Virginia Beach Grocery stores = awesome (Hampton: moving, rated, area)

[Babe_Ruth]

Originally Posted by citydweller

Interesting note, Food Lion has locations in rural areas, sometimes being the only grocery store. A similar model Family Dollar and Dollar General have adopted in the last few years.

yeah, Food Lion has had heavy saturation through out the (upper) Southeast. My feeling is Virginia & North Carolina have been Food Lion's to lose. Over the last 20-25 years a lot of different chains have moved in to Food Lion's traditional stronghold. And Food Lion hasn't counter punched very effectively (?) They did that brief, goofy split where they created 'Bloom', but quickly retracted it. There are probably long-standing, rural Food Lions that still thrive, but only bcuz new competitors haven't moved in there yet..

ps- I remember when Food Lion was Food Town, but then changed to 'Lion' bcuz of name rights that belonged to a prior Food Town (somewhere)..

[jillybean720]

I don't actually find Food Lion prices to be too high. That award goes to Harris Teeter, hands down.

Kroger is my current go-to. I actually really like the Kroger Marketplace because they carry clothing lines that aren't the same as every other store (how many different stores can you go to just to look at the same Carter's baby clothes over and over?).

I was SO excited for Wegmans. They were my go-to when I lived in NoVA. But here, I think it's just okay. Maybe my buying habits have changed since I moved down here, or maybe this Wegmans is overall less impressive than others, but I only go there for a couple things here and there.

Isn't there a sole Piggly Wiggly in Norfolk? I've never been there, just heard the name.

[Babe_Ruth]

Originally Posted by jillybean720

Isn't there a sole Piggly Wiggly in Norfolk? I've never been there, just heard the name.

yeah, near East Princess Anne & Azalea Garden. I think Piggly Wiggly is basically an old Southern chain. I never see Winn-Dixie anymore either. Not sure of Winn-Dixie's fate, or current market, etc.

[NOVAEER]

Harris Teeter's Monday pizza deal is tough to beat.

[jobber123rd]

Originally Posted by jillybean720

I was SO excited for Wegmans. They were my go-to when I lived in NoVA. But here, I think it's just okay. Maybe my buying habits have changed since I moved down here, or maybe this Wegmans is overall less impressive than others, but I only go there for a couple things here and there.

I believe that that the Virginia Beach Wegmans is slightly smaller than some of the other Virginia locations I've shopped (Midlothian, Short Pump, Fredericksburg, Woodbridge), so there's a little less variety in some areas. This is particularly apparent with the beer and wine section.

[Old Dominionite]

Wegmans will open a large distribution facility in Ashland. I know that the company has several stores currently planned in the Research Triangle, but this location undoubtedly means that we’ll see more stores open in greater Richmond and Hampton Roads in the coming years.

[citydweller]

The Red Mill area seems to be an underserved market for an upscale grocer.

[BillSmith0711]

There are two Piggly Wigglys in the Hampton Roads area, Newport News and Norfolk, they are owned by the owner of the now gone Be Lo/Fresh Pride chain. There are still a few Farm Fresh stores that were bought by independent operators. One has already closed I believe though.

The Triangle area in NC is the only place in this part of the country that you could say is more competitive in my opinion. They have all the chains of Hampton Roads, plus IGA, Lowes Foods, Sprouts, and Earth Fare, but its close.

The Charleston SC, and Greenville SC markets are also very competitive and getting more so with new chains coming in and new stores opening.

I doubt Food Lion or Harris Teeter are going anywhere, Food Lion may close some locations but they're doing fine, and have convinced everyone they have good prices, people have been saying for years they are in trouble and will be closing stores but nothing has ever come out of it. HT seems to be using the strategy of opening as many stores as possible in all of their markets, so some may close, but if they do leave the market they'll rebrand to Kroger. The chain most likely to leave I'd say is Save A Lot, who bought some of the Fresh Pride stores. I'm not sure if the Hampton Roads store are independent or corporate owned (Save a lot has both) but they are struggling nationwide and seeking to sell themselves. Most of the independent operators are switching to various cost plus format brands. Earthfare also just quietly closed several stores. They have a new location in Williamsburg not too far away.

[marls00]

Wow, OP, not bad! I live in Manalapan NJ. We are a 10 minute drive to the following: Costco, Walmart (15 min), Whole Foods, Wegmans, Shop Rite. Not to mention 3 excellent Italian specialty shops and Yorktown Bagels which could very well be the best bagel shop on the entire planet. My husband and I are moving in a year or two .... Virginia Beach is near the top of our list and when we found out it had a Wegman's, we were very, very happy. Glad to know there are so many good choices in VA Beach ... I seriously could not be happy living somewhere without many good food options - both grocery and restaurant-wise! One important question: is there a good bagel shop in the VA beach area??

[MaskedRacer]

Originally Posted by marls00

Wow, OP, not bad! I live in Manalapan NJ. We are a 10 minute drive to the following: Costco, Walmart (15 min), Whole Foods, Wegmans, Shop Rite. Not to mention 3 excellent Italian specialty shops and Yorktown Bagels which could very well be the best bagel shop on the entire planet. My husband and I are moving in a year or two .... Virginia Beach is near the top of our list and when we found out it had a Wegman's, we were very, very happy. Glad to know there are so many good choices in VA Beach ... I seriously could not be happy living somewhere without many good food options - both grocery and restaurant-wise! One important question: is there a good bagel shop in the VA beach area??

Yeah New Jersey groceries are spread out pretty good surprisingly. Shop Rite is eh. Acme is over priced garbage Nothing great. Kroger beats Shop Rite easily. Not sure about the bagel shop thing though. More of a donut man and Wal Mart has the best deal on those with their house made ones. Not the krispy kremes.