LOL...I mean, it as if I love it or anything like that, but am I the only one who likes their rewards? As with everything else for me, at a low enough price, anything can become appealing. Anyway, the 10X & 5X CC multiplayers combined with SFWY points have been great.

I have come to the conclusion that fancy brands often times do not equate to quality. I find I tend to use more and more "mundane" ingredients and rely on better prep. We have Wegmans around here - i like their bakery and cheese, but on the whole they are always out of stock, they are over priced, and it's mostly their store brands which I find no better than other market brands. Fortunately we have Market Basket here, which is my go to. Unfortunately our other options - Shaw's. Stop & Shop, and Price Chopper suck. I get a handful of things at Trader Joe's, but that is more specialty than a regular market. Whole Foods used to be great, but now they are just fancy labeling with exorbitant prices for stuff you can find elsewhere for half the price.

See also https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/dini...ighlight=brand

My favorite supermarket is definitely a family-owned market in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles https://vicentefoods.com

My go to is Trader Joe's - ours does have decent produce. During the spring/summer I'm just as likely to stop at a roadside fruit/vegetable stand and/or go to local farmer's markets though.

I think Eataly is a good example of this.

In Italy, their prices might be higher than the average supermarket, but they're not as offensive as those in international Eataly markets. Obviously, the prices are marked up abroad -- because Italian food products are such novelties? -- but are they necessarily much better than anything else? I have not found that to be the case (for instance, the Eataly in my city charge no less than $5 for cans of tomatoes. That's risible).

But then again, everything is overpriced where I am, and sorely lacking in the quality I had gotten accustomed to in other countries.

It all depends on where you live. Here in East Central Florida for me it's ALDI, Publix and Fresh Market

I've found our (once locally-owned, but now owned by SpartanNash) chain Martin's is pretty decent. My biggest gripe is that they pre-slice the cold cuts (or at least the popular ones) and, while they will happily custom slice, they take forever to do so.

Are you saying those are your favorites, or just that those are the only supermarkets around?

I know a lot of places like that. fortunately in my area, if you hunt around you can find many of those same brands in other smaller markets, particularly neighborhood ethnic that are not trying to be fancy - at much cheaper prices.

When I lived in London I preferred Selfridges and F&M over Harrods, but that was perhaps driven as much by location and the hordes of tourists in and around the latter.

I live in South Florida, and we have those plus Winn Dixie, Presidente', and Bravo. Publix has a small chain of Latin focused stores called Sabo'r and Winn Dixie has their Latin focused Fresco.

I have found Winn Dixie's to be dirty stores that surprisingly haven't been shut down by the health department. Albertson's used to have many stores, but pulled out of the market when they had financial issues, with Publix taking over many of their locations.

All-in All, I shop at Publix the most, with stops at Target, Walmart, and Whole Foods when I need something and I'm nearby on doing something.

we used to stay at honua kai in kaanapali in Maui and shopped staples at times. Plus times has or had nice taro bread. I felt that Safeway had less great quality in Maui. I love napili market the most. Times and food land to me are better than Safeway. This is very Maui specific for me.

what is a CC multiplayer?

For sure - although my local Safeway shops in Sf has a good “ethnic” section. One is so local that I’ll walk there as I no longer need to worry about driving to shop big like I did in 2020 lol

Oh, it's just my term for when credit cards offer bonus points for supermarket purchases, e.g., Chase Freedom, Amex Plat's 10X promo.

I'm just never impressed with Sunset. It seems like the same stuff as the other stores with a 10-20% mark up. What do you like there?


Another vote for Fresh Farms. Whole Foods is fine, but still a little overpriced. I don't get the fascination with TJ's (among everyone, not pointing at you!).
What I've learned is there's no all-around great store in Chicago. Fresh Farms doesn't have household items like paper towels, and they aren't necessarily in your neighborhood. Jewel or Mariano's are always close. But Mariano's might have horrible produce and great frozen items. Jewel might have great produce and bad meat. It depends on what you're shopping for.

When Bob Mariano opened the chain, it was pretty darn amazing in terms of our Chicago options. But since it was bought by Kroger, it's just a Jewel with a different sign on it.