Agreed, or rat-infested Mazen Foods.
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As someone who lives in NE Detroit and works in the NE suburbs, it's far more convenient for me to go to one of the Grosse Pointe Krogers [[that likely have every single item I'm looking for, are not overpriced and do not have outdated food on their shelves) than to drive way across town to Honeybee.
But that's just me.
The employees are helpful and polite, the selection is wide and the stores are always clean and well stocked [[there are never just vast areas of empty shelves where they've failed to restock like I see ALL of the time at Meijer and Kroger), produce is a good quality, meats are excellent quality and during the day there are helpful and friendly butchers who can get you what you want if they don't have it out, good seafoods and fantastic bakery products. Their breads are delicious [[huge fan of their sourdough, which is actually sourdough and not the garbage with no flavor most places pass as sourdough) and their cakes are a lot better than a lot of bakery cakes I've spent a fortune on.
Last week, there were a number of people who suddenly got to the checkouts at the same time. An employee noted it and within 2 minutes, 4 more registers were open and running. The employees at the Meijer at Groesbeck/Cass have complained that management had cut back on checkout people and that they were not happy with people grumpy after waiting forever in line [[and the self checkout is not immune, because last time I was there before we left, every. single. self checkout line had lines and we were all flashing red, needing assistance - one poor employee was running herself ragged trying to get things flowing) and I've never seen more checkouts being opened at Kroger because of a backup.
I guess that the east side Kroger/Meijer locations are such garbage because they can be. No competition to make them improve and people have to go there, especially those of us who don't have unlimited time to drive around the entire metro area for a few groceries.
I forgot about Publix's bakery--it was wonderful. Meat was excellent also. And yes, help was plentiful.
When I go to Meijer, which is quite often, I either go to the 12 Mile / Telegraph or the Coolidge Hwy location in Royal Oak. I think the produce selection and quality is great at both those locations. I've also been to the Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills stores which are similar. I go to the Kroger on Maple / Lasher a lot, while that is good too, I don't think the produce is any better then the Meijer locations I mentioned. The Kroger on Coolidge and Maple, and the Kroger on Maple and Woodward all seem to carry the same stuff.
As far as Walmart goes the produce, meat, fish and seafood is pretty much abysmal. However, a banana is a banana, a lemon is a lemon, pretty hard to screw stuff like that up, no matter how bad you are.
Keep in mind though that the Meijers in Taylor and Royal Oak were originally near-identical twins when they first opened in the late 1970's. I am more familiar with the Taylor Meijer though and they have kept the drop ceiling after every remodel, so did the Royal Oak Meijer keep theirs too?
That may be more suited for a new thread, but whatevs.
The high quality Hiller's store in Ann Arbor which was bought out by Kroger instantly became the worst Kroger store in the area, not nearly as good as the existing Maple Rd. and Plymouth Rd. stores, and not even as large as the dreary Carpenter location. I don't know why they bothered. I lived in Burlingame CA for years and loved the local Draeger's Market. I don't think I'll see it's like anytime soon in Michigan. Sob.http://www.draegers.com/images/_home/home_slide.01.jpg
I won't say that Meijer is as bad as Wal-Mart, yet, but I don't understand Meijer's strategy at all. It seems to be aiming for Wal-Mart quality at prices noticeably higher than Kroger. And in the past few years Meijer has tried several things that have failed miserably, notably a very large international items aisle and other oddball items for a big box retailer. At the same time it seems to have given up on cost competitiveness and customer service.
Yeah, Meijer is definitely more expensive than WalMart, and probably even compared to Kroger. I don't get that either.
But people in MI love Meijer. It's the hometown brand and people will give them the benefit of the doubt, IMO, like with Quicken Loans [[hometown heros) vs. other mortgage lenders [[rapacious vultures) or with domestics vs. imports. Or just see the Five Hour Energy thread to see hometown favoritism in action.
If you stepped into the Lincoln Park Meijer, a converted former Super Kmart, lately, the floor in produce is dirty and there is a faint but musty smell. I've experienced this personally on Wednesday.
Can someone change the title of this thread because literally every time I scan the thread list I see "Hitler Selling Out to Kroger" and I wonder what they have on him.
I just tried out Honeybee. It was ok, excellent in certain areas but still not my one stop shopping answer, but I don't think such a thing exists. So, I will continue shopping a variety of places in the city and in the burbs as I like. Though I find my main shopping is Miejer [[various stores) and for my produce Greenland in Dearborn.
I have been in both stores but more often in Royal Oak. The Royal Oak Meijer was completely renovated to look like a brand new store [[including open ceiling) probably about 10 years ago. Nothing resembles the original 1970s design except you can tell it is not a new build by the exterior design which has been modernized many times but definitely not to the point of a new-build Meijer.
Lately, if I go to Meijer, I try to run to the Detroit Meijer at 8 and Woodward so I haven't been to the Royal Oak one in quite some time. They are doing a pretty good job at the Detroit store keeping it up to the typical Meijer standards. I am not a fan of the Southfield Meijer however, seems to me that they are the worst when it comes to checkout lines and waits.