Retail Watchers

Romr123 wrote: ↑March 13th, 2021, 9:36 am Curious about Lidl's bakery--is it just US bake-off stuff (i.e. the stuff available at any chain supermarket w/a bakery oven) or are they doing European bake-off stuff (probably same quality but...exotic...)...can't imagine they're doing any scratch stuff.

Not sure about those exact questions but what I will say is Lidl's bakery items and by this I am talking things like cookies, donuts, muffins- seemed to be a lot less sugary than typical US bakery items are. I didn't see any ingredient lists- but the stuff seemed "cleaner" to me in taste.

Not that bad aftertaste after you have a Kroger "bakery fresh goodness" cookie or Kroger "bakery fresh goodness" cake or Kroger "bakery fresh goodness" muffin (but when you look at the ingredient list it suddenly makes sense why you have that bad aftertaste). Kroger's bakery quality is absolutely terrible and seems to have gotten even worse as they standardized most of it across the divisions.

if you're perceiving a difference than it probably IS coming from other vendors--

Romr123 wrote: ↑March 13th, 2021, 11:27 am if you're perceiving a difference than it probably IS coming from other vendors--

Here is what their website says:
https://www.lidl.com/quality-standards/bakery

mjhale wrote: ↑March 13th, 2021, 6:32 am Then again with Safeway gone Lidl's immediate competition will be Giant And Balducci's. Giant is Giant and Balducci's covers the "high end". Lidl might be embraced because it is a much cheaper option but in a package that doesn't necessarily make you feel like you are at a discount grocery store.

And there it is...a Balducci's located not far away. It may not have anything to do with this store's closure, but it sure is convenient that they happen to be buying another store as they close this one.

pseudo3d wrote: ↑March 16th, 2021, 2:31 am

mjhale wrote: ↑March 13th, 2021, 6:32 am Then again with Safeway gone Lidl's immediate competition will be Giant And Balducci's. Giant is Giant and Balducci's covers the "high end". Lidl might be embraced because it is a much cheaper option but in a package that doesn't necessarily make you feel like you are at a discount grocery store.

And there it is...a Balducci's located not far away. It may not have anything to do with this store's closure, but it sure is convenient that they happen to be buying another store as they close this one.

I just saw that. I do wonder if the Balducci's 0.8 miles away played a role here. Obviously the Safeway was a larger store but maybe they felt that they could do better with the "high end" store in this trade area.