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Costco has better quality meat than the grocery stores -- although I don't find their prime grade meats to be significantly better than the choice cuts. The ve

Costco has better quality meat than the grocery stores -- although I don't find their prime grade meats to be significantly better than the choice cuts. The vegetables and fruits are high quality too, but I live with enough people to make it worthwhile. I live across the street from a grocery store. Over the last 30 years, I've seen it transformed from a slightly upscale supermarket to a glorified mini-market. After every remodeling or floor space expansion, the selection and service would get a little worse. Now that Albertsons bought all of the supermarkets in the area they've significantly cut the quality in the last bastions of why I would shop there at all -- produce and bakery. They do have a large enough alcohol section that I get to see shoplifters running out of the store all the time. So now I'm driving ten miles to Costco to get quality ingredients when I live across the street from a supermarket. The clerks read their script, "Did you find everything you need?" and I respond, "Well, I didn't find X and Y." Their response: "Oh." And people wonder why they're all losing ground to big box stores. In retail you can compete on service, selection, and/or prices. Fry's Electronics chose the last two, but were undercut on both by Amazon. Local supermarkets seem to have yielded on all three to Costco which is freaking crazy.

zifnab06 7y ago
I can't tell if Safeway has gotten worse or if I've just been shopping at the expensive organic place for too long. I can go buy produce from Safeway on a Sunday, and have it be molding by Wednesday. And not even stuff that goes bad quickly (like, peaches mid summer are amazing but they're very fresh/ripe and will go bad in a few days). Apples. Potatoes. Onions. Things that, when fresh, last for months if kept in a cool dark place.
- labster 7y ago
  I have a Vons, they became pretty similar to sister brand Safeway in the past decade. It's definitely worse produce now. Organic used to be things with more damage from insects and such, and have a shorter shelf life. Now it's food that costs more, so it has higher quality.
- parrellel 7y ago
  You aren't hallucinating, the quality of Safeway produce is and is increasingly shit. Last time I was in one, they had a pile of moldy ginger, and I have no idea how they managed it.
  - zifnab06 7y ago
    I spent a bit of time earlier trying to figure out who owned what in Seattle earlier. What I got out of it: * QFC/Fred Meyer are owned by Kroger * Safeway/Albertsons are owned by a capital management company (Cerberus) * PCC, Red Apple, Town and Country, and Metro Market are local. * UNFI owns SuperValu, which is the main distributor for Whole Foods / IGA / possibly some others in the 'local' list. The depressing part of this: most of grocery stores in the area are owned by 3 companies. And they've all turned into a complete garbage race to the bottom "what's the minimum quality we can sell and still consider food".
wil421 7y ago
I disagree about the meat. Publix has much better quality chicken and pork, especially their Greenwise brand. Costco chicken is freakishly big, even compared to Tyson or Purdue at Kroger. I used to find weird spots on the chicken breast and thighs I haven’t seen elsewhere. The chicken is tougher as well. The wild seafood is great. Choice Beef is the same as anywhere and I have no complaints. Prime beef is a great option but I rarely buy it.
- kunai 7y ago
  Publix is a southeastern U.S. exclusive. I pity all the smug Bay Area folk who will never get to experience how wonderful this little grocery chain is.
  - wil421 7y ago
    Publix is opening a Greenwise Market store next to me. Can’t wait to see all the good stuff.
- beatgammit 7y ago
  We rarely buy chicken at Costco for just that reason. Chicken at our local grocery store is comparable quality and it's frequently on sale (loss leader perhaps?).
- freyir 7y ago
  Costco actually struggles to purchase small chickens, which it uses for its $4.99 rotisserie. According to this article published last week, it’s opening a $450M poultry complex in Nebraska because suppliers aren’t providing enough small chickens. https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/11/business/costco-5-dollar-chicken/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/11/business/costco-5-dollar-chic...
ansible 7y ago
> Fry's Electronics .... Oh my gosh, I was in my local Fry's last week, and the store was in such bad shape. It was mid-afternoon on a Saturday, and there were only a dozen cars in the parking lot. So I thought that was strange right off the bat. We go in, and so many shelves were empty. I wanted to get a new PC power supply, and they had hardly any stock. We went to a Microcenter later, and it was still a going concern. Chatted with a sales guy who actually seemed to know the products. I think it is the last decent computer store in the area.
- beatgammit 7y ago
  Man, I wish I had a crappy Fry's in my area, all I have is Best Buy, and they overprice everything and don't care a good selection. I miss living near Fry's. I miss being able to want X and have it in the same day and also have a place where I can do a swap in the same day without dealing with postage. I've been trying to limit how much I buy on Amazon because I don't want to worry about getting something different than I ordered (among other reasons), or have to worry about getting counterfeit stuff. So I'm basically down to Newegg, and while they're fairly prompt, I don't buy enough to make Premier worth it, so I don't have 2-day shipping, which makes it even less convenient. I'm really quite sad that these stores seem to be going away.
  - PhantomGremlin 7y ago
    Man, I wish I had a crappy Fry's in my area No, no you don't. I noticed the same thing a few months ago and did a search then. I found this thread which I bookmarked. So this isn't a new phenomenon any more: https://www.thelayoff.com/t/YbiPZw8 https://www.thelayoff.com/t/YbiPZw8 My experience with the store in Wilsonville Oregon matches those comments. QFT here: The Wilsonville, Oregon store hasn't had stock for over 6 months. Even longer for desktops and laptops. Last month I visited and there were whole aisles empty. ENTIRE AISLES. This is no "remodel" or "change in inventory system". They're on their last legs. Very sad. End of an era.
    - Gibbon1 7y ago
      Everything retail is dying. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retail_apocalypse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retail_apocalypse
Sohcahtoa82 7y ago
> The clerks read their script, "Did you find everything you need?" and I respond, "Well, I didn't find X and Y." Their response: "Oh." As someone who worked retail for several years... The cash register is literally the worst time and place to get help finding something. I often end up having to wait and hold up the line while waiting for someone on the floor to bring a product up, and god help us all if they grabbed the wrong thing and need to go back, holding up my line even more. The cash register had the ability to suspend a transaction so I could start ringing up someone else while we waited, but doing so required a manager override, which involved a manager putting their key into the register and typing in their PIN code. If you need help finding something, find someone on the floor. If you can't find someone on the floor, ask a cashier to find someone. But starting to check out and then asking for help finding something makes your cashier want to cry.
- parliament32 7y ago
  If it's that much of a pain, why do the clerks always specifically ask if I found everything I need? Why not something more generic like "how was your shopping experience today?" or similar?
  - Sohcahtoa82 7y ago
    Because the managers that create the policies requiring clerks to ask the question have either never worked as a clerk or have forgotten what it's like.

