Bulk Foods and Self Serve Food Bars

[Bagels]

Does their prepack lunchmeat appear to be prepackaged by the store, or prepackaged outside the store?

What went into the spot where the bakery refrigeration was?

All of the packaged deli meat indicates it was prepackaged at that location. That seems to be a trend -- in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, stores would pre-slice deli meat that would be placed in the deli case and packaged on the demand. But sometime within the past 5 years or so, they started prepackaging it entirely.

The space where the bakery refrigeration / kitchen was is now walled off. It appears to be used for grocery pick-up, which makes sense.

The bakery and the deli of Walmart aren't great (to say the least) but they do give a semblance to the whole "supermarket within a discount store" feature that the concept was originally supposed to embrace, and to see them close separates Walmart even further than the traditional supermarkets put on.

IMO, Walmart's refrigerated bakery items are far superior to those found in most other chains, including Kroger, Costco, etc. We've bought many traditional birthday cakes from Walmart, and not only are they cheaper, but they're way better than the likes of Kroger or Costco. Prepackaged bake goods are hit-or-miss... the standard cookies are just awful, but the premium cookies are delicious. The downside is that Walmart's pricing has escalated within the past 5 years to the point that I'd rather go to a local bakery and pay a little more for a lot better quality.

And Walmart's deli offerings are pretty average, no worse than Kroger but much cheaper. We'd occasionally get things like ambrosia, and it was quite good for the price -- $2.99/lb vs. $6.99 at Ralph's.

I wouldn't be surprised if the full service Deli counters and a lot of the hot food items eventually go away. Maybe it is just my area, but they hardly seem to attract anyone, and even the hot/prepared food is minimal to non-existent except at their busiest locations.

I agree. The newest Walmart Supercenter near me opened without a full-service bakery or deli, although they do have hot rotisserie chickens. And a Neighborhood Market I use to occasionally stop at lost both its full-service deli and bakery when it was renovated (they store was practically rebuilt from the inside, with more general merchandise).

[storewanderer]

The space where the bakery refrigeration / kitchen was is now walled off. It appears to be used for grocery pick-up, which makes sense.

IMO, Walmart's refrigerated bakery items are far superior to those found in most other chains, including Kroger, Costco, etc. We've bought many traditional birthday cakes from Walmart, and not only are they cheaper, but they're way better than the likes of Kroger or Costco.

At the Wal Mart I go to the most where I watched a remodel closely a couple years ago, the shuffle to get storage for grocery pick-up in was they demolished the long-walled off seafood counter prep area and moved produce prep into that, then moved the grocery pick-up into what had previously been produce prep. Not sure what the other locations did.

So far none of the Wal Mart remodels currently in progress in my area have lost their service deli or even had space downsized.

I've found the products in the Wal Mart Bakery with the Marketside label on them are very good quality. I've had various items (cakes, cupcakes, cookies, cream pies, croissants) and the only one I wasn't real thrilled with was the muffins. Also they have some rectangle cobblers that are quite excellent in some other label of a cooking show host at a steep price (about $8 each). All much better than Kroger's bakery (absolutely terrible).

[SamSpade]

I've found the products in the Wal Mart Bakery with the Marketside label on them are very good quality. I've had various items (cakes, cupcakes, cookies, cream pies, croissants) and the only one I wasn't real thrilled with was the muffins. Also they have some rectangle cobblers that are quite excellent in some other label of a cooking show host at a steep price (about $8 each). All much better than Kroger's bakery (absolutely terrible).

It's Patti LaBelle, the famous R&B musician.

A few years back there was a big stir over the sweet potato pies and their availability. I agree, the cobblers are expensive for Walmart but when you read the ingredients and/or taste the product, $8ish seems very reasonable.

[Alpha8472]

There are single serve versions of the cobblers and mini sweet potato pies for 50 cents. It is a bargain.

[klkla]

It's Patti LaBelle, the famous R&B musician.

A few years back there was a big stir over the sweet potato pies and their availability. I agree, the cobblers are expensive for Walmart but when you read the ingredients and/or taste the product, $8ish seems very reasonable.

She used to shop at the Safeway in West Hollywood years ago and was a big fan of the true scratch bakery that was in the store at the time.

The ingredients on the apple cobbler at least have some real ingredients first(meaning there is more of them):

APPLE, SUGAR, ENRICHED UNBLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR, INVERT SUGAR, PALM AND SOYBEAN OILS, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF THE FOLLOWING: MODIFIED CORNSTARCH, SALT, DEXTROSE, WHEY, CINNAMON, CORNSTARCH, CAROB BEAN GUM, PRESERVATIVES (SODIUM PROPIONATE), CELLULOSE GUM, AGAR, L-CYSTEINE HYDROCHLORIDE.

Ingredients for a home made cobbler:

Tart cooking apples, sugar, cinnamon, all-purpose flour, eggs, baking powder, salt.

[storewanderer]

Went to two small independent (15k square feet or so) Hispanic stores - both stores during COVID had been individually wrapping their bakery items from the self serve case. This seemed to work pretty well compared to the old format which I always had some serious reservations about.

Today both stores, one of which has an excellent bakery and the other of which has a very good bakery, are back to their old format. Their old format is everything is loose on trays in the self serve case. There are tongs and piles of trays and you take those and put the pastry onto the tray. You then carry the tray to the checkstand (regular checkstand, not a bakery register) put it on the belt and the cashier bags it up with the rest of your purchase.

No thanks. But observed many customers buying happily today.

[Super S]

Went to two small independent (15k square feet or so) Hispanic stores - both stores during COVID had been individually wrapping their bakery items from the self serve case. This seemed to work pretty well compared to the old format which I always had some serious reservations about.

Today both stores, one of which has an excellent bakery and the other of which has a very good bakery, are back to their old format. Their old format is everything is loose on trays in the self serve case. There are tongs and piles of trays and you take those and put the pastry onto the tray. You then carry the tray to the checkstand (regular checkstand, not a bakery register) put it on the belt and the cashier bags it up with the rest of your purchase.

No thanks. But observed many customers buying happily today.

There is a Mexican grocery store I went to a while back after a friend told me about their bakery. But I left after seeing how they did things: People piling stuff high on plastic trays, which are then taken to the cashier that bags them, then they wipe down the trays and put them back in the pile. This was pre-Covid. Was really surprised they could get away with that. Needless to say I bought nothing and have not returned...

[storewanderer]

There is a Mexican grocery store I went to a while back after a friend told me about their bakery. But I left after seeing how they did things: People piling stuff high on plastic trays, which are then taken to the cashier that bags them, then they wipe down the trays and put them back in the pile. This was pre-Covid. Was really surprised they could get away with that. Needless to say I bought nothing and have not returned...

This is the general format some independent Hispanic bakeries use but somehow there it seems difference since it is a small operation and the cash register is a few steps from the bakery cases and that cash register is only seeing bakery items- no meats, no cleaning products, no eggs, etc.

At the larger Hispanic chains I have seen some that collect payment for bakery items at bakery. I have seen others with this tray and tong set up that have you go up to the bakery counter then they pack up and label your purchase then it is just scanned at the checkstand after the bakery packs it into a bag or box.

Other Hispanic chains have the typical self service bakery format of usual US or Canada grocery stores where the items are loose and you take the items out of the case with wax paper and put them into a bag or box yourself.