Keeping down grocery costs (Minneapolis, Brooklyn Park: transporting, credit card, transfer)

[Citykid3785]

They are also building a 8,000-10,000 square foot Mini Hyvee convenience store concept, complete with a Starbucks, only 2 miles from it's larger lakeville store. It's an experiment for them.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Unfortunately I have to take back my previous praise for Aldi. We’ve been burned too many times by them with poor quality products. It’s a shame too because I love their business model in theory...just wish they were more consistent.

[Glenfield]

Originally Posted by Cruz Azul Guy

Unfortunately I have to take back my previous praise for Aldi. We’ve been burned too many times by them with poor quality products. It’s a shame too because I love their business model in theory...just wish they were more consistent.

Sounds like their business model and my golf game have something in common. When I told an instructor that I wanted to be more consistent he said, “You are consistent. What you need to be is better.”

[Citykid3785]

Originally Posted by Cruz Azul Guy

Unfortunately I have to take back my previous praise for Aldi. We’ve been burned too many times by them with poor quality products. It’s a shame too because I love their business model in theory...just wish they were more consistent.

I still enjoy Aldi's place in my monthly runs, but I am sometimes baffled that some items are so quality or on trend (no artificial colors, few ingredients, tastier than national brand), while others have a bunch of junk,HFCS, and food coloring.

For instance, their version of lucky charms doesn't have red 40 (unlike general Mills) and it tastes better. But then their summer sausage has a bunch of additives.

[Radical_Car]

A few years back I recall Coborns supposedly wanting to buy out Rainbow and attempt to become the states largest grocery store and take the spot from Cub in the Twin Cities. That was well before HyVee planned to enter the Twin Cities.

Anyways I am so glad that never happened. I can not stand Coborns & Cash Wise and they are far, far inferior to HyVee, Cub and Lunds/Byerlys.

When I lived in St Cloud and they bought out the two ancient Cub Foods stores there years ago and turned them into Cash Wise, they repainted the inside and what not and somehow made them look even worse then they already were. The funny thing is the prices at Coborns and Cash Wise aren't really any cheaper then Byerlys, and every Cash Wise store i've been in is so ghetto and filthy, about as bad as any Kmart that still exists.

I don't know what the difference between Coborns and Cash wise is, or is suppose to be. Or if they were 2 seperate chains at one point that merged or what, but someone told me Cash Wise is suppose to be a low priced version of Coborns. I don't see it, prices are roughly on par with each other and roughly on par with Lunds/Byerlys.

I don't see the allure. You got prices on par with Lunds/Byerlys, stores that look worse then most Kmarts, and service worse then you get at Taco Bell at 2am.

Coborns/Cash Wise can stay out of the Twin Cities. Hopefully HyVee figures how to expand to St Cloud and put them out of business.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

A major reason why groceries are expensive in MN is the lack of competition. Cub (SuperValu) distributes to most of the grocery chains in MN like Colbourns, Lunds & Byerlys, Target etc. Unless things have changed, Walmart and Hy Vee are the only two other distinctive major chains that do not buy from SuperValu.

I'm in MN 6 months and a PHX burb for the other 6 months. I typically buy items on sales. In our town of 125,000 people, we have two Walmart Super Stores, a Sams Club, three Fry's, one Bashas', Trader Joes, Sprouts, Target, Walmart Neighborhood Market, two Safeway's, one Albertsons, a Killer 99 Cent Store that puts an Aldi's to shame, and a WinCo.

The competition is brutal. The cheapest chain is the newcomer called WinCo. Walmart is actually pretty expensive as compared to Fry's and especially WinCo. One of the highest $$ chains here in AZ called Bashes' and it is 300 yards from my house. In this weeks flyer, grapes are 99 cents a pound (which happens a couple times a month), $4.97 NY Stripe, $0.77 cent 2 liter of Pepsi, $0.87 large avocados etc. Last week at this 2nd highest price chain, there was boneless chicken breasts for $1.49 a pound (bone in is 99 cents a pound). Often, asparagus is 99 cents when it is in season ($2.50 when out of season). Still at Costco, asparagus is never less than $4 a pound even when it is $99 cents at all of the stores. Berries are often priced at $1 a small tray. It gets as expensive when they charge $2.50 ea. I was at Cub over Christmas and they were $4 a small tray for raspberries, $3.99 a pound for grapes, and $2 for colored peppers each. Yesterday, I paid $0.49 cents for red colored peppers and they were not on sale.

