depending on who has the best bargain for my limited dollar.. I have never shopped for food at Walmart..maybe once to get some cookies..but not for a weekly food stock up.

Since I am in an area where it can be hard for me to get things like tempah etc (which HyVee does stock) .. I split my dollar so to speak

Did you guys get hit with much from that storm last night.. Poor little Pilger..those twin tornadoes were amazingly scary.. We are dealing with flooding here..

We have an AC in our bedroom because it gets so stuffy plus we keep the curtains pulled. So with the noise of the AC and it being closed we often miss much of the action overnights.

I do know we had thunder, lightning and some rain. Don't think we had much rain, but our electricity wen out for a couple hours, which made it quite hard to sleep. Electricity here goes out with a gust of wind sometimes.

If the predictions were right we would have been at the very edge of the storm that went through. So we were lucky. Actually we are getting pretty dry down here.

we have had over 9 inches of rain.. We are all caught up and then some.. Oh man it was so noisy last night here.. and the tornado sirens were going off constantly..There was one about 7 miles outside of Sioux City.. then as it approached the Missouri, it broke up.. THANK GOODNESS! and the redeveloped north and east of us..

Apparently a tornado went over their town but didn't touch down.

Nearby, in Rock Valley and Rock Rapids, it's flooded. Worst they've seen in decades.

Here we have a couple No Frills, Hy-Vee's, Aldi, Fareway, Wal-Mart, and Super Saver. Not to far away in Omaha there's a Bakers.

I do most of my shopping at No Frills and some things I get at Hy-Vee. I get paper goods, household items and heavy things like pop and bottled water at Wal-Mart.

I like Hy-Vee, the reason I do most of my shopping at No Frills is because Hy-Vee is more expensive for most things. But I prefer getting produce at Hy-Vee and it seems like a cleaner store. And frankly, if I lived on the other end of town I'd go with the closest grocery stores, so I'm not attached to any one store.

Looks like we have more variety of stores here so there's more competition.

totally forgot about Aldi's.
I live near IC and that is what I described. Been here forever and have watched what used to be competitive markets just deteriorate to a big one and two and some small lessers. Maybe I am overly sensitive.

I had forgotten we have Costco now. Maybe I am making a mountain out of a molehill.

I never go to WalMart because of their employee policies/treatment, as well as their pay putting more people on welfare rolls. I've never understood how they've managed to get by this long.

Fareway is so/so. Sometimes, their fruit is better than HyVee, but about the only time I stop in there is if I need a couple items. They are closer to home, so it just makes sense to stop there.

I know a lot of people shop Aldi's, but I wasn't impressed. I did buy strawberries once when one of my kids mentioned how good they were.

HyVee is the grocery store of my choice. I trust them and they always replace or refund on items that you are not satisfied with, without question. Their deli/restaurant and Chinese bar are all wonderful as are their bakery and meat departments. Some items are higher than other stores, but so is the gas to chase around for a few cents off. By the time I have left the store, I've heard good morning or hello 25 times. All the young people are polite and helpful...cheerful, in fact. The cash register goes ka-ching-ka-ching all day and all night. Wish I'd bought stock years ago.

Now, I do find it interesting that the worst HV I've been in is the one in Chariton, home of their distribution center.

The one near us is clean and well-organized. And I use their fuel saver card, which has saved us up to .70 cents off a gallon a couple times. I watch sales too, so sometimes I go to Fareway or Aldi's. Target has better prices for cleaning supplies and paper goods most of the time though.

But yeah, choice is one chain store over another anymore, and I hate that too.

The highest I had was 87 cents/gal. I stood at the pump and grinned from ear to ear, as gas was at its highest level at that time. I don't buy items with fuel savings unless I need them, which makes it even sweeter. Just wish it didn't have a 30-day limit.

We live in an area with all of those store within a half an hours drive from us and with several mom and pop groceries in the general vicinity. Then there is Aldi's and New Pioneer Coop too. I go to Fareway now and then to buy ribs though. I tend to go to HyVee the most though.

