill, I must say, I am not surprised by the lack of variety in West Pasco County in general. Most of it seems to be quite run down, and doesn’t have the demographic that would support those types of grocery stores.

That said, I have found Instacart prices for Sprouts to be fairly decent (not at all the case for Publix!) so there is that option if you’re a fan of Sprouts… Similarly, Whole Foods is okay on Amazon. Amazon Fresh is even better if it’s available in your area. I used the latter A LOT when I lived in Orlando. Unfortunately, that one isn’t available where I now live. I miss it. My current shopping is mainly divided between Publix and Sprouts.

[Ghaati]

Publix is a premium supermarket. They pay their employees more, the employees get stock options (it's 100% owned by employees), group health insurance, dental and vision options, annual profit-sharing bonuses, a 401k plan, regular raises with a generous cap, and (at least last year during COVID) generous bonuses in the form of Publix gift cards (between $50 and $100 every few months, no matter how many or few hours you worked).

They also are trained to treat their customers better than you'll find at less expensive stores like Walmart and Sav-a-Lot.

You're paying for all the things you complain don't exist at the cheaper stores.

If you don't care about customer service, and you don't care that the store you shop in is often dirty, with filthy shelves and questionable quality packaged produce, and you don't care that their "bakery" department doesn't actually bake anything in the store at all - then you'll find Walmart Superstore a much better deal.

But if you care about those things, you should be willing to pay for them.

[Corrie22]

Originally Posted by MOforthewin

Rich people can be some of the most cheap and complain about prices. I work retail and own my retail business. You know, older, the big ring on their finger, etc. but say the price is too high. Versus a regular middle class customer that won't complain about my prices. Like my hispanic customers rarely complain about prices, but a wealthy older person will ask for a better deal or complain.

you know, I guess it just depends....

I don't see rich people doing that around here at all...mostly I see them just spending huge quantities of money...

...the ones that cause problems...and try to nickel and dime you to death...are the ones from Hialeah

[beach43ofus]

Originally Posted by Corrie22

...and you have to watch the size of the containers

Publix might be the same price....but a smaller container

Aldi pulls the same junk....15 ounce containers...hate that.

I like how Costco has the price per pound, or price per ounce, shown clearly below the price for the product.

Publix does it, but its not as easy to see.

I can hardly buy anything at Publix after getting used to Aldi prices, & Wal Mart, and Costco.

When I moved back down here I did immediately notice the higher prices versus Atlanta. I'd estimate 15% across the board. I think Florida is moderating now due to Aldi, but it will always be higher than many other states in flyover country.

[LKJ1988]

Originally Posted by Arcenal813

Gotcha…
Well, I have to admit, after an evening/night of rare drunken debauchery a few weeks ago, I ended up at Waffle House in New Port Richey, and between that and a recent used furniture purchase in Spring Hill, I must say, I am not surprised by the lack of variety in West Pasco County in general. Most of it seems to be quite run down, and doesn’t have the demographic that would support those types of grocery stores.

That said, I have found Instacart prices for Sprouts to be fairly decent (not at all the case for Publix!) so there is that option if you’re a fan of Sprouts… Similarly, Whole Foods is okay on Amazon. Amazon Fresh is even better if it’s available in your area. I used the latter A LOT when I lived in Orlando. Unfortunately, that one isn’t available where I now live. I miss it. My current shopping is mainly divided between Publix and Sprouts.

This is why homes were selling for 20k in the area not many years ago. All there is used car dealers and closed up malls and stores. The only Target to close and Outback was in this area as well mel.

[LKJ1988]

Originally Posted by beach43ofus

Aldi pulls the same junk....15 ounce containers...hate that.

I like how Costco has the price per pound, or price per ounce, shown clearly below the price for the product.

Publix does it, but its not as easy to see.

I can hardly buy anything at Publix after getting used to Aldi prices, & Wal Mart, and Costco.

When I moved back down here I did immediately notice the higher prices versus Atlanta. I'd estimate 15% across the board. I think Florida is moderating now due to Aldi, but it will always be higher than many other states in flyover country.

I went to a crappy Aldi two times in my area. Once around 2011 or whenever it first was built and about 3 years ago when some old hag about hit my Corvette brett. It was dark, dank and drab in that store and with nothing i wanted to buy. I never tried a Save a lot yet chet.

[Arcenal813]

Originally Posted by LKJ1988

I went to a crappy Aldi two times in my area. Once around 2011 or whenever it first was built and about 3 years ago when some old hag about hit my Corvette brett. It was dark, dank and drab in that store and with nothing i wanted to buy. I never tried a Save a lot yet chet.

The only things I have been able to justify buying from Aldi's have been canned goods... Sardines, tuna, beans. So around $10 worth of groceries out of my run. Not worth it. I seriously do not get the hype. It's a glorified Save-a-Lot.

If you DON'T like Aldi's already, then no point in trying Save-a-Lot.

[beachmouse]

IMO, the best thing at Aldi's is the relatively cheap German/Belgian/random EU country chocolate bars.

[LKJ1988]

Originally Posted by Arcenal813

The only things I have been able to justify buying from Aldi's have been canned goods... Sardines, tuna, beans. So around $10 worth of groceries out of my run. Not worth it. I seriously do not get the hype. It's a glorified Save-a-Lot.

If you DON'T like Aldi's already, then no point in trying Save-a-Lot.

I only go to Walmart bart and Publix. But started going to a meat market this last weekend for steaks and stuff more to the sizes i need them since i live alone.

[boy3365]

Originally Posted by bale002

In my experience, lack of competition within a five-minute radius, driving or walking. Publix is ubiquitous, basically a real estate company that happens to sell groceries. But it is a full set of groceries, in a wide sense of the term.

In my experience, the nearest competition, within a 10-minute driving radius (unwalkable) - Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Fresh Market - cost more than Publix and the range of products on offer is about 1/3. SuperTarget is okay pricewise, but again, about 1/3 the range.

I've visited one of the non-Florida, uber popular regional stores that has been mentioned as being superior to Publix and other area stores in previous threads. I get why the store is popular and would include in my grocery trips if I lived there, but some of the comments here didn't match the reality in regard to what I buy.

The store has a much larger square footage than anything we have here. To me, that size comes with the assumption that they have better selection than stores with a more "normal" 40K to 50K sq ft. of space. But in a few departments, I noticed that the extra square footage seemed to merely allow the store to have a higher quantity of items per product on the sales floor as opposed to offering a significantly more diverse selection of goods. Imagine Publix only having 10 green bell peppers on display. This store will have 40-60 in a big basket. Now multiply that across the rest of produce, bakery dept, seafood dept, products down the aisles, etc. They also sell a lot of non-edible things we'd usually get at a big box general merchandise store or drug store.

Here are a couple of examples of the "appearance" of more selection. I verified on their websites in case I missed something when I was there in person. This store had ONE brand/variety of balsamic glaze for sale. My closest Publix, which is not a flagship or spruced up store, has FIVE brands. The other store has 10 Planters Nuts products, but no NUT-trition or honey roasted. Just salted nuts, mixed nuts, and cashews. Publix has 37 Planters products. Publix has 20 Emerald Nuts products. This other store that is more than twice as large as zero. You'll have to go for the house brand if you want a certain flavoring.

I thought this could be a regional thing, especially with Emerald, so I looked up nearby Kroger and Albertsons stores in that same zip code. They are in line with what Publix offers with the glaze and both brands of nuts.

To their credit, they do have a store-brand answer to a lot more products than Publix, and they do offer a lot of foods and food products unique to the culture of their region.