[quote=livinincali]. . . Vons and the other corporate grocery stores are trash, it’s a waste of time unless you are only shopping their deals. Of course most people just shop their local grocery store so sometimes you’re stuck with want you got where you live. It’s just too much of a pain or hassle to go somewhere else.[/quote]livinincali, I used to have five Vons to choose from within 8 miles of my home and now I only have two. The closest Vons to me is very small and doesn’t carry Safeway’s whole line of groceries OR even everything they advertise. However, I typically come into the store with a paper list of my Just4U items and a few club deals for that week on produce and end up making out like a bandit at the register after only buying what is on my list (and anything I might be able to use within a reasonable period of time from the clearance bin in which I also have a coupon for). For example, I just scored 2 bottles of Nature Made Multi-Vitamin capsules (60’s) for $7.33 (incl tax) in a 2 for 1 club deal with a $4 Just4U coupon. (That’s $1.83 mo for high-quality multivitamins.) I could get deals like that all day, every day if I shopped every day but I am now only a one-person household. I regularly get a LOT of slightly bent cans (dropped the night before in stocking) from both Vons or Ralphs for .25 to .50 ea (esp pet food).
I’m not a big meat eater but Vons meats are very high quality, they have their own organic line and they put them on clearance between 7:30 and 8:30 am at 30% – 75% off (incl fresh fish and poultry). If you’re going to freeze it when you get home or cook it within 24 hours (and then maybe freeze it), it doesn’t matter if its “sell-by” date is today or tomorrow. NONE of the meat they put out for clearance is discolored or spoiled. If you can’t shop early in the am, there isn’t much to choose from (if anything) by 11:00 am.
Vons and Albertsons now both have “red tag” sales every week featuring at least 50 items in the store. Buy any four and save $1.00 each. I’ve gotten all kinds of frozen, dairy and dry groceries (ex: Ragu spaghetti sauce or Progresso soup) for .88 to .99 each many times.
Overall, Vons is a good value if you plan your trip from home, bring a list (I don’t have any apps in my phone) and stick to your Just4U list religiously (except for visiting their clearance areas).
I’m fairly certain that “corporate grocery stores” make very little $$ off me, if anything.
