Chicago area grocery stores

[Drover]

Originally Posted by long101

I live a few blocks away from a Jewel, so it is hard to not visit in a pinch.

However my staples are Costco, Marianos, and Aldi -for a few staples.

I was late to the Marianos bandwagon and didnt want to believe the hype. I can walk in, get a coffee for a buck, and go shop. Its almost an enjoyable experience. Their bakery is awesome, solid deli, and meat selection. It is also not horribly priced, so I can do the bulk of my shopping there.

Not to mention customer service details like they'll grill your meat purchases for you, core your pineapples for you, the dine-in area by the deli doesn't look like an institutional cafeteria, the bathroom doesn't look like it belongs in a taxi dispatch garage and it isn't brimming with gang graffiti, et cetera... it's just a much more pleasant atmosphere in which to shop and yet still cheaper than Jewel on balance (though it makes no pretension of being a "low-cost" store and generally isn't).

[dinska]

Guys, once at Mariano's I wasn't feeling well, and they gave me free orange juice and DROVE ME HOME. Their customer service is hard to believe, especially for a chain.

[quigboto]

I alternate between Mariano's and Strack and Van Til. Mariano's meat selection is better than Strack IMO but Strack does produce a little better I think. They're both good for dry goods, cheese etc.
Once in a while I hit Jewel to get a few items (condiments mostly) that I can't get at Strack or Mariano's.
I like Whole Foods meat and produce but they are definitely overpriced and not conveniently located.
I used to like Treasure Island for high end foofy foo stuff when I lived near one. It used to be the only place that I could find Raclette cheese, but now quite a few other grocers carry it.
I like TJs for specific items but wouldn't shop there every day.
Has anyone shopped at Dill Pickle Co-Op? I have to try that place someday.

[Army_Guy]

Originally Posted by Drover

Does anyone remember the Eagle grocery chain back in the day?

I remember them.

When I still lived in the Chicago area, I did most of my grocery shopping at Super Target. It was an easy one stop shop.

I used to love Cub Foods, they're still around in the Twin Cities area, they just left Chicago.

Walt's is also good, I like their beef, but their prices seem to be high.

Some people told me that Dominick's wasn't the same after Safeway took them over years ago.

Never been in Trader Joes except to use the bathroom.

[Drover]

Good gracious, is Walt's still around?

[long101]

Originally Posted by Drover

and yet still cheaper than Jewel on balance (though it makes no pretension of being a "low-cost" store and generally isn't).

I havent really compared apples to apples pricing on Jewel Vs. Marianos, but would be very surprised if Marianos is cheaper. I havent spent much time in the 'aisle' section of Marianos, but am curious to do so now. Jewel actually has a pretty neat strategy... It is such a dump, I expect it to be cheaper and dont even think about it.

[Drover]

I guess it depends on what you buy and in what quantities. Maybe the brand-name shelf items aren't any cheaper. But I've generally found their generic brand is (Roundy's), and consistently better quality than Jewel's generic brand (Essential Everyday or whatever). Where they really kick Jewel in the face is the price of produce. If your shopping experience is produce-heavy, you're likely to come out pretty far ahead at Mariano's.

The one item we almost always buy at Jewel because it's consistently cheaper is six-packs of bottled soda. Mariano's idea of "on sale" is 4 bucks per six-pack for Pepsi products, whereas Jewel is almost always cheaper than that, sometimes as cheap as 3 bucks a six-pack for Pepsi products if you buy three. Coke products at Jewel are another story, almost always more expensive by a pretty solid margin.