Consumer Reports Latest Supermarket Rankings

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Consumer Reports Latest Supermarket Rankings

Post by J-Man »

TOP 10
1. Wegmans
2. Market Basket (Northeast)
3. Trader Joe's
4. Publix
5. Fareway Stores
6. Costco
7. Military Commisary
8. Festival Foods (WI)
9. Stater Bros.
10. H-E-B

BOTTOM 10 (worst first)
Walmart Supercenter
Tops Friendly Markets
Shaw's
Stop & Shop
Acme
Safeway
Pick'n Save
Jewel-Osco
Giant (DC-MD-VA-DE)
Martin'
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Re: Consumer Reports Latest Supermarket Rankings

Post by SamSpade »

Ouch, four Albertsons Co's. brands in the "worst" section. It sounds like many northeastern supermarket chains aren't well liked, though.

Fareway looked pretty nice the one time I saw it on the Daily Show. Seen it in some other TV context I can't recall at the moment.
Pick n' Save is a Kroger brand, yes?
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Re: Consumer Reports Latest Supermarket Rankings

Post by pseudo3d »

SamSpade wrote:Ouch, four Albertsons Co's. brands in the "worst" section. It sounds like many northeastern supermarket chains aren't well liked, though.

Fareway looked pretty nice the one time I saw it on the Daily Show. Seen it in some other TV context I can't recall at the moment.
Pick n' Save is a Kroger brand, yes?
The rankings have been pretty constant even going back to the late 2000s. In 2014, the list had the A&P brands (all at the bottom), so it was

59 Jewel-Osco
60 Stop & Shop
61 Acme
62 Pick 'n Save
63 Tops Markets
64 Shaw's
65 Pathmark
66 A&P
67 Walmart Supercenter
68 Waldbaum's

But I don't put any stock in it because first off, the ratings are far too disparate for most brands...yeah, they kind of cluster, but looking at 2014 for reference (they don't have the full lists online--the military commissary, seriously?) the brands range too much. So looking at 2014 Kroger, the highest ranked is King Soopers at 18 (not counting Harris Teeter at 17) with Ralphs being 44 (there wasn't a lot of Kroger representation). Same with Safeway, which ranges from 38 (Tom Thumb) to 58 (Safeway), which makes even less sense since Randalls (57) was part of the same division (this was pre-merger), or Delhaize (Hannaford at 21, Food Lion at 52), or Ahold (Giant-PA at 39, Stop & Shop at 60). With the ratings being constant, it suggests that their readers really love or hate certain stores, and numbers don't change all that much, nor is there any correlation to higher ratings to how well the store is doing. Yeah, Publix and Wegmans do well, but Fareway Stores (4) filed for bankruptcy last year, The Fresh Market (9) also closed a lot of stores, and Marsh (36) is in danger of being wiped off the table altogether. A&P of course is near the bottom (gone now) but so is Walmart Supercenter, arguably the most successful "grocer" around.

Tell me, in what world is...

- Save Mart "better" than any store owned by Ahold (anyone complaining about either Giant take note, as this was 2014) AND Ralphs?
- SuperValu's County Market being "better" than Kroger and the stores listed above?
- H-E-B and Aldi being "better" than Whole Foods (and the stores listed above)?
- Market Basket (Northeast) being better than every other regular regional chain supermarket except Publix and Wegmans?

