TELL US: Where Do You Get Your Groceries These Days?
A recent Boston Globe article noted that Shaw's is struggling against low-priced competition. Do you shop at Shaw's or somewhere else in the area?
Recently, a Boston Globe article noted that Shaws Supermarkets have been having a hard time keeping up with lower-priced competitors such as Market Basket and Stop & Shop.
The article noted that the supermarket chain has seen its New England market share fall from 19 to 11% in New England since 2006, while also seeing a $1.5 billion sales decline in that period. The company was reportedly started in 1860 but things apparently started heading south with a series of corporate acquisitions starting in the late 1980s. In the Globe article, customer satisfaction and high prices were cited as leading factors for Shaw's.
While there's no Shaws in Westford, there's one just a minute over the border in Groton, and one just up Route 3 in Nashua along with the four other local supermarkets we used to track in the weekly Grocery Hunt, various other convenience stores and grocery stories further away, and of course, the new Market Basket.
Today, we want to ask you if you shop at Shaw's, and if not, are their prices keeping you away?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Vicky Geary
6:45 am on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
I do not shop at Shaws largely due to the prices and convenience. Although I have stopped into the Nashua location on occasion and it is a nice store with great produce, it is far more expensive than MB or Hannafords. If you do use their rewards card, you do get discounts on many things but I find that annoying. As much as I am not a fan of MB, I do like the fact that their prices are the same for everyone. It does not surprise me that they are having competitive issues.
Barbara Flynn
9:26 am on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
I do shop at Shaws' because when you match up coupons with sales you can get some really good deals especially since they double coupons. I feel Hannaford is the most expensive store. Hannaford also has a reward card but it hasn't done me much good. 'The Shaw's facebook site (Dan is the moderator) is a great help as are other consumers such as myself that post commennts. I will continue to shop at Shaw's. I do go to Market Basket if I happen to be on 110 but lately Shaw's has by by far had the best deals these last week weeks. If you want to save money you have to put time into looking at the circulars - matching up the coupons and decide where to go.
Phil McKrackin
11:08 am on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
I buy groceries at Little Market in Acton town on RT 225 very much. http://local.yahoo.com/info-10069382-little-market-acton Very tasty selection of poha, kurmura, rava and basmati rices.
Chris Daley
12:52 pm on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
I shop at the Groton Shaws because there's no traffic and no check out lines. Prices are less than Market Basket, Hannaford, Donelan's and Roche Brothers (Acton). I use the other stores occasionally if I'm doing errands in surrounding locations, including Wal Mart in Hudson, NH or Target in Pheasant Lane Mall. Selection, service, convenience, atmosphere and logistics all figure into my lifestyle choices. Shopping should be a relaxed, low key activity, not a mad rush.
katie
3:01 pm on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
I'd love to know what you're buying if you're saying Groton Shaws has lower prices than all four other options you listed. Shaws in general is often quite high with their prices.
Andrew Sylvia
1:51 pm on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
One thing I've been hearing from folks is that they use both Market Baskets due to Minot's Corner traffic. Are you seeing that in your daily routine?
Joanna L. Myers
8:20 pm on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Yes, I sometimes choose which Market Basket to go to based on traffic. But more relevant is how much time I've got - a quick trip definitely warrants going to the old store, while I use the new store when I've got time to browse and search for things.
Margo
3:22 pm on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Not for one minute do I beleive that the prices at shaws are less than MB. I realize that the prices everywhere are higher than they ever were but MB is usually one of the lowest. I don't need to use coupons to get the lower prices at MB like you would at Shaws.
Chris Daley
3:23 pm on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Store brand milk is $2.69/gal., others over $3.00. I can buy two boxes of oatmeal packets for avg. of three bucks, and it's good oatmeal! Meat prices comparable w/ other stores. Small pizza $6.00. Stouffers brand entrees $3.29 to $14.99 per size. Coffee like the Starbucks ground $9.99 like the others. No impersonal noisy waits in checkout and no gas guzzling idling in 110 chaos both priceless!
