Local Food Lions purchased by Weis Markets

[BernieP]

Unions in this day and age do nothing but extort money for less than stellar performers...

I would normally agree, but in the case of Walmart and some other companies that treat their employees like crap, I hope they get unionized.
Walmart has been caught cheating employees out of wages by using gimmicks and human nature to be helpful.

I hope Weis cleans up some of the dumps and improves the quality of the products on the shelves.

 

[Speedy70]

I went to the one in Prince Frederick the other day. I found a lot of stuff cheaper than Giant. But there are some things they didn't have (like I couldn't find the Horizon milk boxes for my son. All I could find were juice boxes). I went to customer service to get a Weis savings card and the girl told me they don't have them in the store yet. She said she didn't know when they were being delivered but I would still get the discount at the register. I ended up going online when I got home and requested one on their site.

The cashier told me that they still have a lot to do to convert it to a Weis. She said right now it's just the products in the store and that's it. So I say give it some more time...

 

[KingFish]

I will continue to use Safeway and sometimes Giant to do the bulk of my grocery shopping. I will probably go to WEIS if I need one or two things and I happen to already be in the same shopping center as WEIS.

 

[frequentflier]

I went to the Lusby store on Sunday and was not impressed. Sold out or nearly sold out of a lot of things. Also, even with coupons and Rewards card, I seemed to pay more than I normally would. Only bought about half my normal weekly purchases but paid about the same as if I bought more. I was not impressed. Plus somebody posted on FB that there were bugs in the baked goods item. Video showed some sort of bug crawling around under the wrapper.

I saw that video, too but it would not discourage me from shopping there. Fruit flies/gnats are abundant right now...and I check everything closely before I buy it any ways. That said, I have not shopped there yet but when I do, it will be in the Solomons store.

 

[lucky_bee]

I stopped by the California store very briefly for all of 2 items yesterday. I hardly had a chance to look around and actually compare prices, but I can tell - just in the produce section alone - they've really upped their game. The Cal. FL always had a pretty sad selection for fruits and veggies, and now it looks like Weis almost tripled it in size and re-did it's layout. Again, I didn't have time to compare prices, but that alone makes a huge difference since I'm usually in that store 2-4x a week and fruits and veggies make up a huge percentage of my overall groceries.

 

[Clem72]

I stopped by the Weis in the park. Can't really compare prices to Giant as I don't regularly shop there, but for the items I did purchase they seemed to be at a similar price to Food Lion. They also had a lot of signs comparing their prices directly to food lion for specific items, but this just makes me wonder about every item that doesn't have a sign.

And while I haven't watched the bug video, I will say that unless it's a cockroach I wouldn't be overly concerned. I can distinctly remember more than one occasion where I stopped to get a donut in Giant (and Shoppers) only to be turned off by the number of flies on the pastries. But I think it speaks more to the season and having open-air food items than it does to cleanliness.

 

[RareBreed]

I saw that video, too but it would not discourage me from shopping there. Fruit flies/gnats are abundant right now...and I check everything closely before I buy it any ways. That said, I have not shopped there yet but when I do, it will be in the Solomons store.

Didn't discourage me either. In fact, I went soon after watching it. What did discourage me is the fact that I bought half of what I normally do and paid the same as if I had gotten twice as much. Even with the Rewards Card and coupons.

 

[frequentflier]

I stopped by the California store very briefly for all of 2 items yesterday. I hardly had a chance to look around and actually compare prices, but I can tell - just in the produce section alone - they've really upped their game. The Cal. FL always had a pretty sad selection for fruits and veggies, and now it looks like Weis almost tripled it in size and re-did it's layout. Again, I didn't have time to compare prices, but that alone makes a huge difference since I'm usually in that store 2-4x a week and fruits and veggies make up a huge percentage of my overall groceries.

I believe Weis tries to buy local when produce is in season. I like that!

 

[RareBreed]

I believe Weis tries to buy local when produce is in season. I like that!

I bought some pre-sliced fruit and it said it was cut fresh at the store.

 

[mitzi]

Go over your receipts. A few of the buy one, get one free items aren't in the register system.

 

[ltown81]

My thoughts of Weis are the same I had with Food Lion. Meh...

If I wanted a cheap grocery experience I would go to Walmart.

 

[Clem72]

My thoughts of Weis are the same I had with Food Lion. Meh...

If I wanted a cheap grocery experience I would go to Walmart.

So which grocery store is the upscale experience? I would say pretty much all of the grocery stores around here are lower tier, heck we don't even have any of the mid-tier (Safeway, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's) places.

Do you drive to DC to go to Petrinis or Dean & De Luca's to buy $60/lb aged angus hamburger patties?

