Kitchen

[Irish Rosebud]

May issue. They do this every year, and the new survey is out: 24,203 readers, 42,695 supermarket experiences.

Not many surprises here. Biggest complaints? In order: not enough open checkouts, congested or cluttered aisles, advertised specials out of stock, inept bagging, missing prices, scanner overcharges.

The top five, in order:

1. Wegmans (lowest score: price)

2. Trader Joe's (lowest score: perishables)

3. Publix (lowest scores: price and perishables)

4. Fareway Stores (scored highest in all four categories: service, perishables, price, cleanliness)

5. Costco (lowest score: service)

The bottom five, in order:

Jewel-Osco, A&P, Shaw's, Walmart Supercenter (perfect score on price), Pathmark (the lowest-rated).

From my experience: Love TJ's (agree with perishables rating) and Publix (sort of agree on price but I shop their advertised specials; disagree on perishables), don't have Wegmans (only in mid-Atlantic states), never heard of Fareway (Midwest), and Costco (would join but it's too far away from me).

Whole Foods came in at 12, with perfect scores except a big black mark on price (no surprise there!).