I do most of my grocery shopping at Hy-Vee. They have quite a good selection of stuff.

I do occasionally go to the Schnucks in Bettendorf since they're right off I-74 which makes them handy when I'm going to work or to Fareway since they have a store in Maquoketa.

In fact, we just came back from our local store, about three blocks from my house. The chicken was pretty good, and the checkers are always nice.
The wife and I do go to Aldi from time to time because we don't have a great deal of money and we try to stretch our dollars. We do not go to Fareway for the reasons you described. And you are fortunate to have Costco up that way. Sure wish someone would open one here. Sigh...

thought someone told me that.

Haven't heard anything about that but if true, that's great.

I was told that they were building one on the Illinois side by a labor leader down their.

They probably have the best customer service and facilities. But we're usually watching our pennies so we also shop at Super Saver and Aldi. Occasionally Fareway for meat sales. NEVER Walmart.

We do use HyVee's gas card thing when we shop there to save a little at the pump.

even if you don't do the bulk of your shopping at HyVee?

If an item gives me 2 cents a gallon on gas and I buy 12 gallons of gas, that saves me 24 cents. But I might be able to buy the same thing elsewhere for 50 cents less. And the points don't last. You have to use them or lose them with a time frame ( I don't remember how long).

My mother-in-law shops at HyVee a LOT. So she often saves 40 - 80 cents/gallon on gas with her card.

but there are plenty of items where the price is half again as much as Fareway's. My grocery dollar is split a lot of ways - meat and basic items at Fareway, prescriptions, specials, and more specialized items at HyVee, produce at Aldi's. But if HyVee's prices were better, they'd get more of my business.

Fareway can be assholes about accepting cans and bottles. They have the machines at HyVee, so that's less hassle.

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls metro area is what, 120,000 people? There are only a couple grocery stores that are not HyVee, Walmart, Fareway, or Aldis. I'd lump Target in with that - they're no better ethically than Walmart in my opinion.

No place is perfect, as you note. I don't think HyVee pays very well, at least not lower-level employees, and being open on Sundays and holidays is convenient for consumers, but hard on workers.

By virtue of their silence, they are complicit in corporate ag's effort to avoid truth in labeling.

"Pink slime" is making a comeback...GMOs taint our foods...high frustose corn syrup is killing us...produce is doused with chemicals. I'm increasingly retreating from consumption of all varieties. I encourage people to seek alternatives. We need a mass movement. Boycott to the fullest extent possible!

BTW welcome to DU.
We try to "vote" with our dollars but sometimes we must deal with the enemy to get what we want.

I admit, I frequently lay with the enemy: "gotta eat," right? That said, the balance of my effort is expended on alternatives. It's not easy to swim against the current, but it's one hell of an exercise regimen! The incessant cognitive dissonance makes life interesting, and I'll fight them to the bitter end. Most importantly, I'm teaching my children (21, 22, 28) to do the same. So far, 2 of 3 are vegan--and well aware on a personal level of the perils of unwitting compliance to corporate ag. BTW--Wellman here. Fight on!

Last edited Wed Dec 17, 2014, 10:46 AM - Edit history (2)

