This reminds me of the story about one of the now-Kroger chain stores, the Wallingford (Seattle) QFC. It was (IIRC) oringinally a Food Giant. Now the store has (or had) a large sign along its front, saying WALLINGFORD. Locals refer to it as “Giant Foods.” Kinda close to its original name. It is still this way, @Atamasama ?
And: link
I can attest that it’s still that way, although I have never heard anyone call it Giant Foods, just Food Giant. The idea with the “WALLINGFORD” sign is that it reuses some of the lettering from “FOOD GIANT”.
I’m a bit away from Wallingford; more than an hour on some days. It’s on the other side of Seattle from me. So I’m not familiar with the location, unfortunately.
OK. I had some sarcastic friends from Wallingford and Fremont who called it that, and I assumed they were referring to the giant signage at that store. Maybe it wasn’t common to call it Giant Foods after all.
Around here Smith’s (Kroger) has the barest shelves and refuses to offer higher pay. Tough to get workers for $15/hour when WalMart on the next block is offering $21.50. Safeway and Albertson’s are better stocked, but also significantly more expensive and in inconvenient locations. We are lucky to also have 2 local chains and WinCo (and Whole Foods sometime soon).
My understanding is that Kroger employees around Ohio are fully unionised get quite decent terms. At least that was the case when I had acquaintances who worked there. I do t know about now.
I thought the Marsh on McGalliard near the old Kmart became a planet fitness. Muncie represent. Were there 3 Marshs in Muncie? I know of the other 2 you’re speaking of on Tiillitson and one near Sitara.
I don’t know why they opened it as a Pay-less either. I think everywhere else in the state (Richmond, Indianapolis, Bloomington, etc) its known as Kroger, but in Muncie its pay-less.
Home Depot is “The Home Depot.” Nobody calls it that.
Huh, the Smith’s here is probably the best run of the grocery stores; it’s my preferred store, and has the best selection, prices, and quality of our 4 grocery options (the others being Walmart, Albertsons, and a little Affiliated Foods-type store thats dingy, dirty, and high-priced).
You’re right; there was a third Marsh which is now a Planet Fitness. I don’t get out to that side of town very often, so I forgot about it.
They just acquired Jewel’s, one of the biggest chains in the country. What’s happening is that all these stores are losing any individuality or uniqueness they may have had just like Mariano’s has lost its individuality since Kroger acquired it. It’ll be like going to same store with just a different name.
For the benefit of non-Chicagoans:
Mariano’s is a relatively new grocery chain which operates in the Chicago area; it came into being a little over a decade ago, and originally was part of the Roundy’s company (a Wisconsin company, which also operated the Pick 'n Save grocery stores).
Bob Mariano was, at that time, CEO of Roundy’s, and had previously been CEO of Dominick’s (a now-defunct Chicago grocery chain); the Mariano’s stores were a bit more upscale than Chicago’s other big grocery chains (Jewel and Dominick’s) – they had a big selection of imported food items, an extensive deli and fresh-cooked food buffet, and a wine bar. They also had pianos, with actual humans playing them during prime shopping hours, at their entrances.
Kroger bought Roundy’s (and, by extension, Mariano’s) in 2015, and has, in the years since, largely gutted most of the things that made Mariano’s different from other grocery stores.
Thanks, Kenobi_65! 
It’s interesting that despite having so many stores and names, they really have no presence in the northeast & New York metro area. It looks like the closest one is 100 miles away in Philadelphia. I’d never been to one until I went to California. The big supermarket chains here are Stop and Shop, Shop Rite and King Kullen out on Long Island.
The grocery market is about to shrink further. Kroger has announced that it intends to buy Albertsons for almost $25 billion.
Yes. That proposed merger is why this thread was revived on October 14, in post 65.
There are more in New England and upstate New York, like Big Y, Market Basket, Hannaford, Wegman’s and Price Chopper.
35 years ago they were expanding rapidly. Back then I remember there being both “regular” Wal-Marts that were strictly the “hard goods” lines- hardly any food, and all clothing, hardware, appliances, etc… and there being “Supercenters” which were more what they have today.
Nowadays they’re all either Supercenters or Neighborhood Markets (a sort of grocery-only version). But there’s a lot of individual variation in terms of the services each store offers- some have tires/automotive, some (especially rural) have extensive outdoor sports sections including gun counters, some have all sorts of services for low income people up front- insurance (would ANYONE with two cents to rub together actually go to Fred Loya by choice?) , cell phones, banks. Depends on where you are.
Where I live, there are two Walmarts within a reasonable distance. One is a “Supercenter” and the other is the “hypermarket” style, like a Fred Meyer. There are quite a few of the latter around the general area. The hypermarkets have a fairly limited grocery department; it’s a pretty small part of the store.
I’m pretty sure they created QFC markets so they could put them in the suburbs and charge 20% more for the same shit they sell at the larger stores.