Doreen’s Deals
We all have our favorite grocery store.
Shoppers have rated their favorite supermarkets and the Northeastern grocerWegmans once again came out tops, according to a new consumer survey.
Not at all surprising, Publix came inNo. 2, Trader Joe’s took theNo. 3 slot, AldiwasNo. 4 andTexas-basedHEB rounded out theTop 5. Costco wasNo. 8, Sam’s ClubwasNo. 10 and Whole FoodswasNo. 11.
Not at all surprising, Walmart came in dead last of the 22 chains ranked. Winn-Dixie wasNo. 17 andTarget came in atNo. 18. Safeway (Publix just acquired its Florida stores) came in atNo. 21.
Market Force’s 2018Grocery Study asked more than12,800 consumers to rank stores on cleanliness, items stocked, fast checkout, customer service, convenient location, sales, promotions and value.
Nobody askedme to rank the stores. If I had taken the survey, Iwould have given Aldi theNo. 1 slot.
That’s saying a lot sincewe have more grocery chains here in South Florida than pesky iguanas. (I just had to slip in a lizard reference, since writing about iguanas is almost as much fun as writing about grocery stores.)
My family has come to appreciate Aldi’s high-quality store brands— almost as much as I appreciate the prices. I almost exclusively shop there now, with rare stops into Publix to grab name-brand items I can’t get at the Illinois-based grocery chain.
Recently, Aldi remodeledmy Fort Lauderdale store and expanded its offerings of refrigerated and frozen goods, housewares, wine and other staples. The store is roomier now, and got a much-needed upgrade in the produce aisles, adding refrigerated organics.
The chain also recently finished updating stores in Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Tamarac, with plans to remodel more South Florida stores by year’s end, said ChrisHewitt, an Aldi South Florida division vice president.
The company is investing $1.9 billion to remodel and expand more than1,300 stores across the country over the next few years, Hewitt said. Look for a second store coming to Plantation, in addition to the location onWest Sunrise Boulevard. An opening date hasn’t been set.
Thisweekend, I’ll be stopping in to stock up on some of my favorite Aldi products— which cost half of those at Publix— for a July 4th barbeque onWednesday. Like Trader Joe’s, Aldi stocks about
1,300 private-label products, which look strikingly similar to national brands and come with a double-moneyback guarantee. Many of the products havewon awards for their quality and have a GoodHousekeeping seal. I’ve returned a product only once whenK-cups failed to properly puncture inmy coffeemaker. I gotmy money back and got to pick a package of ground coffee as a free replacement. Not a bad deal.
I highly recommend the organic grass-fed ground beef ($5.99 per pound), hamburger and hot-dog buns are just 85 cents a package, and you can’t go wrong with any of the frozen desserts, including the bake-yourself apple strudel. Clancy’s potato chips ($1.79) are as good as Lay’s; corn is 19 cents an ear; and the bratwurst ($5.89 for six) on the grillwas a hit last time Imade them. Other favorites inmy house are the cereals, which are less than $2 a box; the authentic Wisconsin cheese Kringle ($3.99); frozen riced cauliflower ($1.89 a bag); and 12-packs of BellVie flavored sparklingwater ($2.49), which rivals expensive LaCroix. I also love the SimplyNature organic brand, too. The lamb chops (when they’re available) are incredible. Even though the wine section atmy store got an attractive expansion, I still preferTrader Joe’s for wine. It’s cheaper.
Out of everything Aldi stocks, the paper goods are my favorite. I likemy premium paper towels and toilet paper, I will not lie. I had been forking over $16-$20 each for big packages of Bounty paper towels and Charmin bath tissue. Not anymore.
Aldi’s paper towels, bath tissue, paper plates, napkins and plastic zip-seal bags are the best I’ve ever used. The nine mega rolls ofWillow Ultra Soft bath tissue is $6.99; eight rolls of Boulder Ultra paper towels are $5.99. Forget Kleenex. Willow tissues are just $1.29. They are all outstanding.
My only criticism of the chain continues to be the check-out process. Lines are long (but they do tend to move quickly) and the clerks are too rough with the goods as they quickly scan. I’m not crazy about baggingmy own groceries (the redesigned store now has more room for bagging, which helps) and I’m not in love with howyou must deposit a quarter to get a shopping cart. I do get a kick out of the shopping cart quarter exchanges that happen frequently in the parking lot between customers.
But the stores are clean, bright andwell stocked, the employees are helpful and the value is outstanding.
Ifwe had aWegmans (and you knowit’s only a matter of time beforewe get one), Iwouldn’t be shopping there, either.
Connect with me: Facebook.com/ DoreensDeals, Twitter.com/ PrettyGoodIdeas or email d christensen@ sun sentinel .com.