"Cheapest" Grocery Store? (McLean, Leesburg: live, price, vs.)

[cdmurphy]

Originally Posted by Alicia Bradley

Shoppers will surprise you. Yes, some of the locations smell like dirty diapers, and the produce (minus the 'specials' near the front at the Fairfax City location) tends to be a couple steps down from nasty, but if you're a regular Shopper (heh heh heh), you'll have these fairly frequent serendipitous moments in which you'll discover the most unexpected (semi-)gourmet/specialty products shelved amongst the standard at-every-grocery-store fare. Ghirardelli milk chocolate peanut butter bar that I paid $5 for in the San Francisco airport? Check, and for $1 (and not expired or anything, either). Pommery Moutarde de Meaux? Check. The Peanut Shop of Williamsburg wasabi peanuts? Check. And the international sections aren't bad, either.

The Shoppers in Sterling has recently been remodeled and it is AWESOME. Plus you cannot beat Colossal Donuts.

[ny2dc]

Hi this is my husbands account,
I love all the "pointers" about grocery stores/supermarkets. It looks like each one is good for certain things. I'm a SAHM, so I will have time on my hand to drive around. Where can I get coupons for sale items? Especially baby items, we have a 3 month old.

Wife of NY2DC (he told me dont leave my name)

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Caladium

You heard Wegmans is dumpy? Um, no.

I heard the Wegman's in Sterling is dumpy. I have a feeling it won't compare to the one in Leesburg, which I love.

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by ny2dc

Hi this is my husbands account,
I love all the "pointers" about grocery stores/supermarkets. It looks like each one is good for certain things. I'm a SAHM, so I will have time on my hand to drive around. Where can I get coupons for sale items? Especially baby items, we have a 3 month old.

Wife of NY2DC (he told me dont leave my name)

The Sunday Washington Post usually has coupon inserts. I don't see a whole lot of baby coupons. Many coupons you can get on line or by signing up with a manufacturer's website.

I remember getting a LOT of coupons (good ones too) when I would call a company and inquire about their manufacturing process. My son has a peanut allergy so I often had to call to check on the cross contamination issues. They always took my information and sent me tons of coupons. But I guess you need to have a reason to call.

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by RestonRunner86

I heard the Wegman's in Sterling is dumpy. I have a feeling it won't compare to the one in Leesburg, which I love.

That was the first-ever Wegmans I went to. It seems just like the one in Fairfax. I wouldn't consider it dumpy but maybe it went downhill? I do think the one in Woodbridge is MUCH nicer than the one in Fairfax. It is definitely a bigger store with a bigger wine shop and the parking is so much easier.

[Flamingo13]

Originally Posted by ny2dc

Hi this is my husbands account,
I love all the "pointers" about grocery stores/supermarkets. It looks like each one is good for certain things. I'm a SAHM, so I will have time on my hand to drive around. Where can I get coupons for sale items? Especially baby items, we have a 3 month old.

Wife of NY2DC (he told me dont leave my name)

Join Freecycle, look/post on Craigslist, many get the coupons but don't use many and would be willing to pass them on, trade for them, etc.

As for the original question: I check out the flyers from all the stores and shop by best sale prices (sometimes I don't go to Giant, Safeway, Harris Teeter at all) - it depends on what's a good price that week. If you find something that's a great value and have the space, STOCK UP. Most sales seem to be on a 6-8 week period.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

That was the first-ever Wegmans I went to. It seems just like the one in Fairfax. I wouldn't consider it dumpy but maybe it went downhill? I do think the one in Woodbridge is MUCH nicer than the one in Fairfax. It is definitely a bigger store with a bigger wine shop and the parking is so much easier.

I guess I'll just have to go to the one in Sterling myself sometime and see how it stacks up. I've been to the ones in Fairfax and Leesburg.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by RestonRunner86

I heard the Wegman's in Sterling is dumpy. I have a feeling it won't compare to the one in Leesburg, which I love.

No, it's not at all dumpy. And, BTW, that Wegman's is in Ashburn. While you're there, stop in at the Eastern Mountain Sports across the parking lot, and you might get some ideas on inexpensive/free places to kayak. When that store opened, they used to take people out on free kayak trips to show off their boats.

[bmwguydc]

I've never thought the Ashburn Wegman's to be dumpy. In fact, since everything else has opened in the parking area, it improved my opinion of the shopping center because it felt less like being in a desolate area.

From what I understand, the Fairfax store is the aberration, owing to the smaller site, but Wegman's wanted to build closer-in; hence, the compromises in terms of space and layout. It's a good store, though. I have been to other Wegman's in MD, NY, and NJ, and they all seem to be pretty much the same in terms of quality of store, cleanliness, and offerings -- which is commendable, since I could not say the same about other general grocery stores that do have glaring issues between stores in the chain.

[bmwguydc]

For coupons, I would say that you also need to sign up with the stores, get the shopper's card, etc. Toys/Babies R Us has one, and they do periodically send out coupons. Balduccis does, and I do sometimes get some from Wegman's, too, including a free bag like normie got (from the bag thread) -- though I have the purple one.