Even if ABS/SWY is far from perfect, those ratings are cast into doubt when better grocery chains still got screwed in the rankings.
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Re: Consumer Reports Latest Supermarket Rankings

Post by klkla »

I'm surprised that Stater Bros. ranked higher than H-E-B. I always think of H-E-B as being more innovative and having lower prices. But both scored in the top 10 so that is good.
pseudo3d wrote:But I don't put any stock in it because first off, the ratings are far too disparate for most brands...yeah, they kind of cluster, but looking at 2014 for reference (they don't have the full lists online--the military commissary, seriously?) the brands range too much. So looking at 2014 Kroger, the highest ranked is King Soopers at 18 (not counting Harris Teeter at 17) with Ralphs being 44 (there wasn't a lot of Kroger representation). Same with Safeway, which ranges from 38 (Tom Thumb) to 58 (Safeway), which makes even less sense since Randalls (57) was part of the same division (this was pre-merger), or Delhaize (Hannaford at 21, Food Lion at 52), or Ahold (Giant-PA at 39, Stop & Shop at 60). With the ratings being constant, it suggests that their readers really love or hate certain stores, and numbers don't change all that much, nor is there any correlation to higher ratings to how well the store is doing. Yeah, Publix and Wegmans do well, but Fareway Stores (4) filed for bankruptcy last year, The Fresh Market (9) also closed a lot of stores, and Marsh (36) is in danger of being wiped off the table altogether. A&P of course is near the bottom (gone now) but so is Walmart Supercenter, arguably the most successful "grocer" around.

Tell me, in what world is...

- Save Mart "better" than any store owned by Ahold (anyone complaining about either Giant take note, as this was 2014) AND Ralphs?
- SuperValu's County Market being "better" than Kroger and the stores listed above?
- H-E-B and Aldi being "better" than Whole Foods (and the stores listed above)?
- Market Basket (Northeast) being better than every other regular regional chain supermarket except Publix and Wegmans?

Even if ABS/SWY is far from perfect, those ratings are cast into doubt when better grocery chains still got screwed in the rankings.
You have to keep in mind that this is about brand perception regardless of which company owns the brand. It really has nothing to do with how well a company is operated.

- For instance Randall's and Tom Thumb are separate brands even though they were in the same division.
- From my experience people in Colorado perceive King Sooper's better than people in California perceive Ralphs (probably because there is less competition in Colorado).
- Military commissaries are immensely popular in cities and towns with a large military presence (Example: Coronado, CA) and they definitely compete with grocers.
- Fairway's bankruptcy wasn't because their stores were not popular. It was a money management issue.
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Re: Consumer Reports Latest Supermarket Rankings

Post by pseudo3d »

klkla wrote:I'm surprised that Stater Bros. ranked higher than H-E-B. I always think of H-E-B as being more innovative and having lower prices. But both scored in the top 10 so that is good.


You have to keep in mind that this is about brand perception regardless of which company owns the brand. It really has nothing to do with how well a company is operated.

- For instance Randall's and Tom Thumb are separate brands even though they were in the same division.
- From my experience people in Colorado perceive King Sooper's better than people in California perceive Ralphs (probably because there is less competition in Colorado).
- Military commissaries are immensely popular in cities and towns with a large military presence (Example: Coronado, CA) and they definitely compete with grocers.
- Fairway's bankruptcy wasn't because their stores were not popular. It was a money management issue.
But it's not just "perception". They were ranked on produce quality, meats/produce quality, bakery quality, deli quality, staff courtesy, and store cleanliness, which is why Walmart Supercenter ranked so poorly (I seem to recall that they once used price as a metric as well, which Whole Foods did badly at but Walmart did well at), which as far as I know they still do because my 2009 one I have kicking around has similar listings (Waldbaum's and Walmart at the bottom, Wegmans and Publix at the top, and everything else in between). The fact that a small grocer with only two dozen stores (well, 25) got in the top 10 shows just how small sample sizes really are, as well as Fairway (CR spells it wrong, unless they really were referring to a grocery store in the Midwest), which only had 14 stores as of 2014. And I can assure you that these sample sizes were not evenly spread throughout the list, otherwise it can provide some insight that would've been lost. There are going to be great H-E-B stores that are amazing and best of the best, and H-E-B stores that are going to be rather rough. There are going to be wonderful Safeway stores and stores that should've been closed several years ago. There are going to be lovely Kroger stores and nasty ones. If you get a "bad" batch or "good" batch of stores in ratings, it's going to make a huge difference in ratings, which is probably the reason Kroger, Safeway, and Ahold are all over the map.
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Re: Consumer Reports Latest Supermarket Rankings

