The horror of grocery shopping

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Local rundown:

* Acme - the local 900-pound gorilla. Decent all-around performance, though relatively no-frills compared to some of the recently-remodeled competitors. Occasionally puts some things on sale without linking the discounts to invasive shoppers-club cards.

* Shop-Rite - Much better than they used to be, but still somewhat second-tier. Pretty good produce section.

* Genuardi's - Formerly privately owned, took a nosedive when Safeway bought them out. Hot-food counters are so-so, though bigger Genuardi's (like the one in St. Davids) are better. Too many house-brand (Safeway) products, though their selection is okay in most areas. I'll go there for specific things on sale or if it's convenient, but they're no longer my first choice.

* Giant - Tons of hot-food and to-go counters, with the Chinese take-out counter being the best. Pretty good produce. Not a bad choice.

* Clemens - bad news. Tons of house-brand products, iffy produce, smaller stores and the same prices. Generally avoidable.

* Super-Fresh - Rapidly disappearing from the area. Can't say that I miss them that much. (Caveat: the local Super-Fresh was somewhat mismanaged and definitely undersized, and others may be better.)

* Wegmans - There's only one in this area, and it's ludicrously OVERsized; its site used to be a Hechinger's hardware center, and you need a golf cart to go from one side to the other. Surprisingly scattershot selection of products for its size (there are lots of things I find at Acme that I don't find there). Average prices in general. Big to-go/hot-food areas. Extensive "world foods" section in the back. Their produce section _does_ rock. Normal-sized Wegmans may vary considerably, of course.

* Zagara's - Used to be Genuardi's high-end outlet, bought by Safeway, then SOLD by Safeway to private investors who are now running it the old way. Specialty groceries -- a massive by-the-bottle soda section, large hot-food/to-go sections, nice meats, but high prices (you get what you pay for). A bit on the foo-foo side, but they carry lots of things that are hard to find elsewhere.

* Whole Foods Market - the king. Moderately high prices on some things, but they excel in many areas -- killer produce, nice meats, unparalled cheese, good hot-food/to-go, the best price around on my cherished Reed's Spiced Apple Brew, GOOD house-brand sodas, and friendly service. If they carried Charmin Ultra instead of only recycled-paper products for my bathroom, I'd go there almost exclusively. (That, and it's a twenty-minute drive.)

* Trader Joe's - deliberately idiosyncratic. Tons of house-brand products (the majority of their offerings), yet most aren't bad. They dropped two products I used to go there for (the Reed's line and non-diet Hansen's Natural Sodas), so minus points for that. Meat section is quite small, presumably for freshness purposes. Lots of organic stuff. More of a curiosity/impulse stop than a dedicated supermarket.