High-End Groceries

That heavenly salad was my lunch today made possible by a 9AM bus ride to the new high-class Kroger in Maumee. Oh, that’s not my snotty opinion about the newer Kroger being high-end, that’s Kroger’s stand. I got this knowledge from one of the workers at the store I usually go to and it all started with a coupon!

I had a coupon, actually 2, for Sargento Tastings. Tastings are small “tastes” of specialty or gourmet cheeses. They had the little Havarti right on the coupon; it was screaming for me to try! It was a Kroger coupon, specifically find this at Kroger. I’d tried several times to find out where in the store it was. The dairy sent me to the deli, the deli sent me to the dairy; I couldn’t find them anywhere. Finally David looked and couldn’t get a good location from asking either, and guys don’t like asking where things are. He wrote “where?” on the coupon he was holding and threw it on the customer service counter.

The last time I was shopping on my own there was someone stocking cheese in dairy. I needed help getting yogurt off the top shelf so when I went to ask him for help, I also asked him if he’d ever heard of the “Sargento pieces of cheese…” I couldn’t remember the name at the time. He finished the sentence, “Tastings, I know what they are, but we don’t carry them. They have them at the Maumee store.” Hmph. I asked why they only had them at one but not the other. That’s when I found out our nearest 2 Krogers were Kroger Value Stores and the new one in Maumee is a Kroger Specialty Store. Our nearest store concentrates on value and lower prices while the new store targets variety and harder to find items. I found the Sargento Tastings in Maumee and my favorite balsamic vinaigrette that they don’t carry at the Value store. I also took my bags over to the in-store Starbucks ad had a latte while I waited for my bus.

The bus drivers had been asking if I tried the new Kroger and I hadn’t because it wasn’t as close. Several have encouraged me because it’s the same $2 if I go a mile or 10. The prices are comparable for items both types of stores carry and the specialty items do have specialty pricing. I got all my veggies, some flavors of yogurt I can’t get at the other store and a bag of black beans for soup which was the same price either location. Still, I looked over the receipt while I sipped my Starbucks latte to figure out where I spent roughly $25 more than I usually do for my biweekly grocery trip. My conclusion is that I’ll shop my usual store twice for every once I shop at the specialty store. That puts the overage at roughly $8 and change per trip. Ah, but that piece of Sharp Wisconsin Cheddar with lunch was good!

I was going to tell you about the new cat-tower David got for the kids but Marco is yanking on my arm because he want to tell about it. So stay tuned!