The Wifely Unit came home from taking care of her Dad after I had been home for about a half an hour.
I was dicking around on the internets and had the headphones on, destroying what little hearing I still have rocking out to some serious heavy metal.
Thus I wasn’t really paying a lot of attention.
I did say Hello Dear as usual but didn’t look up except for a glance.
About 15 minutes later she announces Dinner is ready.
Whut?
That was fast.
Apparently I missed her carrying in some bags with her.
So I mosied into the kitchen to see what we were having.
What the heck?
Meatloaf, 2 kinds of chicken wings and loaded mashed potatoes.
This is most unusual. All of it pr-prepared of course.
As I’m loading up a plate she says to me, “I think it’s time to switch stores”.
Because she has been a DIE HARD WalMart Shopper ever since we hooked up, I naturally assumed she was finally going to switch to the Wally World that is exactly one mile from the house, instead of going to the one 5 miles away like she has been doing.
So I asked if that’s what she meant.
Nope, and here is where you could have knocked me over with a feather, Safeway she says.
?!!!
I never thought I would live to see the day.
I have been trying to get her away from that damn Wally World since the day we got together.
13 years now!
What finally broke the Camel’s back?
Ongoing shortages.
While she was in a Safeway close to her sister’s place, she ran into several things that were readily available there that have been conspicuously missing from BOTH local Wally Worlds for a while now.
Stupid stuff like frozen Potatoes O’Brien, Heat and Eat frozen hamburger patties and several other items she used to get on a fairly regular basis that for some reason Wally World has been unable to stock.
For well over a month.
I’m thinking that my constantly pointing out bare shelves and the moving of products around to hide them didn’t hurt
Double Bonus, the local Safeway Deli sections have a huge selection of hot foods, ready to go.
Hence the “Real” Meatloaf instead of that processed frozen crap that comes in tiny little oval portions and is the same thing as the Salisbury Steak without the gravy she usually buys.
I have been trying to get her to switch to Safeway for years.
You would think that the fact that she has been having to go to one for over a year to get the non caffeinated, sugar free Coke she has to buy for our oldest boy because Wally World hasn’t had any would have been a clue but honest to God, it was the frozen Potatoes O’Brien and those hamburger patties that pushed her over the edge.
Part of it could also have been the hundred dollar coffee machine she bought at Wally World three weeks ago shit the bed already this morning.
Whatever it was, it works for me. Besides that, Safeway has a much higher quality of meat anyway.
Double , triple bonus as far as I’m concerned.
The only down side that I can think of off the top of my head is going to be the lack of The Freaks Of WalMart types I won’t have to be dealing with anymore.
I think I’ll live.
While we do shop at Wally World for canned and boxed foods because of price, we have never bought meat there. We only buy meat from stores that have on-site butchers.
On the topic of Wally World being under-stocked, it used to be that we always expected there to be one or two items on our shopping list that we would have to go to another area Wally World to get, because certain items seem to only be stocked at select area stores. However, the other day, I had to go online to see which area stores had an item in stock, and only one store out of the 6 area stores had it in stock. And, the item in question was distilled water of all things.
Their bottled water section has been consistently wiped out around here for months.
There’s a WinCo Foods not too far from you, I figure you know where it is, last time I was in that store over my way, they had just as much food as Safeway, might be worth a look.
I can’t even get her to step foot in it.
I wish we had a Winco here, one in Eugene and down in Medford. I would go there instead of Wallyweird.
Can’t figure that, there’s not much difference from wally world or any other grocer, but it’s not my business anyway.
WinCo is my grocery store of choice here in the Phoenix Metro Area. The only thing I wish they would do is the pick-up that WallyWorld, Bashas’, and Sprouts do. Since my knees have crapped out, hiking the store gets really painful.
Winco is just about as cheap as Walmart and cost is what WM has going for it.
I have to agree about the less & less of what you want at Walmart, I can save real money there but only if they have it.
And you get to help Wirecutter’s pension fund stay solvent.
Both my local Wally’s have terrible stock and selection by way of groceries. A 20 minute drive to Haymarket or Sterling brings a whole different line up. And the dinky little WalMart over in Fairfax used to be the only one for 200 miles that stocked Teriyaki Spam. Don’t know if they still do. Each store has it’s own buyers, so selection does indeed change.
