P.S. Another thing I forgot to mention. We noticed an employee stocking the produce section who was laying pieces of okra in neat little columns and rows one by one. I joked that they could charge 50 cents less a pound if they just tossed the stuff up there. All the produce was displayed like this. It's so neat it's a little unnerving.

We saw another employee poking a long metal rod-like device with a wooden handle on one end and a bent angle at the other end among rows of cat food. We asked what in the heck he was doing. He said they do it to keep the rows straight and neat and make sure stuff doesn't get lost in the back or mixed up in the wrong row. He said he'd been working in grocery stores for fourteen years and this was the first place he'd worked that had thought of such a simple, time saving device.

We wonder how long all this will last, too.

P.S. Also forgot to mention they have a make your own mix-n-match sixpack department with a fairly large assortment of specialty beers. (I took a pic but it was too blurry to read the labels.) I'm not a beer expert, but it looked like a good selection of imports and domestic brews. The price is $9.99, which is about the same as Kroger and Food City if I'm not mistaken.

I got a chuckle reading your last paragraph. Last week I was taking a friend to a Fresh Market who had never been to one. I told her it was a cross between Publix and Whole Foods.
The ethnic foods row at Publix is always a learning experience. I spend time there just checking it all out. I picked up some Mexican mayonnaise (chipotle in it) and made some deviled eggs with a touch of horseradish sauce in the filling. Try it if you like some real devil in your deviled eggs.

We too were impressed by the atmosphere and employee attitudes. We were told that it is store policy to take your groceries to your car. Our 4-year old loved that and quickly made friends with the attendant who helped us. The short checkout wait was also impressive, considering the store was packed on Friday night.

The produce section is overwhelming. Good prices on most items and an incredible selection of fruits. We really appreciated the international section, though, especially the European selection. Our son has an allergy to artificial food coloring and in most of Europe, artificial colorings are banned. The selection at Public provides cookies, candies, and other snacks that my son can eat! It makes shopping for those items much easier!

I'll vote for Three Rivers Market (our food co-op) over any of these corporate giants ...

I like Three Rivers more and more, but there are some things they don't have that we get at Earth Fare. And the balance of stuff we still get at Kroger. As much as I hate the big corporate thing too, K-Rog does have a huge selection that includes a lot of good stuff (canned goods, produce, Amy's products, etc.) and at lower prices than 3 Rvrs or EF. Much more stressful to go there, though!

We've pretty much quit going to Fresh Market and Food City altogether, as well as all the rest. Don't miss those. And without wine sold in grocery stores (sheesh!), I'm not really much looking forward to the arrival of Trader Joe's either. I'll definitely try Publix, especially if they open in the old Fulton Bellows location.

We buy all we can at Three Rivers, where the spouse is on the board. That's more and more since the new store has meat (really, really good chicken, BTW). Check it out.

I still pick up some staples at Kroger, and meat I can't get at TRM at Fresh Market.

I will check the Publix out when it opens in University Commons (I drive to west knoxville for NO grocery), mainly because I've heard so much good stuff about them, including how they treat employees.

We've moved the bulk of our shopping to Aldi's. You have to be willing to freelance on menu planning and buy whatever is plentiful that week, but we weren't big menu planners to begin with.

A word of caution though. Produce should be sorted, washed and properly stored or eaten the day you buy it. Don't overbuy. There is no such animal as a two week shelf life at Aldi's.

There is a flip side. If you see a cheese that strikes your fancy, buy two. There's no telling when it will be in stock again.

Publix prices are comparable to Kroger/Food City on products we regularly purchase. Grocery prices fluctuate frequently. Between these three major grocery outlets it would probably be hard to identify any one as being much cheaper than the other unless you shop the sales and/or use coupons.

Napkins - Publix $0.10 less than Kroger
Coffee - Publix $0.90 less than Kroger or $0.10 more than Food City
V8 Juice - Publix $0.30 less than Food City
Cranberry Juice - Publix $0.30 less than Food City
Pie crust - Publix $0.40 less than Food City
Frozen waffles - Publix $1.27 less than Kroger (on sale, but normally $0.06 less)
Cheddar Cheese - Publix $0.50 more than Food City
Toilet paper - Publix $0.50 more than Kroger or $1.00 more than Food City, which may have been on sale but the cheaper price happened twice at Food City within 5 months

We'll save a lot on half&half for coffee and milk. We drink lots of coffee with cream and have always liked Publix half&half. Publix brand of half&half is $2.09, whereas Mayfields is $3.59. Publix skim milk is $1.99, whereas Mayfields is $3.29.

I make a point of visiting food city for some items:

The best bagged parmesan cheese
a wider selection of natural salad dressings
reliable source of napa cabbage
best prices on organic canned goods etc - Full Circle brand.

I like the way they stock organic items next to non - so you can decide which items are worth the premium.

BTW, I meant that some Kroger produce is good, and I think the other big chains (except Publix, perhaps) are generally worse in that dept. Non-local organic (sort of an oxymoron), bananas, etc. are usually good and cheap at Kroger, again IME. I do hate the move away from U.S.produce that's occurring everywhere. It's harder to get things like grapes, avocados, and cherry tomatoes grown in the U.S. anymore. Besides the travel footprint, what pesticides are used in South and Central America? And no more Florida non-organic tomatoes for us. Apparently they use 7-8x the pesticides that California uses, as discussed on Fresh Air. Apparently sand and humidity aren't ideal for tomato growing. Who knew? (Heh.)

The best bagged parmesan cheese...

I think is the shredded stuff at Kroger. Cheap and tasty without being stinky. 'Nuff said.

Food City gets credit for buying local produce when they can in season.

Opens tomorrow in Suburban center. They finally landed a grocery store to replace A&P.

George Bailey was a fine man.

He once called me a warped, frustrated old man, though.

(link...)

I seemed to have lost the ability to embed the video. I thought I tried everything.

Do they have those rye crackers in a clear cellophane-like bag? Those are tasty.