I get sticker shock when I arrive back home to MN. So I do my best to shop at Costco or Sam's and overbuy and do the very least amount of shopping that I can at the normal chains including Walmart. An Aldi's would have a tough time in AZ because a place like WinCo is cheaper with 200,000 more items. I hope a WinCo will eventually march into MN. Their deli and meat selection isn't as good. But Fry's is better for less in all categories over a Cub. But we are where we are and our MN grocery store selection is terrible.

[slamont61]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

A major reason why groceries are expensive in MN is the lack of competition. Cub (SuperValu) distributes to most of the grocery chains in MN like Colbourns, Lunds & Byerlys, Target etc. Unless things have changed, Walmart and Hy Vee are the only two other distinctive major chains that do not buy from SuperValu.

I can assure you it's not the lack of competition driving prices up in the region. Our profit margin at the retail end is so low, just over 1%, there isn't a whole lot of wiggle room to keep costs down. That is why we (SuperValu) are growing our business in the wholesale arena over retail. We're good at it.

Cub foods stores carry several SuperValu private brands which are high in quality and are as good as or better than name brand items. It's also a very good practice to spend your dollars locally as opposed to shipping it off to chains based in other regions.

[ellysbelly]

Originally Posted by Cruz Azul Guy

Unfortunately I have to take back my previous praise for Aldi. We’ve been burned too many times by them with poor quality products. It’s a shame too because I love their business model in theory...just wish they were more consistent.

I find that not all ALDIs are created equal-- they each carry slightly different selections and some are nicer/cleaner than others. Perhaps try another location?

Also, you're probably aware that ALDI will both refund the purchase price AND replace any item that you're not happy with, for any reason

[ellysbelly]

And, I likely mentioned this before upthread, but I have been super impressed with Fresh Thyme, a new-ish entrant to our local market. I find their stores are clean, excellent customer service and their sale prices (especially on meats, poultry, fish/seafood, and produce) are often lower than ALDI and sale prices at other stores. It's largely fresh foods with a butcher counter, a large/extensive fresh produce department, extensive cheese options, olive bar, fresh salad bar, bulk foods, plus a small-ish freezer and packaged food section.

I think HyVee is WAY overpriced. I appreciate that they have clean and HUGE stores with excellent customer service and great selection, but I find that even their sale prices are ridiculously high. I'm happy-ish that one will be opening about 5-6 minutes from my house (as I'm 10-12 minutes from the closest Cub and Super Target), but it likely won't change my shopping habits much, if at all-- I'll likely use HyVee much like I use Cub now, as a convenience store (where I normally get little more than milk, eggs, or, in a pinch, a protein for dinner now and then). I can't wait for next year when two ALDIs will be opening within 8-10 miles from my house to open-- that will make my life significantly easier!

The bulk of my grocery dollars are spent at Fresh Thyme (despite having to travel 25-30 minutes to one) and ALDI (at least a solid 20 minutes away, until next year when there will be two stores within 8-10 miles). Costco comes in as a distant 3rd. Small purchases for some super specific items at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods that my family enjoys. Cub, as mentioned, is a store of last resort.

[Citykid3785]

I have a theory that for MOST people, how much they spend on groceries monthly is correlated to the # of different stores they shop at.

In other words, many people feel as though they are saving money by buying certain things at certain stores where they are cheapest, BUT STILL STOPPING AT ALL STORES. They swear they are saving money by buying TP at Costco (in isolation, on paper they are), but they overestimate their willpower to say no to other things. Because if you're like me, there's a certain minimum you're going to spend each time you walk in a store, otherwise you would not have justified the trip.

An example might look like this:

Shopper 1: stops 1/wk (4x total in month) at mediocre store (Cub), spends $125 each trip for a total of $500
Shopper 2: stops 3x month at everyday grocer (Hy-Vee)($300), 1x at Costco ($150), 1x at Aldi ($60), 1x SuperTarget ($80), 1x at Fresh Thyme ($50) for a total of $640

Shopper 1 shops at a terrible store, not necessarily known for anything, but only swipes his card 4x in the month
Shopper 2 tries to buy the best of everywhere, but never spends less than $50 (otherwise he wouldn't have gone) at any one place, and ends up swiping his card 7x in the month.

I'm not judging, as I'm victim to this mentality as well, although I've since canceled my Sam's membership for just this reason.

What are your thoughts on this? Seems the weeks I stop at the most stores, I spend the most.