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It would be hard for me to believe any generalizations about grocery stores in the US. In San Francisco where I live, there are ~5 grocery stores within walking
by mgraczyk 4y ago
It would be hard for me to believe any generalizations about grocery stores in the US. In San Francisco where I live, there are ~5 grocery stores within walking distance that span an order of magnitude in price and markup. Some items are only available at the higher end stores, and items that overlap are sold for up to 10x the price at the smaller, more expensive stores.
For example I can get a pint of heavy cream for ~$2 at the cheap store, or I can get an organic fancy one for $15 at Whole Foods. I can also get a normal brand name (Horizon) for either $3 or $6, depending on where I buy it. Finally, Safeway has a unique ultra-pasteurized product that is way better for me (lasts for months) for ~$4. Very difficult to make any generalizations about service or value.
- sydthrowaway 4y agoYou are clearly ultra-wealthy, so don’t speak for the majority of Americans
- jessaustin 4y agoEven paupers deserve some cream in their diet.
- yaomtc 4y agoThis reads like sarcasm, but I don't know. I wouldn't assume someone is ultra-wealthy because they live in SF.
- jfoutz 4y agoI lived around Geary and 7th. Similar experience. So many grocery stores. They're all tiny, and heavily focused on different ethnicities of food. The halal butcher was great. Meraki permanently closed, but it was great for fancy food. The thing that was most mind blowing was the corner liquor store having fruits and vegetables. Not much, and different every week - but something. I was living in that area for the lockdown. A few different places I regularly visited offered toilet paper. They let me know if I needed some they would help me out. I grew up in a small town, I moved to the "big city" for school. San Francisco is really special in regard to food. I don't know, but I'd guess old parts of all major cities have a pretty spectacular grocery stores. Let me assure you, you're in a special situation, that most folks aren't. Old cities aren't enough, they need that daily foot traffic, consistently, forever.
- carom 4y agoI don't see any 15 dollar heavy cream at Whole Foods via the Amazon app. The 365 brand is 4 dollars. Highest I see is 6 dollars. This is in Los Angeles. Changed my zip to 94105 which is the most expensive zip in SF and I still don't see 15 dollar heavy cream.
- vl 4y agoOne interesting development in the last few years is that Whole Foods is working hard to become Safeway and Safeway is working hard to become Whole Foods.