Ingles's grocery chain...Am I alone here?

[SouthernNative807]

Originally Posted by lucyblu

You are not alone. I hate Ingles. I would do almost anything to never have to go into that store (if you call it that) again.

Mine is a new Super Ingles in Black Mountain. A really large store in a very small town. The layout, I was told by 3 different employees, is geared to make you go through the entire store, hopefully seeing items and buying what you do not need. Snacks is labeled in one row and yet snacks is in at least 4 rows. Sandwich meat in one place and the cheese clear across the store (football field away). Isn't there someone smart enough at the store to realize woman with children do not have time to walk football fields and older people can not walk foot ball fields. Their own employees have told me they shop at Bi Lo and how much they can not stand it. If I worked there and I had to LOOK for absolutely everything all the time to help customers - I wouldn't be happy either. Maybe that is their customer service happiness problem. Anyone, I have spoken with does not like working there. They avoid us to not have to answer any questions as to "Where is flour this week?"

I brought home more bad food from the store in 1 year than I have from all the stores I shopped at in my precvious 30 years. I have to check the date on the vegatable cans. Family packages of meat always have had bad meat on the bottom. Moldy cheese, flat soda, rancid mayonaise, etc. I wrote, then I sent a letter to the President, then I said I would contact the board of health. It improved.

So much waste. An Ingles Superstore in the middle of Black Mountain.

I would never buy a Laura Lynn product as I figure there customer service is bad, there layout is atrocious so what can their plant be like. I assume filthy.

So a layout to make you walk miles and hopefully impulse shop, poor customer service, rude managers, having to check dates on cans of vegatables, employees not even knowing where items are as they change locations so frequently, all their sale signs for dear Laura Lynn (and you know if the store which we see is run this poorly - what can the plant be like), ......

I will be moving (I hope) and I will make sure that there are other grocery stores besides Ingles to shop at. They seem to have monopolized the market and maybe they feel they can force you to accept whatever they want to hit you with.

The deli gee don't do it. I asked if potatoe salad was fresh. The guy looked at the date and told me it had been made on Mon so it was fresh. This was on a Thursday.

I will move to not have to shop there.

Wow, that's a lot of sarcasm and complaining.....tell me, did you happen to move to Asheville from the North? Just guessing because everything in the North is superior, that's why you're all moving down here. It's been 10 years now, have you moved back home yet, and if not, why not? By the way, I created this account just for you.

[SGMI]

I do have to agree that Ingles went overboard with the super size stores. They probably were trying to compete with Wal*Mart, and now WM has been shifting to the community market model which is more convenient to walk around in.

The Dallas Ingles is closest to me, and I rarely shop there. I have enough choice at ALDI and LIDL in Gastonia, with an occasional foray to the WM community market, with Food Lion as my last choice (it tends to have older, but smaller layouts).

And a jaunt to Charlotte every few weeks for a Trader Joe's visit. But I've trained myself to consolidate errands, and stop driving to Charlotte just for a bag of TJ items.

[Carolina Knight]

Originally Posted by SGMI

I do have to agree that Ingles went overboard with the super size stores. They probably were trying to compete with Wal*Mart, and now WM has been shifting to the community market model which is more convenient to walk around in.

The Dallas Ingles is closest to me, and I rarely shop there. I have enough choice at ALDI and LIDL in Gastonia, with an occasional foray to the WM community market, with Food Lion as my last choice (it tends to have older, but smaller layouts).

And a jaunt to Charlotte every few weeks for a Trader Joe's visit. But I've trained myself to consolidate errands, and stop driving to Charlotte just for a bag of TJ items.

Ingle's Markets opened a quantity of 55,000-square-foot stores in the mid-1990's, progressed to 65,000-square-foot stores in the late 1990's, then progressed to 72,000-square-foot stores in the late 2000's. Its newer stores are nice. Its 55,000-square-foot stores from the mid-1990's that have the necessities of food, pharmacy, and fuel remain relevant.

Ingle's Markets has three 72,000-square-foot stores in development in North Carolina.