I am curious - What do you all think of Hy Vee? [View all]

I suppose I could do this in a poll but I am really curious and would like some answers with meat on the bones.

In the past 2 decades in Iowa our choices of grocery stores has pretty much devolved to Hy Vee, Fareway and WalMart. Based on their company policies none of these are desirable to me to shop in. But I would guess of the 3 Hy Vee is maybe the least objectionable.

- WalMart pays few taxes in Iowa while getting tons of special treatment from local council and at the state level. I won't even mention their poverty wages and corporate welfare. Plus the way they have ruined small towns and small businesses.We try not to shop for, but given the lack of competition their are a few things we can only find there.

- Fareway is another of those chains owned by evangelicals. The stores are nice and clean but they have a very limited choice of merchandise. I do not know their employee policies and won't speculate. But the thought of propping up some goofy evangelical Christians bothers me.

- Hy Vee is an Iowa institution that has been around forever. When you go in there they always have tons of people ready to walk you to whatever you want. They do hire lots of HS kids and those with handicaps. They also have benefits real benefits packages for employees. They do have a huge variety of stuff that can cover you from diapers to flowers for your mom's grave. These are definite pluses.

- They are involved in their communities, sponsoring community affairs and giving space for good causes to raise money. They also allow voter registration drives and off site voting at their stores. And they are Iowa based and do pay their taxes as far as I know.

- But they have a real anti-competitive streak literally driving their competition out of business. This bothers the crap out of me, having seen the old hometown shrink from 6 chains and many Ma and Pa stores down to just Hy Vee at one point. and their prices are very high.

For that last reason I kind of feel guilty shopping there also. But in our area those are our choices.

So I am curious what you think. Most industries have come down to a big 1 or 2 and maybe a couple of much lesser hangers-on. Thus we do not have real competition.