Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Kroger Sucks But The Skagit Valley Food Co-Op Does Not

Only one other grocery store is lower in my grocery store estimation than Kroger. That would be Albertsons. I was appalled by Albertsons when I lived in Washington and appalled when I moved to Texas to have people here tell me Albertsons was their best grocery store.

I think after my experience today Kroger has fallen below Albertsons.

I prefer well-run grocery stores, like Sprouts Farmers Market, ALDI Food Market, Cho Saigon Market and Central Market.

Lately I have been buying milk at ALDI. It is only 99 cents a gallon. This week I heard a Kroger ad on the radio, bragging about their new low 99 cents a gallon price on their locally produced Springdale milk.

I was out of milk. So, on my way back from riding my bike, with Kroger being a stone's throw from where I live, I decided to get a gallon of milk.

One thing that is disturbing about this particular Kroger is how low the stock of some items can be. For instance, there were only 3 gallons of milk of the type I buy. The sparse shelves give the look of something being very wrong.

So, I go to the self-checkout and scan the annoying Kroger card that you have to scan to get whatever you are buying at the price you are wanting to pay. I then scanned the milk.

It scans at $2.99.

But the screen says something like final calculation made after the "Pay Now" button is hit. I did so.

Still $2.99. I then asked the Kroger scanner watcher why the milk was $2.99 when it was supposed to be 99 cents.

She told me it was 99 cents with an additional $10 purchase.

That is not what the radio ad said.

That is not what it said on the $.99 sign by the milk.

I told the Kroger scanner watcher I did not want the milk. And walked out. Vowing this was the last time I waste my time going to Kroger.

Kroger needs to go out of business. How it stays in business I don't understand. I was  recently told that Albertsons is long gone from my former location, that being Mount Vernon. This is no surprise. Mount Vernon has a couple very good grocery stores. Of the likes I don't see here in my zone of Texas.

Except for Central Market. And don't mention Whole Foods to me as a good grocery store. Someone in the grocery store business, here in Texas, needs to fly up to Washington and go to Mount Vernon to check out the Skagit Valley Food Co-op, then come back to Texas and replicate the Skagit Valley Food Co-op in Texas.

2 comments:

Steve A said...

Trader Joes would be nice as well. Remember that Kroger owns QFC so it is not without redeeming features. Down here, Tom Thumb is much nicer than any Safeway I've been to elsewhere.

Durango said...

Steve A, Trader Joes would be a real good thing. I did not know Kroger owns QFC. I did know Kroger bought Fred Meyer. I was appalled to see Kroger cheese in Fred Meyer last time I was in the Tacoma Fred Meyer. Other than that, I could not detect any Kroger Kraptacularness ruining Fred Meyer. QFC is a good grocery store. How can Kroger own QFC and Fred Meyer and be such a crummy grocery store?