Rick G wrote:It seems the forum has a different opinion about other chains. I have seen a lot of forum readers speak very highly about chains like Costco (Food and Wine), Krogers (Liquor and Wine), Whole Foods (Food and Wine)...etc... These are definitely the high end chains. What about places like Old Town Liquors, Party Mart. Lotsa Pasta..etc...
Fair question, Rick.
Speaking only for myself, I'd say that I <i>prefer</i> to get my specialty foods at Lotsa Pasta, Burger's and Doll's, my natural foods at Rainbow Blossom and Doll's (Green River Cattle Co. steaks), my seafood at Highland or Seafood Connection and my wine at Old Town, Gemelli, St. Matthews, Wine Rack, even regional semi-chain Party Source.
But in contrast with most chain restaurants - which I shun because in my opinion few of them offer the kind of food quality and service I prefer AND because the ownership and ultimate recipient of the profits is not local - I do give <i>some</i> of my food-buying business to Whole Foods in particular because the quality and selection is there. I do find that I'm shopping there less lately, partly because I think it's slipped a little since the opening and partly because I've learned that its CEO is virulently anti-union, whereas I'm virulently pro-union. What I try to do now is buy things at Whole Foods that I can't get anywhere else - some of the more exotic Italian cheeses that Lotsa Pasta doesn't carry, for one specific example. But I won't buy anything at Whole Foods that I can get at Lotsa Pasta, Rainbow Blossom, Highland Fish, Seafood Connection, Doll's, etc., because I want to support the local indies and because "food miles" also make a difference. Why pay the energy costs needed for WF to fly lamb chops from New Zealand when Rainbow Blossom will sell me lamb chops from Bardstown? And, for that matter, why buy Chelsea's free-range eggs at WF when I can pass my money for the same eggs through Paul's?
It's really an ad hoc decision thing, but the bottom line is that I don't feel <i>too</i> bad about buying selectively at Whole Foods as long as I limit my buying to rarities that I can't get anywhere else?
Personally, I haven't said much in favor of Kroger's wine shop. I like Neil Wellinghurst and admire what he's doing out there, but the bottom line is that its selection is limited and largely mass-market, and there's nothing I've seen there that would prompt me to drive three times farther than I have to go from here to Old Town or the Wine Market or Gemelli or Wine Rack or St. Matthews Wine Co.
As for Costco, I joined out of curiosity, and because it's the anti-Sam's Club, but it doesn't really work well for me because it's too far out in the 'burbs and because its big-lots inventory isn't useful for a family of two. I also find their policy of checking baskets on the way out offensive, and the wine shop of little use to me; they'll have excellent prices on a handful of limited-production, high-end wines that I rarely buy even at reduced price; the rest is mass-market and uninteresting.