Anne Shirley
5:39 pm on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
This article says that Stop and Shop is one of the cheaper stores. Every Stop and Shop I've ever been to has seemed to have expensive/above average prices. I definitely wouldn't think their prices are comparable to Market Basket's. I shop at Market Basket most of the time because of the lower prices.
Kim
7:13 pm on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Hannafords or Trader joes in Nashua. Market Basket is a mess and they barely have any organic meats if any whenever I have stopped there.
Steven Sadowski
7:51 pm on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
I find it funny that when I go to MB there are usually a few Priuses in the parking lot festooned with Elizabeth Warren stickers. Most people don't realize it, but MB is non-union. This allows them to pass along the savings to the customer. But as a middle class American getting "hammered" by the billionaires and millionaires, I enjoy the cheaper prices even if it comes at the expense of my comrades slogging it out for "the man" at Shaw's. The worst part about MB is not the store, but the people who shop there. If you only have 3 items why in the hell are you using a shopping cart? Grab a basket (it is Market Basket afterall) and relieve the congestion in the aisles!
Chris Daley
8:03 am on Thursday, January 31, 2013
Ha ha ha ha! An elephant never forgets. My Shaws is non-union and offers the savings card. Big store with a lot of room-no congestion, no lights, no lines and no Priuses!
Margo
9:49 am on Thursday, January 31, 2013
Really Steven....who cares what people drive and what stickers they have on their cars when they shop at MB. If how many items people put in a a shopping cart bother you then you really need to find something else to do. Remember, this story was about where people do their food shopping not politics.
Andrew Sylvia
11:02 am on Thursday, January 31, 2013
Hi Margo,
Steven's entitled to his opinion, as is everybody who can comment within the terms of use.
Steven Sadowski
12:24 pm on Thursday, January 31, 2013
Margo:
I believe that we live our lives politically--or more specifically: ideologically. For example, if one is a vegetarian, is concerned about recycling, fracking, pesticides and economic injustice, chances are that person is a liberal, even if they don't vote. It's also safe to assume that they favor strong unions and wealth redistribution through regulations and graduated tax rates. What we believe, Margo, determines what we buy and what we drive. So when I see a Prius with an Obama sticker on it, I know that person made a conscious decision to buy a certain car and put a certain sticker on it. And I find it funny when it's at MB because MB is non-union and wouldn't such a person care that their money is bypassing the proletariat and heading straight to corporate? That's all, just observing the hypocrisy.
Amber B.
2:08 pm on Thursday, January 31, 2013
Although, to be fair, one could be budget-conscious in their car purchase given current gas prices and still not be a liberal. :)
I shop at MB, and supplement with occasional trips to Wegmans in Northboro for allergy-free food items MB refuses to carry. Wine prices at Wegmans are dirt cheap, too.
Steven Sadowski
2:22 pm on Thursday, January 31, 2013
Amber;
This is true. Good point! I saw somewhere, where a man used his Prius in NJ when Sandy hit to power his home by reversing the alternator. If you really want to save gas and go off the grid, buy a diesel and make your own biodiesel fuel from old fry-a-lator waste. Most of the restaurants have to pay to get rid of it, so they'll dump it off on you for free. I know my next truck is going to be a diesel---or (shall I dare to dream...) a natural gas powered truck.
KarenL
12:59 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
Well, not everyone is an idealogue who buys any particular party or candidate's platform hook, line and sinker.
Steven Sadowski
1:33 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
Karen:
Of course. Not many people live their lives so dogmatically that they never deviate from their party platform and most of those people are in cults. But generally speaking, we tend to align our philosophies into our everyday transactions.
Carol Frampton
11:11 pm on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Whole Food and/or Trader Joe's and once in a while to Donelans. I very occasionally go to Market Basket for non-food items.