Consumer Reports' Supermarket Rankings

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J-Man
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Consumer Reports' Supermarket Rankings

Post by J-Man »

From the August 2019 issue, and based on reader survey responses.

Top 5:
Central Market
Wegmans
Heinen's
Gelson's
Trader Joe's

Bottom 5:
Key Food
Tops
Walmart Supercenter
Shaw's
Acme Markets

Safeway was just one slot above Acme.
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Re: Consumer Reports' Supermarket Rankings

Post by klkla »

Four of the top five are expensive specialty stores. Trader Joe's is just in a class by themselves.

And the bottom five are bland mass merchants with one of them having more sales than the top five combined.

People say they like one thing but in reality most people vote with their wallets.
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Re: Consumer Reports' Supermarket Rankings

Post by arizonaguy »

klkla wrote: July 4th, 2019, 6:52 pm Four of the top five are expensive specialty stores. Trader Joe's is just in a class by themselves.

And the bottom five are bland mass merchants with one of them having more sales than the top five combined.

People say they like one thing but in reality most people vote with their wallets.
It's true in almost every industry. Ultimately price wins over service. Trader Joe's survives as is because it offers something that just isn't duplicated by anyone.
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Re: Consumer Reports' Supermarket Rankings

Post by rwsandiego »

arizonaguy wrote: July 4th, 2019, 6:59 pm
klkla wrote: July 4th, 2019, 6:52 pm Four of the top five are expensive specialty stores. Trader Joe's is just in a class by themselves.

And the bottom five are bland mass merchants with one of them having more sales than the top five combined.

People say they like one thing but in reality most people vote with their wallets.
It's true in almost every industry. Ultimately price wins over service. Trader Joe's survives as is because it offers something that just isn't duplicated by anyone.
Aside from Trader Joe's and Wegman's, all of the Top 5 have fewer than 30 stores and, as klkla pointed out, they are high-end specialty stores and not mass market supermarkets. This is really a bogus rating.
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Re: Consumer Reports' Supermarket Rankings

Post by storewanderer »

Safeway didn't used to fall near the bottom and the quality of their operation has declined significantly over the years. There is something to these ratings as far as the fall of Safeway in the ratings goes.

Overall though the ratings don't really count for much. How many people actually submitted ratings for Heinen's or Central Market vs. how many submitted for Wal Mart, Safeway, Publix (gee where did they go... they always used to be on the top...), or Kroger which all have substantially higher store count...

It is a lot easier to get 250 people to give you great ratings (could practically organize a group to subscribe to this magazine and give you good ratings...) than thousands across a larger territory.

Also tough given the inconsistency of various chains; there are Safeways in my area where I'd give them 5 stars on every attribute other than price; there are Safeways in my area where I'd give them 1-2 stars on every attribute.
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Re: Consumer Reports' Supermarket Rankings

Post by BillyGr »

klkla wrote: July 4th, 2019, 6:52 pm Four of the top five are expensive specialty stores. Trader Joe's is just in a class by themselves.

People say they like one thing but in reality most people vote with their wallets.
Perhaps that applies to three of the top 5 (since only 2 of them can be found in this part of the US) but not the 4th.

People seem to think Wegman's is expensive, and they do have items that are since they carry far more options in fresh items than your standard supermarket meaning things that are available in smaller quantities and thus higher priced.

However, the more "regular" items in the rest of the store are competitive with, and sometimes better than (depending on which other chains are in the area, since it varies over the several states they are in) other stores offer.
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Re: Consumer Reports' Supermarket Rankings

Post by storewanderer »

BillyGr wrote: July 5th, 2019, 8:04 am

Perhaps that applies to three of the top 5 (since only 2 of them can be found in this part of the US) but not the 4th.

People seem to think Wegman's is expensive, and they do have items that are since they carry far more options in fresh items than your standard supermarket meaning things that are available in smaller quantities and thus higher priced.

However, the more "regular" items in the rest of the store are competitive with, and sometimes better than (depending on which other chains are in the area, since it varies over the several states they are in) other stores offer.
My observation of Wegman's has always been that it is strong pricing on center store. Well below any Safeway/Acme/Harris Teeter operation. It kind of reminds me of typical (Kroger, Frys, Dillons, Smiths, etc.) Kroger pricing. Some operators like Shop Rite may give Wegman's a run for their money sometimes. Conversely when you get over to the fresh departments in Wegman's, you have some very high prices and very high quality. I think you get what you pay for at Wegman's. Packaged goods are packaged goods and they know this and price accordingly (low). But their fresh departments are top quality, very well staffed, very well executed, and you do pay for it.

The thing I don't like about Wegman's is shopping there is a chore. The parking lots are too big and busy; difficult to get in and out of lacking enough entry/exit points. The stores are very large and cumbersome. Typically I have no problem with large stores like a Kroger Marketplace or a Wal Mart but for some reason Wegman's layouts and product placement on center store really confuses me. This is not a store I would want to shop in every day. I really like the store, though. I agree it is one of the best operators in the US.
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Re: Consumer Reports' Supermarket Rankings

Post by veteran+ »

klkla wrote: July 4th, 2019, 6:52 pm Four of the top five are expensive specialty stores. Trader Joe's is just in a class by themselves.

And the bottom five are bland mass merchants with one of them having more sales than the top five combined.

People say they like one thing but in reality most people vote with their wallets.
So true because if they shopped with their conscious, perhaps there would not be Walmarts and the like around!

;-)
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