zifnab06 7y ago

I can't tell if Safeway has gotten worse or if I've just been shopping at the expensive organic place for too long. I can go buy produce from Safeway on a Sunday, and have it be molding by Wednesday. And not even stuff that goes bad quickly (like, peaches mid summer are amazing but they're very fresh/ripe and will go bad in a few days). Apples. Potatoes. Onions. Things that, when fresh, last for months if kept in a cool dark place.

labster 7y ago
I have a Vons, they became pretty similar to sister brand Safeway in the past decade. It's definitely worse produce now. Organic used to be things with more damage from insects and such, and have a shorter shelf life. Now it's food that costs more, so it has higher quality.
parrellel 7y ago
You aren't hallucinating, the quality of Safeway produce is and is increasingly shit. Last time I was in one, they had a pile of moldy ginger, and I have no idea how they managed it.
- zifnab06 7y ago
  I spent a bit of time earlier trying to figure out who owned what in Seattle earlier. What I got out of it: * QFC/Fred Meyer are owned by Kroger * Safeway/Albertsons are owned by a capital management company (Cerberus) * PCC, Red Apple, Town and Country, and Metro Market are local. * UNFI owns SuperValu, which is the main distributor for Whole Foods / IGA / possibly some others in the 'local' list. The depressing part of this: most of grocery stores in the area are owned by 3 companies. And they've all turned into a complete garbage race to the bottom "what's the minimum quality we can sell and still consider food".

