I actually like them best. I feel like they put more effort into the quality and stock than chain supermarkets. They have too so they can compete. Not to mention I feel like I can usually get a lot of better deals there. I haven't seen one in years because I live in a city. But when I lived in the country there were quite a few of them and I loved them!
Over here there aren't really many family owned grocery stores, but there are lots of convenience stores and little stores that sell the sachet version of our basic needs. But I have been to some before and they're pretty ok, the ones that I have been to also sell meat, chicken, vegetables etc., but I dunno if they're cheaper because I was still young that time and I couldn't care less about comparing prices.
I am most definitely not going to go to two different stores for my groceries because of cost. Just not enough time in the day. Better off collection coupons and using them. My dad owned a small grocery store about a mile from a Waldbaums. We did alright as we had a special kosher section and also customers like when you know them by their name and ask about their life. You don't get that in a Walmart or big Costco. Purely business there. Unfortunately small businesses are being slaughtered by these giants now. They have better products, more variety and can afford to sell things for half the price.
I do shop at local market often. The prices are usually cheap and they tend to have some items that commercial grocery stores do not. I can even get credit at one local store. I'm in there so much if I'm short he says just pay me back next time.
Also, some of these independent grocery stores do so little business, that the merchandise they sell is often really old and outdated. There is a small Asian grocer near us, that I swear, the stuff is so old in there, there's dust on all the packages, and some of them have started to fade and discolor over time. I went in there to get some seasoning packets to make Char Siu, and I was scared to use the stuff, because it looked like it was manufactured 20 years ago. I had a similar problem with another small Italian grocer too - I bought some of their canned goods, which looked like they had been sitting on the shelves there for years, and when I opened a few of them up, they were rotten/stale inside.
Some of them are good and I like to be able to support the small man against the big corporations. But it's difficult for them to be competitive against larger stores, and at the end of the day price is still an important factor for me.
Little family run convenience stores can go from one extreme to the other, really. We used to have a mix, and in the end we stopped going to the nasty ones. To cite one of the reasons we stopped going; this guy (Asian) would constantly talk on the phone and we got the feeling he didn't like my husband, we think because of his race. He wouldn't let his hand touch my husband's as he was passing him change, he'd almost throw it back at him. Yet he was all lovely with me. By contrast, same sort of scenario and the exact opposite reception! This store was run by two very friendly and popular Asian brothers. Their store was clean, warm and very welcoming. They remembered everyone's name and were always smiling and making small talk. So friendly were these guys that even the town "strays" came along and hung out at the store with the brothers!
From experience, these small stores are great. They offer competitive prices and normally their products are better in quality than Walmart's, less processed, not that "plastic" in regards to their build and packaging and you can get to have a new buddy in the store owner that sees you come in often. Heh.
I buy a lot of my groceries from a local market that comes every Saturday. they bring good quality fruit and veg for decent prices. anything that i can't get there or need to get something during the week I go to aldi. Overall i find that i will substitute price for quality when it comes to fruit and veg as there is nothing worse than getting a bad apple.
I do have a few around me but to be honest I hardly go into them. I do constantly go to a store near my home which is sort of a family owned convenient store. The main reason I go there is the proximity to my house. I do kind of like the people who work there as well, they seem like a nice family. As for family own grocery stores I have to somewhat agree with those who are saying that the prices can be high. The few times I have gone into these small grocery stores I found that the prices were outrageous. Maybe this has to do with the fact that these stores have to keep the prices up in order to stay afloat unlike the big grocery chains that can afford to have lower prices. But still I just couldn't see paying some of the prices for food that was being asked. I even have a hard time at that convenient store with their prices at times but given their location versus grocery stores in my area I tend to pay these prices at times.
There are two independent greengrocers and a family-run butchers near my house and I do use them whenever possible. Sometimes, I only need something like 1 onion and 2 carrots, so it's far cheaper and easier to use the greengrocers. I like the butchers as I can specify exactly how many pieces/slices of somethng I want - for example, I might want 4 rashers of bacon and 2 sausages and you can't really buy smaller amounts like this in the larger stores as everything is pre-packed.
This is true to some extent, but the family owned stores around here are quite good. They often have things cheaper than Walmart does, and they offer things that stores like Walmart don't have. I guess I'm lucky to have some really great stores nearby, even though overall there aren't a lot of shopping choices here. The ones we do have are good. They are clean and friendly, have good prices, and good stuff. I can't do all my shopping at them, since they don't have everything I need, but I can save money on the things they do have. I also like supporting them over chain stores.
I don't use them as much as the big supermarkets, the reason for this is because the area of London I live in is becoming gentrified and the people moving into the area loves these stores and the stores have taken advantage of the new residents and their higher earnings by putting their prices up. $4-$5 for 6 eggs?
I like to browse independent grocery stories for unique items that may not be elsewhere. They are often more expensive, but sometimes worth it because you may not find the quality or the item itself otherwise. I particularly like the ethnic shops. Some of the Middle Eastern and Indian grocery stores have spices that can only be found in these types of stores. I have been able to cook a meal as good as a restaurant using spices from these shops. I could never have done it with regular spices from a generic grocery store.
I sometimes shop at smaller, independently owned grocery stores, but I won't buy any and everything there, I'll be selective in what I buy. And as someone here already wrote, the prices at the smaller stores can be expensive. I get it, they have to have higher prices on some things in order to turn a profit because they are a smaller store. Sometimes for the sake of convenience (one can get in and out of a smaller store quicker than when in a large store), I'll go ahead and pay a higher price at a smaller store for an item that I know I can get cheaper at a larger grocery store. I try to support local and small businesses when I can. Depends on the day, and the funds I have available to spend.
