whole foods is only good for their imports, fermented foods, and larger/niche selection. I think costco is better for meat, lidl sometimes good for produce, hmart is better for produce and niche ingredients. ideally, id want to buy more direct and locally if possible. I don’t really trust eggs from supermarkets because you don’t know what the chickens are eating.
for the fermented foods and eggs, only alternative I can think of are farmer’s markets, sprouts, and buying direct. there aren’t great options for imports and variety. maybe the ponce city market kroger is alright for that? it may depend more on location than store too, aka rich areas of the city have better supermarkets.
it is expensive, but based on the supermarkets I’ve visited in atlanta, the selection at Publix, Kroger, Walmart, and Target does not feel acceptable anymore. processed food, messed up shelves, criminal behavior, and so on.
I like the types of people at Trader Joe’s, but the food quality isn’t much better than any other supermarket. it’s still processed frozen food, just for people who don’t want to deal with the types of people at the aforementioned stores
breads and produce are usually no different across supermarkets in my experience.
places I’d go shopping: costco, lidl (depends on city, some Atlanta ones are pretty bad), hmart, whole foods, trader joe’s, buying direct
places I’d sometimes go but rarely these days: publix, kroger, walmart, target. would rather buy furniture and home goods from ikea rather than walmart/target.
I remember how I used to think target was a ‘fancy walmart.’ they both don’t feel that fancy to me anymore.
it’s disappointing that most supermarkets are staffed by minimum wage workers, regardless of whether it’s a ‘fancy’ one like whole foods. the only places with good workers are trader joe’s and costco.
if you’re in a smaller town, these issues probably don’t apply and are not relevant.