Meanwhile, Back At The Dinner Table

The Cronicle today reported that consumers are adjusting to the recession in surprising ways.  Sales of hamburger are up at the grocery stores, but so are sales of prime beef.  It appears that those who bought steak before at HEB and Kroger are now buying hamburger, while those who ate at steakhouses are buying their fabulous steaks at the supermarket to cook at home.  Restaurant receipts are down sharply.

On my daily travels I even heard a radio advertisement for Central Market, HEB’s gourmet boutique.  For non-Texans, it’s a high-concept high-end high-priced gourmet store.  You need to choose from among 63 different kinds of pepper?  Central Market can probably accomodate you.  Their private-label and much of their assortment is also sold at my neighborhood HEB-Plus, of course, but the market demographic couldn’t be more different.

As for my, I defected to Wal-Mart on my way home from the Post Office.  Hamburger, at $2.57/pound, was about 40 cents less expensive there.  It’s tuna casserole tonight — really! — with the 92-cent pasta.

Forget about those free-range chicken eggs I wrote about a few months back.  Forget about the special Amish noodles.  These days I just want to have a filling meal at a price that doesn’t empty my wallet.

Texas-Sized Grocery War

A new Kroger Signature opens today in our neighborhood.  At 100,000 square feet, it’s advertised as the largest Kroger in Texas.  The Kroger is in direct competition with a nearby HEB-Plus that opened last year shortly before Thanksgiving.

About fifty percent largest than the Kroger, the HEB’s wide array of electronics, houseware, and even furniture carries it into the market space of the nearby WalMart Supercenter and SuperTarget.  Or vice-versa: I can’t quite get my mind wrapped around the idea of buying groceries at Target, much less buying a bed in HEB.

Also in the mix, directly across the street from WalMart we have Safeway Incognito (they call it Randall’s), a more conventional but beautiful upscale supermarket.

Last month, Channel 11 and Channel 2 did both did stories ranking local grocery store prices.  The results are pretty much what you would expect: WalMart is the least expensive, Randall’s is the most expensive, and HEB and Kroger are pretty close, depending on your particular grocery choices.

I have no reservations about shopping at WalMart, although I get frustrated that many of the things I buy are out of stock more often there than at the other stores.  I tend to find Target a little pricey for foods, though Channel 2 did not.  Maybe that’s because my market-basket concentrates on store-brands, and Kroger and HEB have more choices among both “value-oriented” and “quality” store-brand options.  And Randall’s?  Nice place to visit, but I can’t afford to shop there.

Retail is still expanding here in Pearland, even as it stalls and shrinks across the country.  We have pent-up demand from our rapid suburban population growth.  Kroger, in particular, started planning this store over a year ago, knowing that they were losing customers to their competition by not having a presence close by:  Why drive five miles to Kroger if you pass four other grocers on the way?  Even though gas is down to $1.35/gallon and falling, why waste it idling in traffic?

This week we’re ground zero in the Texas-sized grocery war.  Who’s going to win?

Hopefully, consumers.

Inflation, Part 2

Regular Avocados, HEB-Plus: 50 cents each. Overripe and a little squishy.

Regular Avocados, Wal-Mart: 33 cents each. Perfect condition.

Score one for Wal-Mart.

However, Wal-Mart did not provide an entirely happy shopping experience today. There were no Kaiser Rolls, and in fact, the Fresh Bakery shelves for breads and rolls were practically empty. Maybe something went wrong with the oven. Or maybe these better-quality breads come from a central plant and simply hadn’t arrived. Who knows.

No regular Creme Savers, only sugar-free. Freddie uses these hard candies when he has a diabetic reaction in bed at night or when away from home. They’re a must have, and they can’t be sugar-free since that defeats the purpose. I suppose I could have bought him some Jolly Ranchers (he doesn’t like those) or maybe some Starlight Mints, but I want him to have the ones that he wants. They’re cheap. It’s not too much to ask.

Wal-Mart also has some odd holes in its store-band inventory. Typically I buy store-brand products instead of name brand unless I perceive a noticeable difference in quality. There seldom is, maybe the strange can of green beans that has a few stems or dish-washing detergent that needs two or three times as much to wash the same amount of dishes. Most of the stores also have two or more levels of store brands: “Great Value” and “Sam’s Club”. “Safeway” and “Safeway Select.” HEB even has three, “Hill Country Fare,” “HEB,” and “Central Market,” a top-level gourmet version.

But somehow Wal-Mart does not sell “Great Value” or “Sam’s Club” versions of Ritz Crackers. I can’t ever find store-brand regular tortilla chips, although I think Sam may be enjoying some strange version with blue corn or extra flavorings. I suppose Wal-Mart has such great deals with certain suppliers that they’ve chosen to forego their own brands for certain product lines. And for some others — diet cola, which we don’t drink much any more — it’s really hit or miss whether Sam has decided to bring it to the store that week or not.

Between one thing and another, I was either so flustered or annoyed at the things I couldn’t buy that I forgot to buy some things that actually were on my list: Tomatoes, if they haven’t succumbed to the salmonella scare. And that Parmigiano, I was supposed to check the price.

Anyhow, it looks like I’ll have to go back to HEB-Plus to get things I didn’t or couldn’t buy at Wal-Mart. I get out of the house every day to stop at the post office or the bank, so it’s not really more than a side trip, not an extra trip. Still, making extra trips to get better prices — or things that you couldn’t buy at all — doesn’t seem like the best way to save money.

Inflation, Part 1

January, 2008: Parmigiano Reggiano is $11.99/pound at HEB-Plus.

June, 2008: Parmigiano Reggiano is $14.99/pound at HEB-Plus.

The genuine cheese comes from Italy. I suppose that the falling dollar and the rising fuel costs have had a big effect on the price.

Last week I bought an American imitation which, while much less expensive, was not quite as good. Tonight we’re using it up in an Alfredo sauce.

Tomorrow it’s time to go grocery shopping again. I am tempted to check out the price at the Wal-Mart deli.

HEB-Plus is a much better store, sort of a cross between a Costco and a regular HEB supermarket. It has a full array of “regular” food. It has gourmet foods. It has furniture. It has TVs. Since it opened here in Pearland last November it has quickly become my favorite place to shop. The prices, on “regular” products, are less than Kroger and competive with Wal-Mart, and the selection can’t be beat.