wil421 7y ago

I disagree about the meat. Publix has much better quality chicken and pork, especially their Greenwise brand. Costco chicken is freakishly big, even compared to Tyson or Purdue at Kroger. I used to find weird spots on the chicken breast and thighs I haven’t seen elsewhere. The chicken is tougher as well. The wild seafood is great. Choice Beef is the same as anywhere and I have no complaints. Prime beef is a great option but I rarely buy it.

kunai 7y ago
Publix is a southeastern U.S. exclusive. I pity all the smug Bay Area folk who will never get to experience how wonderful this little grocery chain is.
- wil421 7y ago
  Publix is opening a Greenwise Market store next to me. Can’t wait to see all the good stuff.
beatgammit 7y ago
We rarely buy chicken at Costco for just that reason. Chicken at our local grocery store is comparable quality and it's frequently on sale (loss leader perhaps?).
freyir 7y ago
Costco actually struggles to purchase small chickens, which it uses for its $4.99 rotisserie. According to this article published last week, it’s opening a $450M poultry complex in Nebraska because suppliers aren’t providing enough small chickens. https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/11/business/costco-5-dollar-chicken/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/11/business/costco-5-dollar-chic...

ansible 7y ago

> Fry's Electronics .... Oh my gosh, I was in my local Fry's last week, and the store was in such bad shape. It was mid-afternoon on a Saturday, and there were only a dozen cars in the parking lot. So I thought that was strange right off the bat. We go in, and so many shelves were empty. I wanted to get a new PC power supply, and they had hardly any stock. We went to a Microcenter later, and it was still a going concern. Chatted with a sales guy who actually seemed to know the products. I think it is the last decent computer store in the area.

beatgammit 7y ago
Man, I wish I had a crappy Fry's in my area, all I have is Best Buy, and they overprice everything and don't care a good selection. I miss living near Fry's. I miss being able to want X and have it in the same day and also have a place where I can do a swap in the same day without dealing with postage. I've been trying to limit how much I buy on Amazon because I don't want to worry about getting something different than I ordered (among other reasons), or have to worry about getting counterfeit stuff. So I'm basically down to Newegg, and while they're fairly prompt, I don't buy enough to make Premier worth it, so I don't have 2-day shipping, which makes it even less convenient. I'm really quite sad that these stores seem to be going away.
- PhantomGremlin 7y ago
  Man, I wish I had a crappy Fry's in my area No, no you don't. I noticed the same thing a few months ago and did a search then. I found this thread which I bookmarked. So this isn't a new phenomenon any more: https://www.thelayoff.com/t/YbiPZw8 https://www.thelayoff.com/t/YbiPZw8 My experience with the store in Wilsonville Oregon matches those comments. QFT here: The Wilsonville, Oregon store hasn't had stock for over 6 months. Even longer for desktops and laptops. Last month I visited and there were whole aisles empty. ENTIRE AISLES. This is no "remodel" or "change in inventory system". They're on their last legs. Very sad. End of an era.
  - Gibbon1 7y ago
    Everything retail is dying. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retail_apocalypse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retail_apocalypse

Sohcahtoa82 7y ago

> The clerks read their script, "Did you find everything you need?" and I respond, "Well, I didn't find X and Y." Their response: "Oh." As someone who worked retail for several years... The cash register is literally the worst time and place to get help finding something. I often end up having to wait and hold up the line while waiting for someone on the floor to bring a product up, and god help us all if they grabbed the wrong thing and need to go back, holding up my line even more. The cash register had the ability to suspend a transaction so I could start ringing up someone else while we waited, but doing so required a manager override, which involved a manager putting their key into the register and typing in their PIN code. If you need help finding something, find someone on the floor. If you can't find someone on the floor, ask a cashier to find someone. But starting to check out and then asking for help finding something makes your cashier want to cry.

parliament32 7y ago
If it's that much of a pain, why do the clerks always specifically ask if I found everything I need? Why not something more generic like "how was your shopping experience today?" or similar?
- Sohcahtoa82 7y ago
  Because the managers that create the policies requiring clerks to ask the question have either never worked as a clerk or have forgotten what it's like.