Kroger or Harris Teeter? (Cary: sale, how much, home)

[Desdemona123]

Originally Posted by sls76

I agree about Super Target prices. I've never found them cheaper than the grocery stores. I go back and forth between Kroger, HT and Lowes but if I didn't care about price I'd stick to HT except for lunch meat from Lowes (they cary Boars Head).

The Kroger's in Wakefield carries Boars Head...I thought al the Krogers' did?

[tortoise944]

We shopped at Harris Teeter for a month for all groceries then swapped to Kroger's for all groceries for a month. Over the course of a month, the individual sales they run average out pretty well.

We went down roughly 15% in total order price when we switched from HT to Kroger. So, Kroger is cheaper in general then HT if you dont shop at like 2-3 different stores getting your groceries on sale items.

Sales at any one store are usually better then even bulk deals from sams club and costco, so if you go to sales at one and sales at another they you get the best overall deal.

Now, we just finished another fun experiment.... we went straight Kroger generic brand for 2 weeks to see how that stacked up with the regular prices and the sale swapping technique. We ended up saving an additional ~20% off the total average bill for those 2 weeks.

Here are the numbers we came up with:
Harris Teeter: $121 (average a week for the month, using VIC card)
Kroger: $103 (average a week for the month, using the Kroger rewards plus card)
Kroger w/ full generic brand: $83.55 (average for the 2 weeks we did this)

A few other observations:
- When we went full generic, we always looked for sale prices that were cheaper and chose them if they were (it was rare as generic were usually marked down also in response to the sale)
- The generic wasn't as bad as some other generics we tried this from (most notably Tops brand generics were aweful when we tried them in the past).

In conclusion, if your only buying from one store, and price is your ONLY motivation:
- Harris Teeter > Kroger > Kroger w/ full generic brand

Oh and to answer another question I saw, yes Harris Teeter has a TON more selection and brand options then Kroger... In fact, my biggest annoyance is that Kroger (at least the 2 by me in Cary) have no box soup other then lipton... no Mrs. Weiss or Mrs. Grass or any others. Very wierd.

[Jdatlas]

Thank you so much Tortoise. I'm glad I asked the question. I never expected anyone to have such a detailed answer.

[sls76]

Originally Posted by Desdemona123

The Kroger's in Wakefield carries Boars Head...I thought al the Krogers' did?

We just got Boars Head at our Kroger, but the sanitation score at their deli is 90.5. I'll pay $0.50 more per pound for my turkey at Lowes where the sanitation score is 99.5.

[MAtoNC!]

Wow! That was very detailed!

I shop at about five different stores in rotation. LOL! I just can't find everything I need in one store. But then again I buy gluten free food for my oldest, and the rest of the family has organic milk, wild caught fish, no high fructose corn syrup, low sodium, no trans fat, and no artificial colors.

I've been going to the Kroger on Maynard and Harris Teeter on Davis. My observation has been that Kroger everyday prices seem to be less. They carry different products and they have different things on sale.

I think the answer is very subjective depending on what you buy. I try to buy as little as possible at Harris Teeter. It seems to be where I spend the most money.

Originally Posted by tortoise944

We shopped at Harris Teeter for a month for all groceries then swapped to Kroger's for all groceries for a month. Over the course of a month, the individual sales they run average out pretty well.

We went down roughly 15% in total order price when we switched from HT to Kroger. So, Kroger is cheaper in general then HT if you dont shop at like 2-3 different stores getting your groceries on sale items.

Sales at any one store are usually better then even bulk deals from sams club and costco, so if you go to sales at one and sales at another they you get the best overall deal.

Now, we just finished another fun experiment.... we went straight Kroger generic brand for 2 weeks to see how that stacked up with the regular prices and the sale swapping technique. We ended up saving an additional ~20% off the total average bill for those 2 weeks.

Here are the numbers we came up with:
Harris Teeter: $121 (average a week for the month, using VIC card)
Kroger: $103 (average a week for the month, using the Kroger rewards plus card)
Kroger w/ full generic brand: $83.55 (average for the 2 weeks we did this)

A few other observations:
- When we went full generic, we always looked for sale prices that were cheaper and chose them if they were (it was rare as generic were usually marked down also in response to the sale)
- The generic wasn't as bad as some other generics we tried this from (most notably Tops brand generics were aweful when we tried them in the past).

In conclusion, if your only buying from one store, and price is your ONLY motivation:
- Harris Teeter > Kroger > Kroger w/ full generic brand

Oh and to answer another question I saw, yes Harris Teeter has a TON more selection and brand options then Kroger... In fact, my biggest annoyance is that Kroger (at least the 2 by me in Cary) have no box soup other then lipton... no Mrs. Weiss or Mrs. Grass or any others. Very wierd.

[Desdemona123]

Originally Posted by sls76

We just got Boars Head at our Kroger, but the sanitation score at their deli is 90.5. I'll pay $0.50 more per pound for my turkey at Lowes where the sanitation score is 99.5.

You have to go by each store in each area...For example the two in Wake Forest.....(well, technically the Krogers' is across the street from Wake Forest)

Kroger # 356 Deli
Location: 14460 New Falls of Neuse Rd Raleigh, NC 27614-8227
Facility Type: Food Stand
Inspection Date: 08/28/2007
Smoking Status: N/A
Score: 99

Lowes Foods #187 Deli
Location: 12524 Capital BLVD WAKE FOREST, NC 27587-7487
Facility Type: Restaurant
Inspection Date: 08/22/2007
Smoking Status: N/A
Score: 94.5

[sls76]

Originally Posted by Desdemona123

You have to go by each store in each area...For example the two in Wake Forest.....(well, technically the Krogers' is across the street from Wake Forest)

Kroger # 356 Deli
Location: 14460 New Falls of Neuse Rd Raleigh, NC 27614-8227
Facility Type: Food Stand
Inspection Date: 08/28/2007
Smoking Status: N/A
Score: 99

Lowes Foods #187 Deli
Location: 12524 Capital BLVD WAKE FOREST, NC 27587-7487
Facility Type: Restaurant
Inspection Date: 08/22/2007
Smoking Status: N/A
Score: 94.5

I'm not saying all Kroger delis are dirty. I'm saying the Kroger that is 0.5 miles from my house has a dirty deli so I shop at the Lowes which is 1.0 miles from my house.

[Desdemona123]

Originally Posted by sls76

I'm not saying all Kroger delis are dirty. I'm saying the Kroger that is 0.5 miles from my house has a dirty deli so I shop at the Lowes which is 1.0 miles from my house.

I posted that more for the folks coming into this thread. You just can't assume that the quality is the same with every chain grocery store.

I hear there are people that think Food Lion isn't bad and they have clean stores. You won't hear that from me, because everyone I've ever been in is disgusting....but I've not been in everyone.

[tortoise944]

Originally Posted by MAtoNC!

Wow! That was very detailed!
I've been going to the Kroger on Maynard and Harris Teeter on Davis. My observation has been that Kroger everyday prices seem to be less. They carry different products and they have different things on sale.

I think the answer is very subjective depending on what you buy. I try to buy as little as possible at Harris Teeter. It seems to be where I spend the most money.

Exactly. You really have to collect some kind of data on your own grocery list. Our motivation for this whole study was seeing our groceries show up in quicken as a one of the higher expenses once we moved down here from Ohio.

[saturnfan]

The Krogers near us in North Raleigh are overpriced and dumpy.

Harris-Teeter can be pricey but has sales. Service is impeccable at H-T.