Community Chat

[NoelSeven]

On 4/4/2015 tansy said:

On 4/4/2015 NoelSeven said:

On 4/4/2015 Vamp said:

Never heard of Wegmans. It must be regional.

I think it's just east coast. Anyone know for sure?

Up for a road trip, Noel? I'm thinking we west coasters should go check out the nearest Wegmans. I call shotgun -- lol.

I am!

[NoelSeven]

On 4/5/2015 SydneyH said:

On 4/5/2015 NoelSeven said:

Following the same model doesn't mean they have the same quality. Trader Joes and Wegmans give out scholarships to the people who work for them.

In SF, every single day M-F, Trader Joes prepares lunches for all the kids at a large public school where most are very poor. They do a lot more, also.

TJoes and Costco provide health care for their employees. Walmart cannot say that.

Walmart got a low rating because of the quality of their food. I have a friend who lives in the CA mountains. One tiny store in her area, and down the road, a Walmart. She does not like Walmart, but shops there out of necessity. We stay with her often, I have been to Walmart with her. The quality of the fresh food there is poor, comparatively.

I'm not gonna continue the Walmart bash here, as for the other stores, they too treat their employees very well, scholarships and grants are not a new thing.

I didn't bash Walmart. They aren't a victim, they could put out better produce.

We don't have to play pretend because they were ranked low, there was a reason for it.

[SydneyH]

On 4/5/2015 butterfly123 said:

Kindly, does anyone have a link to the grocery store rankings they are willing to share? TIA

Here's a couple here.......

http://www.thedailymeal.com/americas-best-supermarkets-slideshow?slide=3#5

[kdgn]

I've seen the produce at WalMart and it wasn't bad. I've bought bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers there and all tasted just as good as the ones at Vons. I needed the stuff and decided to give them a try because they did look good.

There have been times when the produce didn't look good at either store. WalMart has a bagged salad mix that is very, very good. I can't remember the name of it offhand, but I know exactly where it is in the produce department.

[terrier3]

On 4/5/2015 SydneyH said:

The following SuperMarkets that follow the same model as Wegmans' are

Super Walmart

Stop n Shop

Hannafords

Price Chopper

Market Basket

The heads of these stores also contribute to the community so I guess placing one store 'above' all others doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me.

You mentioned (erroneously) that Wegmans stores weren't in poorer neighborhoods....so I replied that they are in Buffalo and Rochester (their base of operations) and also mentioned the charitable actions of the owners.

They were ranked #1 overall based on cleanliness, price, quality of food and produce, helpfulness of employees, etc. - in other words, qualities that make supermarkets great.

Someone had to win and someone had to lose. That's life!

The stores you mentioned might follow the same "model", but don't do it as well or as consistently.

[Irshgrl31201]

On 4/5/2015 NoelSeven said:

On 4/5/2015 SydneyH said:

On 4/5/2015 NoelSeven said:

Following the same model doesn't mean they have the same quality. Trader Joes and Wegmans give out scholarships to the people who work for them.

In SF, every single day M-F, Trader Joes prepares lunches for all the kids at a large public school where most are very poor. They do a lot more, also.

TJoes and Costco provide health care for their employees. Walmart cannot say that.

Walmart got a low rating because of the quality of their food. I have a friend who lives in the CA mountains. One tiny store in her area, and down the road, a Walmart. She does not like Walmart, but shops there out of necessity. We stay with her often, I have been to Walmart with her. The quality of the fresh food there is poor, comparatively.

I'm not gonna continue the Walmart bash here, as for the other stores, they too treat their employees very well, scholarships and grants are not a new thing.

I didn't bash Walmart. They aren't a victim, they could put out better produce.

We don't have to play pretend because they were ranked low, there was a reason for it.

My daughters shops at Walmart (Aldis too) and I really think there is a big difference in produce between theirs and other stores, even Aldis has better produce (and a lot of organic fruits and veg too). Recently when I was over at her house she made a platter of sliced veggies using red and green bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes and cucumbers. The peppers had absolutely no taste at all. They were the most flavorless veggies I have had. The same with the cucumbers, not even the normal light and fresh taste that cucumbers have. I have also eaten apples, oranges and pineapples from there when I've been over at my daughters and the same with them. I think people may not even realize it especially if they shop there often and get a lot of their produce from them. I am a member of a CSA and get a lot of veggies from there and get large baskets of whatever is in season and I also get veggies from Fresh Market and Whole Foods and there is just such a huge difference in the taste. The fruits and vegetables firstly just look better. It has a much fresher taste and actually has a taste. When I taste a tomato from Walmart and another place, it is such a huge difference that I think people who don't notice the difference maybe have not had quality produce in a while, or perhaps their Walmart gets their produce from a different supplier than the ones here, there is most definitely a difference though.

[terrier3]

I read a few stories around this award.

Trader Joe's STARTING pay for employees is around $40,000 a year....plus health insurance, 401ks, etc.

Wow.

They have managed to figure out a way to keep costs low, quality high AND pay good wages!

[Irshgrl31201]

On 4/5/2015 terrier3 said:

I read a few stories around this award.

Trader Joe's STARTING pay for employees is around $40,000 a year....plus health insurance, 401ks, etc.

Wow.

They have managed to figure out a way to keep costs low, quality high AND pay good wages!

You must be talking about management because the cashiers start at $10, the average on glassdoor is $13.24. The supervisors there average $22.09 which is about $46k a year which is a little below average for some of the other grocery supervisor positions. They definitely pay more for entry level salaries than a lot of other supermarkets though but not even close to $40k.

[terrier3]

On 4/5/2015 Irshgrl31201 said:

On 4/5/2015 terrier3 said:

I read a few stories around this award.

Trader Joe's STARTING pay for employees is around $40,000 a year....plus health insurance, 401ks, etc.

Wow.

They have managed to figure out a way to keep costs low, quality high AND pay good wages!

You must be talking about management because the cashiers start at $10, the average on glassdoor is $13.24. The supervisors there average $22.09 which is about $46k a year which is a little below average for some of the other grocery supervisor positions. They definitely pay more for entry level salaries than a lot of other supermarkets though but not even close to $40k.

Here is the article...it doesn't mention management. I know that our local TJs hasn't had employee turnover at all.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/03/wegmans-fresh-supermarket_n_7000976.html

[terrier3]

I checked out their website. They have an assistant manager's job open starting at 40K and going up to 75k. Pretty good for an assistant!