Florida vs. Maryland, grocery stores

[fabulousfrock]

I know everyone is probably tired of hearing about it by now, but I still am just flabbergasted by the grocery stores in these parts

Comments

[olmue]

It sounds fabulous! That's one thing I do love about moving--seeing new things and getting to buy things that are cheap in my new place

[fabulousfrock]

Florida just doesn't have a lot of diversity, I think that might be the problem. A family friend once joked "turn right at the second Publix" and that is pretty accurate. Publix dominates Florida. I'm sure it makes up at least 50% of the grocery shopping options in the state. We also have Winn-Dixie which is like...a redneck store trying to improve itself. And Super Targets and Wal-Marts. That's about it. There are a few Albertsons...but most of them closed, and I can see why because Albertsons is expensive, kind of dirty, and not particularly great.

[olmue]

We had Winn-Dixie in Texas. It was kind of the nicer grocery store there (er...no commentary on the area we lived in!) Albertsons is from Boise, so we have them here, too. Here, they are generically upscale and Very Expensive. I hardly ever go into ours, even though we have only two grocery stores in town. It kind of reminds me of Kroger, which has usually been overpriced wherever I've lived.

In any case, enjoy your new variety!

[fabulousfrock]

I looked up where Albertsons has stores. How random! Wonder why they decided to come to Florida.

[robinellen]

Interesting...I've never thought much about groceries. We have great stores (King Soopers, which is the CO version of Kroger, frex), and we always have double coupons and 10 cents per gallon off gas, etc. Plus, we have Vitamin Cottage (which is a local, family-owned string of stores) which sells organic foods and produce (and tons of vitamins) for very decent prices. I'm so glad you're finding such wonderful (and affordable and healthy) food out there!

[fabulousfrock]

Double coupons, yes, that is another thing that all the stores do here and not in Florida! Boo! I actually had a coworker at Chamberlin's who used to work for Vitamin Cottage. She raved about it all the time.

[adaveen]

Public is employee owned, and some of their 'jewel' stores have international and gourmet items. Because they're employee owned and employee thousands of Floridians from clerks to farmers, I try to buy there.

But yeah, I was told that life in Florida was SO much cheaper than in Ohio. Bought that lie and learned differently with the first gallon of milk. It's so expensive, I can't afford to get out.

[adaveen]

That was meant to be PUBLIX. I guess with autocorrect it could have been worse.

Winn Dixie is dreadful. We have Sweetbay in Florida. Used to be Kash n Karry. It's a pretty nice store.

[fabulousfrock]

I actually read a whole book on the story of Publix once. It was quite interesting! I do like that they are employee-owned and local, but...shopping at them was a constant source of frustration for me. The better ones have some decent stuff, but it's accordingly expensive. (And of course I lived near a whole bunch of really crappy Publixes anyway. Three within a few miles and NONE of them even had fresh sushi, much less a gourmet chocolate section. Boo!)

[adaveen]

That's the problem - they're inconsistent. Ours down the street has a fresh sushi bar. The one by work has an English import section (mmm....hobnobs!)

But yeah, the prices are a bit on the high side.

[kellyrfineman]

SO glad that you are loving your new place!!