I love Teriyaki Spam and I haven’t been able to find it here in Roseburg, or up in Clarkston, WA when I lived up that way. All I can find locally is regular Spam and Low salt Spam, yuck…
My wife lives tuna because of dietary restrictions. They have been out for three months and running. When they do get it in, we buy it by the case; what little they do get in. Their brand is cheaper, and it is skipjack, not the nasty albacore mush. We have been relagated to going to GFS to buy the monster can, break it down, and vacuum seal it.
Like most other folks, we select shop for the best deals at each store for what we need. The majority of the rest is bulked and prepped.
There’s an easy way to tell if you live in the right place. How many minutes away is the Publix? Me, 3 minutes driving, 12 walking. Check, good location. If it’s much further than that, it probably is cold outside, has an active antifa chapter, doesn’t have enough humidity, and it’s guaranteed the taxes are terrible! Besides, the local news here is just going over what the local Floridaman is currently doing!
Gave up on Wally World when I couldn’t find a damn thing that wasn’t Chinese made.
“The only down side that I can think of off the top of my head is going to be the lack of The Freaks Of WalMart types I won’t have to be dealing with anymore.
“I think I’ll live.”
It will be tough, but you’re a tough bird.
My nearest big city got a winco hear lots of good things. Haven’t been there yet its on the far side if I go into the city.
Good for you Phil you made it.
Forest Gump likes the picture.
Publix is great but the prices aren’t, dozen large eggs – $4.89, 16 oz cream cheese – $7.99! WTF! At least the shelves are pretty well stocked. FJB!
Stepping over the dirty diapers in the Wal-Mart parking lot is a fine source of cardio!
I read a piece somewhere that WallyWorld takes a lot of stock on as consignment. Hence the shortages. The goods are going to those with money. I generally go there to pick up boxed/canned goods because they are cheaper there. Same with oil and oil filters.
I’m lucky. I can waddle over to the one near my house during the day, since I work at home. I made the mistake of going there ‘after work’ last night and sweet jeeziz it was as ghetto as you can get. I used to joke about it being ghetto walmart, but holy cow, it really is. From now on, I go to whypipo walmart a few milles north. Never gonna darken the doors of that hot mess again. Nor will I go to ghetto kroger a mile south.
My impression from my little trip was “Jeezis, these people are coming here because they live close by. They’ll be the muf-fckers climbing over my fence when SHTF. I’m gonna need more ammo.
I go to Tom Thumb now, almost exclusively. There are three near me, but the furthest one is nestled in a really good neighborhood, so I go there. They are slightly more pricey than Kroger. But I’ll gladly pay a few more bucks to shop without vibrancy, and use a cart that glides instead of wobbles.
Sounds like you need to move Dude.
1 Wally’s, 3 Safeways & 2 Fred Meyer’s (which is basically Kroger’s) is what ya get here in the Frozen Freakin’ North. There’s 1 Costco and the bases have a commissary & a half between ‘em. With Kroger & Albertson’s talking merger, our choices just went down by 60 percent. Bulk stuff and seasonal produce comes from Costco or the ‘zon. Meat from the “local” butcher 95 miles away, is hunted or caught. Produce, what there is of it, is grown, bartered for or gathered from wild berries.
depends on the Walmart. outside of a big city, might be okay. inside one like the shithole Philly ? is a fucking nightmare !
here a fun fact. about 10 or so years ago, ran into a guy who used to work for Walmart in planning and whatnot. he what he said. Walmart makes billions in EBT sales every year. they don’t even think about building one with a EBT base close by. now, do you really want to live around where a lot of people are on EBT ?
few if any have anything more than a week worth of food in their place.
I really don’t want some clown knocking on my door with a shit load of kids
asking for food. it for the children kind of shit.
one of many reason why I live 45 minutes away from town and up hill.
a local store around here is Weis, they have the most stocked shelfs I seen so far
at least until this Covid crap started. prices are fair, the meats are top shelf, local
cuts. 2-4 butchers at work every day there, and on Thursdays vets get 10% off store brands. and that does add up too. one big problem though, they trying to make everyone do self checkout. that does piss me off. if I wanted to work at a store, I get a job there. hire some people damnit.
When pointed out the self check out lane was open I would reply I am not an employee and I want an employee discount if I have to do your job…
Since when have women ever admitted to being wrong? Not in my current lifetime.