Hy-Priced-Vee recently built a huge store complete with a full service restaurant, car wash, & convenience store. They purchased the most popular businesses/products in town to operate/sell inside their store, purchased exclusive rights to the city's app so they are the only grocery store that can advertise on it, purchased Old Home Bread so now the only place you can buy Old Home Bread in the states of Iowa and Nebraska will be Hy-Priced-Vee. (Coming in April?) One grocery store here closed and a few others are now struggling to the point they might end up closing. This would leave our community with only Walmart and Target options. Five restaurants have also closed since Hy-Vee opened May 1st and we are losing local businesses and dining out variety. Hy-Priced-Vee ads are very misleading. They advertise odd sizes of meat (i.e. 3 oz, 4 oz, & 5 oz) and bundle them by the piece (100 pieces for $100) with a variety of types and cuts so people can't easily do the math off the top of their head. Choice New York Strips were advertised for $6.99 (8 oz. cut) last summer and was strategically placed in one of their many ads (too many ads in my opinion) next to an item they were selling "dirt cheap" with a "coupon limit one" while one of the competitors in town advertised Choice New York Strips at $6.99/lb. It case you didn't notice that makes the Hy-Priced-Vee advertised price $13.98/lb vs. the competitor price of $6.99/lb. That's highway robbery! They lure you in with the cheap "limited quantity" items and charge you double in the meat ads and get away with it because of their squeaky clean image. Sorry! The gas card is a gimmick. Rewards expire after 30 days and they control the products you must purchase. The store I shop at also has a gas card but it is based upon the the total $$$ amount of the items purchased. Hy-Priced-Vee uses their gas card as an incentive to increase traffic on select weekends (labeled "fuel saver weekends&quot to squash the small out of town competition or get rid of excessive inventory. Ever seen one of those penny fuel savers? "But they do good things for the community!" Have you ever experienced "cookie madness" where Hy-Priced-Vee goes into the schools, hospitals, churches, nursing homes, etc, with "free" cookies and milk and give away Hy-Priced-Vee gifts cards saying telling them to pay it forward? They make videos of it and post it on their social media pages. Isn't going into the schools indoctrinating our kids to shop at Hy-Priced-Vee? They'll go home and tell their parents and beg them to shop at Hy-Priced-Vee and eventually become Hy-Priced-Vee shoppers. If Walmart did that the community would complain they are trying to take over the world but because it is Hy-Priced-Vee.....They are doing "good" for the community and advertise as such to brainwash you! Not sure why the state Governor needed to be at our Hy-Priced-Vee stores grand opening! Going into the school with free cookies and milk, they tell you which products to buy (fuel saver), they buy businesses in town to place inside their store limiting your options, they sign exclusive deals or sponsorships which limits the competitions ability to advertise with that entity and direct you into which check stand to go to! When they first come to town they'll cherry pick all of the competitions best employees while they are working, weakening the competition's ability to compete. At Thanksgiving they "ordered too many turkeys" and delivered 50 free turkeys to one of the churches in town and many other charitable organizations. Nice of them however they get a tax break for and that also means there will be 50 less families buying a turkey at Christmas and those 50 families will sit around the dinner table at Christmas/New Years talking about their free turkey from Hy-Priced-Vee while owners of Mom & Pop grocery stores eat Lima beans for the Holidays. I'm a sports fan and Hy-Priced-Vee is the "official grocery sponsor" of the local teams. Nice! The ticket prices in the "Hy-Priced-Vee seating section" have doubled but if you shop at Hy-Priced-Vee you'll be eligible for half-priced tickets in the Hy-Priced-Vee seating area. You might be asking why I'm calling them Hy-Priced-Vee? Besides the obvious, our local Hype-Vee store employees 4 people to monitor the internet with a program that red flags any comment that is made. Hy-Priced-Vee is a privately held company vs Walmart (and others) who are publicly traded. This means Hy-Priced-Vee doesn't have to disclose any financial information or deals to the public. My best friend from High School & college who once worked for Hy-Priced-Vee Corporate told me certain stores will operate at a loss for years in an attempt to close down the competition. Hy-Vee will issue layoffs, keep the best employees, reduce product variety, until the store becomes profitable. A former boss of mine who services the Hy-Priced-Vee stores in Omaha says they are reducing the variety of products he services to "increase profitability." He told them they will become just another grocery store chain if they did that. Sorry. I didn't mean to go on and on here but I am so sick and tired of hearing everyone in our crumbling community talking about the greatness of Hy-Priced-Vee! They received a property tax incentive to come here and we have more empty businesses and limited choices because of them! Just my opinion. Not worth much.

Boom!

...if it came up and bit them in their asses.

Oh and have you all noticed that all the references to socialism were removed? Probably realized a bit too late where he or she was.

I must say it's pretty good. I'm sold on their on said pizzas. And it's quite a bit cheaper that Papa Murphys.