Christ, I hate Giant Eagle (Pittsburgh, Penn: pricing, shop, Whole Foods)

[greg42]

Well, if you want to go closer to the family in Erie there is a Wegmans up there. But no, not here. Sad. I stop at that Wilkes-Barre one on almost every trip up north (a few times a year). I didn't know there was one in State College.

[Benzman66]

Yeah, State College Wegmans has been around for awhile now. It has to be at least 10+ years as I have been away from Altoona for six years and it was open way before that.

[DurangoJoe]

Originally Posted by svalsechi

I'm so disappointed to hear there is no Wegmans! That seems so crazy to me. We had one in State College and in hazleton went to the one in wilkes-Barre. I was really hoping moving back to PA that there would be one there. After Wegmans, everything else is second rate. We live in FL now, and Publix isn't at all impressive. Standard, that's it.

It's very hard for any new grocery chains to set up shop in Pittsburgh because of GE's dominance. That's just a fact. the only new one's that come in are really considered "specialty" grocers like Trader Joes, Whole Foods, etc. We have a new Maginnis Sisters in Seven Fields. It's a beautiful store but way more expensive than GE. The value they bring is in hard to find food items & meats that GE doesn't carry.

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by SoButCounty

It's very hard for any new grocery chains to set up shop in Pittsburgh because of GE's dominance. That's just a fact. the only new one's that come in are really considered "specialty" grocers like Trader Joes, Whole Foods, etc. We have a new Maginnis Sisters in Seven Fields. It's a beautiful store but way more expensive than GE. The value they bring is in hard to find food items & meats that GE doesn't carry.

Walmart and Target are both expanding their presence in the Pittsburgh region, and providing some competition for Giant Eagle for the food dollar.

And Shop n Save's new store on the hill is a beachhead right in a community that Giant Eagle has a particularly big share of the market.

[svalsechi]

Originally Posted by greg42

Well, if you want to go closer to the family in Erie there is a Wegmans up there. But no, not here. Sad. I stop at that Wilkes-Barre one on almost every trip up north (a few times a year). I didn't know there was one in State College.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I think not. Pittsburgh is as close as he is getting me to his ex thank you very much. LOL.

I love whole foods and trader joes. Those plus the ethnic grocers will make up for the wegmans for me.

[DurangoJoe]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

Walmart and Target are both expanding their presence in the Pittsburgh region, and providing some competition for Giant Eagle for the food dollar.

And Shop n Save's new store on the hill is a beachhead right in a community that Giant Eagle has a particularly big share of the market.

Walmart isn't growing like they were a few years back and has cut back considerably on their expansion. In both cases (Walmart & Target), they need to be their "Supercenters" selling both general merchandise & groceries.

Their impact on GE is minuscule compared to the number Supercenters that Walmart & Target have in the area. Seriously, you can't drive 3-4 miles in some areas without passing a GE.

Shop & Save is competitive in a few areas but again, not on any kind of scale that makes a difference in GE's market share.

[Now in Oklahoma]

How spoiled have we become that not finding a specialty imported item is grounds for hating a place? Thats why prices are high, because we have become so spoiled that we are not satisfied unless we find 100,000 items to chose from (not exaggerating) when we go shopping. What are we going to do when the bottom drops out of the world economy?

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by Now in Oklahoma

How spoiled have we become that not finding a specialty imported item is grounds for hating a place?

I didn't see anyone complaining about specialty import items but rather how difficult it was to find anything that wasn't processed to Hell and back. When the world economy falls apart perhaps shopping for veggies that aren't genetically modified, covered in pesticides, and grown in Mexico won't be some "elitist" thing eh?

[SammyKhalifa]

Originally Posted by Now in Oklahoma

How spoiled have we become that not finding a specialty imported item is grounds for hating a place? Thats why prices are high, because we have become so spoiled that we are not satisfied unless we find 100,000 items to chose from (not exaggerating) when we go shopping. What are we going to do when the bottom drops out of the world economy?

I think it has more to do with how everything costs about 20% more than it does in areas where people have more choices.

[ki0eh]

Granted I'm not in there very often, but whenever I've had to go into a Giant Eagle they seem bigger/better selection/cheaper than the Giant and Weis we have in the Harrisburg area. (There is also a Wegmans in the Hbg metro but not conveniently located to me at all).

The Market District in Robinson seems to be aimed at the Wegmans-loving clientele, with an aisle of Polish food and all. Last month I was both there and the GE on north side of Butler, a bit of a difference in atmosphere and selection for sure but I got the job done both places for less than I would have in Hbg.

Weirdly I got a coupon for the Robinson Market District store in the mail after shopping there, I thought my shoppers card was so old that they wouldn't even have my current Harrisburg-area address.