Where do you prefer to do your grocery shopping? Do you only shop at Walmart and the giant grocery chains, or do you prefer smaller, locally-owned groceries? I live in a small town that is lucky to still have a grocery store. I actually prefer shopping there over the larger markets that are available ten miles away. At the local store, they know me by name. There are fewer rows and brands of each product, so shopping is a much faster process.
A mix of both. There are some items that I go to the local stores for. These can be specific fruits or vegetables because a lot of the time the local stores provide better quality due to the smaller amount they hold. Other than those specific items, I shop at the giant chain stores. Grocery is grocery in the end, so there isn't much to choose from.
I prefer a natural chain grocery store. I do most of my grocery shopping is Trader Joe's. The Farmer's Market is my favorite place to pick up fresh vegetables.
I do the same as @Parker. I get my fruits and veggies at the small farmer's market and then head to the large grocery store for the rest. I love to support small, local businesses, but sometimes I just can't find what I need, and the big place is so much more convenient.
I would prefer a small market, but there are none in my area (at least without having to drive a ways). I grocery-shop at Meijer - it is still a family-owned business (although it's a department store) and is less expensive than the other grocery stores in my area. With the price of groceries having sky-rocketed, price is a big incentive for me (not enough to shop at Walmart yet, though - that place gives me anxiety).
My city is basically a suburb of Atlanta so anything like a local market has become a "niche" market or an "experience" which boils down to everything being overpriced and most of the items being things like "Barefoot Contessa's Pancake Mix". Is it good? Sure, do I have the extra income for that or the extremely overpriced other items? No. Therefore I kind of have to make do with the big chains, however there are so many of them that they're always having sales and I've learned to kind of surf them for the best deals. For instance on Weneday through Thursday means Winn-Dixie, Sunday through Tuesday means Publix, and the rest of the time is either the Northside Dollar Tree or the Northside Super-Walmart. It works, but sometimes it can be alot of work.
I'm young so I'm not too picky about what I eat, so I go to mega stores to try and save money. I go to small business stores every now and then to find imported food. Other than that, I shop more for the price of things rather than how healthy the item is.
"I prefer a natural chain grocery store. I do most of my grocery shopping is Trader Joe's. The Farmer's Market is my favorite place to pick up fresh vegetables." I would also like to shop at a natural foods store, but the closest one to me is about forty miles away. If I am in the city, I will stop at Trader Joe's or the cooperative market. It just feels like burning the gas to drive there sort of cancels out the environmental benefit of buying organic.
I shop at the mega stores because they have sales and take coupons. The local mom and pop stores around here are kind of expensive because they can set whatever prices they want. I have to put feeding my kid before supporting local businesses. If the mom and pop store is charging me $7 for a box of cereal, I'd rather go to Walmart and get 2 boxes of cereal for that amount of money.
I like the grocery chain stores in my area the best. My favorite place to shop at is Publix. They will have many buy one get one free deals that make those things less expensive than Wal Mart. Plus they have the best type of deli meat there. Their stores are cleaner, their service is WAY better, they aren't as crowded, they have cashiers working at the checkouts, and it's just faster and more convenient.
I'd rather go to a larger chain. I've started doing all or most of my shopping at Fairway, simply because I find everything there and don't have to visit another store. When I go to the local supermarkets and corner stores, I find myself going from store to store just to get everything on the list. I'm not a fan of hopping around like that.
I go out to the boundary of my city to go to a large supermarket. The prices are more reasonable than the smaller shops, but it is further away and always so crowded. I make sure to go on a weekday and get there as soon as they open so I can get in and out fast. Now that is for big shopping trips. For little things, I just go to the local store down the street.
