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Our inner cities have become "food deserts" with choices limited to small bodegas and corner stores that sell plenty of overpriced junk food, sodas, candy, liquor, lottery tickets, overpriced salty and sugary snacks, but little or no healthy fruits/ vegetables.
For instance, Ward 8 of Washington D.C. has only one supermarket.
Our inner cities have become "food deserts" with choices limited to small bodegas and corner stores that sell plenty of overpriced junk food, sodas, candy, liquor, lottery tickets, overpriced salty and sugary snacks, but little or no healthy fruits/ vegetables.
For instance, Ward 8 of Washington D.C. has only one supermarket.
Rural locales, as well. I live in a city with definite food deserts, and while it's bad in certain neighborhoods, it's nothing like my rural-dwelling parents' limited access to grocery options.
I love a store with many offerings in each category. But I shop also for convenience. I don't know enough about this to agree or disagree about the number of stores. I shop at a local WinCo and Whole Foods every week. I do value organic produce and some other products I can find at WF, that I can't find other places. But WinCo rules for many things.
I also buy some things at Safeway. But I usually stop in there on my way to other destinations.
One of the attractions of Trader Joes is the variety and the sense of finding something special when you stop in. Unfortunately, TJs is not convenient for me, so I don't go there now.
In the St. Louis area there are grocers on every street corner. The grocers are all local, but that doesn't stop them from being huge places. I loved shopping at Dierbergs, but I still got a lot of produce at Whole Foods.
I don't know the answer, but for me, give me variety and choice. I am so happy to have so many choices.
But I feel like a lot of American consumers actually are tired of having to walk aisle after aisle of 20 different milks and cereals and drinks. They would be just fine with three brands. They don't need 10 or 20 brands. That's why Aldi and Trader Joe's are so popular. Smaller stores and mostly just one brand.
We are at a tipping point where the American consumer values TIME (just give me fewer brands in a smaller store I can get in and out of quickly) over VARIETY (Wegmans for example).
I feel like the era of the big box grocery store is over. This includes Walmart, Kroger, Safeway, etc.
In a three mile radius of our home (Suburban Philly) there are 3 Walmart Supercenters (3!), a Target, a Sam's Club, BJs Warehouse, Costco, a half dozen supermarkets and an Aldi. Competition is a beautiful thing! Almost all of these stores do a thriving business and they've been around from years to decades. Our area keeps building new residences, so the customers just keep coming.
I like variety and I have time to spend doing what I enjoy. I enjoy shopping and walking, so walking a large store is win/win for me!
For those who don't have time because they are too busy, there are smaller stores such as Aldi, Trader Joe's & Wawa, where they can get in and out quickly and don't get many choices.
The big box stores and large supermarkets aren't going anywhere in our area. If they closed, the lines for the smaller stores would be around the block!
We are fortunate to live where there are many, many grocery stores nearby from which to choose, because I get extremely bored eating too many of the same foods. I also like it that grocery stores hire many local people and that they seem happy in their jobs and have been with the stores for decades.
I prefer many of the offerings at Whole Foods, as we look for organic and non-GMO products, high-rated milk and eggs, fish and organic meat and shun conglomerate food like General Mills/Kraft, as large conglomerates and their subsidiaries spend more money into political propaganda ads to defeat efforts to require healthier food for everyone. Those companies also tend to look out more for their shareholders than those who eat their food. They also tend to have yucky ingredients like carrageenan, which is banned elsewhere.
The larger supermarkets, including our local Safeway and Raleys do have some organic and non-GMO products, but then they also have huge rows of conglomerate, GMO cereal and breads because of payment for shelf space by manufacturers to supermarkets. And I don't like most of the O Organics branded products.
But I dislike the way Whole Foods displays their breads: they are set out in bins, including low baskets, and I have seen people touch more loaves than they buy and their kids, with their dirty little hands, touch them, too.
What I'd really like is either a bread bakery store (made on the premises) like in Germany, or an area of a store set aside where a large variety of fresh-baked, different, nutritious breads are behind a counter requiring employee assistance so no customers can squeeze the merchandise.
(Please don't suggest Panera bread, because they simply don't carry the right varieties of bread.)
We also have a Sprouts, but my husband doesn't like shopping there, mainly because he's still unfamiliar with it and he says the shopping center where it is located is too busy.
My favorite place to check out the quality of eggs and milk products is Cornucopia.org.
The more grocery stores, the more people will be employed and the more variety that will stay.
Wall Street Journal is a newspaper for investors, and any lessening of the number of stores means that the main conglomerates will have even more influence (via the shelf space they buy) and conglomerates and their investors will make more profit and fewer locals will be employed. No thanks.
Last edited by SFBayBoomer; 08-01-2017 at 07:05 PM..
wakmart sells more groceries than any other store/chain in america...almost double that of the second competitor...kroger..
we all like to bash walmart and say we dont shop there...but more people shop walmart for groceries than anyone else
akso dont blame the stores for too many varieties..
30 years ago i was a meat manager in a supermarket....i ordered meat it was choice thats it....which is a good grade
today ...... i have to order
prime grade, choice grade, select, grade, grass fed/finished....organics, anti-biotic and hormone free, locally raised, humanely raised, free range,
and the questions/concerns....
is it pink slime?? does your meat have gluten?? is it all natural?? do you put dye in your meat??? do you grind your old steaks in your burger??
do you have low salt bacon, turkey bacon, uncured bacon,,no nitrates/nitrates..
does your meat come from china??
the stores today reflect the wants/needs of the persnickety consumer,,,not the other way around
I know that I don't care for many of the big box grocery stores. They seem to sell the same stuff: different name/different price, and the quality is just ... meh.
I would love to see some of the small specialty stores that would sell just artisan bread and pastry, or just meats and deli, or fruit/veggies stands etc. But there is no hope that they would come back anytime soon...
I know that I don't care for many of the big box grocery stores. They seem to sell the same stuff: different name/different price, and the quality is just ... meh.
I would love to see some of the small specialty stores that would sell just artisan bread and pastry, or just meats and deli, or fruit/veggies stands etc. But there is no hope that they would come back anytime soon...
I would like that too. Like you would have small neighborhood stores. I grew up that way. lived in a mostly European Latin neighborhood in Florida, and we had a meat market, milk market, produce market and bakeries all within a couple blocks. I really, really miss that. Everything is pre-fab now. I want REAL bakery items, and there are a few places where I live, but are too far to be convenient.
I live in a pretty rural area. There are maybe 8 actual grocery stores within 50 miles--most in one smallish town.
I have to settle for what they have on hand. When I go to the mainland, I get almost overwhelmed by the selection at big grocery stores.
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