Post by klkla »

pseudo3d wrote:But it's not just "perception". They were ranked on produce quality, meats/produce quality, bakery quality, deli quality, staff courtesy, and store cleanliness, which is why Walmart Supercenter ranked so poorly (I seem to recall that they once used price as a metric as well, which Whole Foods did badly at but Walmart did well at), which as far as I know they still do because my 2009 one I have kicking around has similar listings (Waldbaum's and Walmart at the bottom, Wegmans and Publix at the top, and everything else in between). The fact that a small grocer with only two dozen stores (well, 25) got in the top 10 shows just how small sample sizes really are, as well as Fairway (CR spells it wrong, unless they really were referring to a grocery store in the Midwest), which only had 14 stores as of 2014. And I can assure you that these sample sizes were not evenly spread throughout the list, otherwise it can provide some insight that would've been lost. There are going to be great H-E-B stores that are amazing and best of the best, and H-E-B stores that are going to be rather rough. There are going to be wonderful Safeway stores and stores that should've been closed several years ago. There are going to be lovely Kroger stores and nasty ones. If you get a "bad" batch or "good" batch of stores in ratings, it's going to make a huge difference in ratings, which is probably the reason Kroger, Safeway, and Ahold are all over the map.
If you're rating 'produce quality' then you're rating the perception of produce quality. There is no defined metric. Same with all the other categories.

I didn't do the math but I bet the average number of stores operated by the top 10 stores and the bottom 10 stores is not all that different so sample sizes may not be all that relevant either. As an example, Publix operates 1,100 stores under that name and Safeway operates about 1,000 under the Safeway name yet one ranks 4th from the top and one ranks 5th from the bottom despite having a similar sampling size.
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Re: Consumer Reports Latest Supermarket Rankings

Post by J-Man »

The fact that a small grocer with only two dozen stores (well, 25) got in the top 10 shows just how small sample sizes really are, as well as Fairway (CR spells it wrong, unless they really were referring to a grocery store in the Midwest), which only had 14 stores as of 2014.
I'm pretty sure they're referring to FAREWAY, which has 117 stores in the Midwest now.
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Re: Consumer Reports Latest Supermarket Rankings

Post by pseudo3d »

klkla wrote:
pseudo3d wrote:But it's not just "perception". They were ranked on produce quality, meats/produce quality, bakery quality, deli quality, staff courtesy, and store cleanliness, which is why Walmart Supercenter ranked so poorly (I seem to recall that they once used price as a metric as well, which Whole Foods did badly at but Walmart did well at), which as far as I know they still do because my 2009 one I have kicking around has similar listings (Waldbaum's and Walmart at the bottom, Wegmans and Publix at the top, and everything else in between). The fact that a small grocer with only two dozen stores (well, 25) got in the top 10 shows just how small sample sizes really are, as well as Fairway (CR spells it wrong, unless they really were referring to a grocery store in the Midwest), which only had 14 stores as of 2014. And I can assure you that these sample sizes were not evenly spread throughout the list, otherwise it can provide some insight that would've been lost. There are going to be great H-E-B stores that are amazing and best of the best, and H-E-B stores that are going to be rather rough. There are going to be wonderful Safeway stores and stores that should've been closed several years ago. There are going to be lovely Kroger stores and nasty ones. If you get a "bad" batch or "good" batch of stores in ratings, it's going to make a huge difference in ratings, which is probably the reason Kroger, Safeway, and Ahold are all over the map.
If you're rating 'produce quality' then you're rating the perception of produce quality. There is no defined metric. Same with all the other categories.

