Do you have a preference when it comes to where you buy your groceries? Quality vs Quantity? I personally dislike shopping at The Big Chains such as Walmart, Costco, and Sam's Club however, financially it is more convenient than shopping at Sprouts or a local farmer's market. Where do you prefer to get your groceries?
I probably do half and half. I live in a small town and we only have one market and it is locally owned so I end up going there a lot out of convenience and I do like supporting our local economy. At the same time, it is more expensive than going to Safeway so we can't really afford to do ALL of our shopping there.
It depends on what store is much nearer to my place. But if I would be buying a lot of stuff and groceries, then I would probably go to the store which offers cheaper goods.
I am in the half and half club as well. The issue is that smaller stores typically lack variety and have higher prices. While you can find some genuinely amazing products at small stores, the prices you get at big chains will always entice me to shop there first. It's a shame, but you have to make sacrifices on a budget.
Some of us have no choice. Where I live all we've got are these small local stores. If you want to buy something from a larger retail store you'd have to travel a little bit further and it would cost you quite a bit of money and the price differences wouldn't be that great anyway. You'd be spending a lot of money for nothing. For most people who live in my home town, the best way to save money is buy "local."
I live very close to the city centre so there are plenty of discounters in the vicinity. I would prefer not to have to use them, particularly as some of them treat their staff notoriously badly but right now, I can't afford to have principles over which store I use - it's always going to be the cheapest.
I typically only shop at the smaller local and discount stores these days, since many of them have prices better than the big chains, even Wal-Mart, but also because I cannot stand how congested the big chain stores are. In fact, I had to go to Wal-Mart to get a few food items that our smaller local stores don't carry - and it had been a while since I shopped there, but I quickly realized that their prices on food aren't really all that good these days - it almost looked as if they've raised prices across the board. A small bag of ciabatta rolls from their bakery was like $4, I can get them for half that at the smaller stores. Same with their fresh chicken, they were selling chicken thighs for like $2+ more per pack than what I would pay at the discount grocers.
I find the prices of big chains much cheaper than small stores. Aside, the quality of the product is guaranteed. In a small store, it is not unusual to buy a bread past its expiry date. That's what we are avoiding so we just go to big chains. The big ones here are SM Hypermart and Robinsons - owned by the 2 most richest men in the country.
I agree. I think Walmart has raised prices across the board. For a store that purchases in such volume, I don't consider their prices to be that great. They are often higher than other stores, and I don't see why. Even their store brand is high. Sometimes, it's higher than a name brand. I try to avoid it when I can, but there are a few things that I can only get there. I live in a rural area, so they've long been the "king of the hill" here. That's changing now their prices really aren't too competitive any more. I mean, they'll match exact items for price, but I can often get something comparable for a lot less (in a brand that they don't carry). It's preferable to support local shops any way.
For my big shop, I go to Aldi as it is cheap and sells everything I need. However, I live in quite a small village and buy things such as milk and bread from the local shops. If I run out of things between my big shops, I just stock up locally.
I personally prefer to shop at big chain stores. You find there's a wider range of stuff to choose from, plus they tend to have more promotions. With smaller stores, I always find that I still end up needing to go to my chain store for other stuff a smaller store doesn't offer. Just too much hassle for me
I just shop at what's closest with the best quality when I don't have a choice to shop via farmers. Then I don't care about price.. I choose what's freshest and raised nearest to my location. The rest of the year, I'm all about the farmer's and only use stores for imports they don't have. I don't really need to worry about price anyway.. I eat plant based, it's cheap as heck.
The closest I've ever gotten to 'local grocery' was back whenLog In was a gourmet-grocery/florist/deli/coffee-shop. ... Oh, and theLog In a little-ways down the street from there. Even then, that was only a rarity (as my income was stretched even MORE-thinly), and I usually shopped at the FAMILY DOLLAR. When I moved, I would shop at ANOTHER 'FAMILY DOLLAR' or at BUY FOR LE$$---which is local-ish (an Oklahoma-owned chain). But now it's ALL WalMart, all the time!