One thing I do like (or did like) about Food Lion was that I could be in and out in less than 5 minutes, every time. It takes almost as long just to get in or out of the Walmart parking lot. And I don't feel like I have to take a shower afterwards (the sea of downtrodden humanity at Walmart just makes me feel like I am winding my way through the show pens at the fair)

 

[lovinmaryland]

So which grocery store is the upscale experience? I would say pretty much all of the grocery stores around here are lower tier, heck we don't even have any of the mid-tier (Safeway, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's) places.

Do you drive to DC to go to Petrinis or Dean & De Luca's to buy $60/lb aged angus hamburger patties?

One thing I do like (or did like) about Food Lion was that I could be in and out in less than 5 minutes, every time. It takes almost as long just to get in or out of the Walmart parking lot. And I don't feel like I have to take a shower afterwards (the sea of downtrodden humanity at Walmart just makes me feel like I am winding my way through the show pens at the fair)

I usually drive up to Brandywine once a week or every other week to get our seafood, chicken, beef, produce, dairy, etc... from Costco. Its worth the drive compared to what we have down here IMO

 

[spr1975wshs]

One thing we do miss about living in northern Illinois, the choice of Good grocery stores, plus the lower food costs.
We had a few there that were close to 100,000 square feet, with good staffing, too.

One place, when they opened up, my wife went in to buy Genoa salami. Usually a deli counter has 1 or 2 brands available, this place had 7.
None of these were "upscale."

 

[lucky_bee]

One thing we do miss about living in northern Illinois, the choice of Good grocery stores, plus the lower food costs.
We had a few there that were close to 100,000 square feet, with good staffing, too.

One place, when they opened up, my wife went in to buy Genoa salami. Usually a deli counter has 1 or 2 brands available, this place had 7.
None of these were "upscale."

It also depends largely on the dominating ethnic backgrounds of the area for some stores. Giant was bought by whatever parent group also owns the Northeastern grocery chain, Stop & Shop. In my former area of CT, there is a hugeeeee Italian population. Huge. The meats and cheeses and various other Italian commodities are stocked and offer a much greater variety - similar to what you experienced, 6-7 choices in salamis vs. the 1-2 we're lookin' at around here. Same owner, same company, probably even a few of the same distribution centers, but different locales and influences. There's a few things I stock up on when I visit the folks back home that I'd easily find at S&S but won't see at our Giants, like a few of my favorite pasta types and cheap parmesan cheese

 

[Roman]

For some reason, I prefer the Weis in Solomons. I have noticed that their prices are higher than Food Lion was. I agree that Weis and Giant are about the same price wise. There are a lot more "convenience" foods which may explain the rise in cost. The selection in the meat department is much better than Food Lion.

 

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

It also depends largely on the dominating ethnic backgrounds of the area for some stores. Giant was bought by whatever parent group also owns the Northeastern grocery chain, Stop & Shop. In my former area of CT, there is a hugeeeee Italian population. Huge. The meats and cheeses and various other Italian commodities are stocked and offer a much greater variety - similar to what you experienced, 6-7 choices in salamis vs. the 1-2 we're lookin' at around here. Same owner, same company, probably even a few of the same distribution centers, but different locales and influences. There's a few things I stock up on when I visit the folks back home that I'd easily find at S&S but won't see at our Giants, like a few of my favorite pasta types and cheap parmesan cheese

There are five U's in 'HUUUUUGE' now. It's a Trumpian word.

 

[stgislander]

There are five U's in 'HUUUUUGE' now. It's a Trumpian word.

I think it's actually 'YUUUUUGE'.

 

[ltown81]

Giant is as nice as it gets down here obviously.

I considered Food Lion worse that shopping at Walmart for Food. Weis did not change that.

So which grocery store is the upscale experience? I would say pretty much all of the grocery stores around here are lower tier, heck we don't even have any of the mid-tier (Safeway, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's) places.

Do you drive to DC to go to Petrinis or Dean & De Luca's to buy $60/lb aged angus hamburger patties?

One thing I do like (or did like) about Food Lion was that I could be in and out in less than 5 minutes, every time. It takes almost as long just to get in or out of the Walmart parking lot. And I don't feel like I have to take a shower afterwards (the sea of downtrodden humanity at Walmart just makes me feel like I am winding my way through the show pens at the fair)

 

[SoMdDude]

Finally went into Weis in accokeek just to pick a few things up to see what it was like inside

Not a dang thing changed, it looked exactly the same inside as food lion did, only bought some apples and one sweet thing, but they didnt do anything
to wow anyone, all they did was change the name