I didn't do the math but I bet the average number of stores operated by the top 10 stores and the bottom 10 stores is not all that different so sample sizes may not be all that relevant either. As an example, Publix operates 1,100 stores under that name and Safeway operates about 1,000 under the Safeway name yet one ranks 4th from the top and one ranks 5th from the bottom despite having a similar sampling size.
Brand perception is different than the perception of produce quality, so it's not just "I feel like King Soopers is better than Ralphs". In terms of sample sizes, that is true, and it is somewhat accurate. I think most of us would agree that Publix is superior to Safeway overall, but even that's going to be a bit skewed since neither store directly competes (for statistical purposes, Florida would be excluded) and they didn't in 2014 anyway, where Publix ranked 2 and Safeway ranked 58. And where stores do directly compete they tend to cluster together...why are the Northeastern grocers rank so poorly, and if they really are that bad (doubtful), then is Wegmans unremarkable and bland but only "good" because it's miles better in comparison. But that's not true, either. I also doubt that Bostonians have particularly terrible grocery stores (in 2014, Shaw's ranked 64 and Stop & Shop ranked 60). And why do the usual suspects get the same ranking (+/- a few places, depending on new and deleted entries) year after year, anyway?

There are general trends on what stores are better but everything here is largely either "deserves better" or "too much credit".
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Re: Consumer Reports Latest Supermarket Rankings

Post by buckguy »

The Brands often do differ---Ahold has made Landover much more like S&S and did so pretty early on. They were more hands off with Giant-PA until fairly recently and Giant-PA seemed to run better stores. Fairway is a terrific operation with deeply loyal customers--much better than other NYC stores--their financials are not the issue. Kroger-bannered operations always have had variation---occasionallythey have a division with a decent perishables program but generally nothing rises above the level of mediocrity. The CU ratings are consistent over time and pretty consistent with my own experiences of different chains. The average Publix is much better than the average Safeway and soforth.
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Re: Consumer Reports Latest Supermarket Rankings

Post by wnetmacman »

pseudo3d wrote:Brand perception is different than the perception of produce quality, so it's not just "I feel like King Soopers is better than Ralphs". In terms of sample sizes, that is true, and it is somewhat accurate. I think most of us would agree that Publix is superior to Safeway overall, but even that's going to be a bit skewed since neither store directly competes (for statistical purposes, Florida would be excluded) and they didn't in 2014 anyway, where Publix ranked 2 and Safeway ranked 58. And where stores do directly compete they tend to cluster together...why are the Northeastern grocers rank so poorly, and if they really are that bad (doubtful), then is Wegmans unremarkable and bland but only "good" because it's miles better in comparison. But that's not true, either. I also doubt that Bostonians have particularly terrible grocery stores (in 2014, Shaw's ranked 64 and Stop & Shop ranked 60). And why do the usual suspects get the same ranking (+/- a few places, depending on new and deleted entries) year after year, anyway?

There are general trends on what stores are better but everything here is largely either "deserves better" or "too much credit".
Brand Perception is a very broad term. However, negative brand perception can start with a retailer at the door. Any portion of activity in a store can result in negative brand perception. Walmart has a negative brand perception in their grocery section. In general. While this has been going on since the 90's, it still exists. Albertsons has negative brand perception on pricing. Publix has some. HEB has some. All brands have some negative perception.

If you don't live in a particular area, you really can't judge the brand perception. I don't live in Texas any longer, so I don't judge HEB. I don't live in Florida, so I don't judge Publix. I don't live in New England, so I can't judge Star Market. I haven't lived in Illinois in 43 years, so I can't judge Jewel-Osco. Any time you step into a store outside your particular area, you judge them against your area. Certainly, if I were shopping at Jewel-Osco and it didn't meet the standards of a Rouses (like I have here), I would rate it lower. That's where these ratings come from!!! Chicagoans FLOCK to Jewel like the plague. Most of Florida swears by Publix. Star Markets continues to operate in New England. 70% of Texas only buys from HEB. Why? Because the local brand perception is better.
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