Not sure. Just guessing…

Could be cleaner or closer or faster?

Or, if you get familiar with one store layout and shop there for years, it’s easier/faster to shop where you know where to find everything.

As long as there are other stores available where you can shop, why do you care?

Some people live near them and don't have cars. Some people prefer to shop in their own neighborhood. Some people like knowing it's a union shop. Some people don't think about other options. Some like to stay with what they know. Some people don't care about prices. There are some possible reasons why.

I shop Walmart for basics and when higher quality matters I go to the Big Y ,I only rarely go with Shop & Shop unless I'm nearby.

Shitpost

If you browse for sales, comparing the weekly ads, Stop and Shop is worth going to once in a while. Their prices (and Roche Bros) are straight up atrocities unless you look for sale items but some of us plan these things strategically.

Before anyone says it, I mean sure, Market Basket almost always has everyone beat, but in exchange for having to shop at freaking Market Basket.

It's within walking distance of my place and I'm lazy.

You said it in the first sentence. It's widely available. The one in my town is closer to my house than the other grocery stores, but if I'm gonna buy a lot of stuff I'm willing to drive further.

1. They are a union shop
2. Their local store is very conveniently located
3. Pickup is free with a yearly subscription.
4. Pickup is quick. The second I am in the parking spot for pickup, the groceries are out packed in my trunk without me doing a thing (easiest pickup, with target second but slower)
5. Specials, coupons, reward dollars can add up to real savings.
6. Personalized rewards on things I have shopped for before
7. Great Subsitution policy - if they don't have an item ordered for pick up, they will substitute a similar item at the lower cost of the original or substitute
8. Employees seem in general happier than other stores
9. In our area, Aldis is the cheapest, followed by Price Chopper, Stop and Shop and Big Y, so not the most expensive but has the most variety.
10. They have store brands for a wider variety of items than other stores in our area.
11. I either grow my own veggies or stop at a farm stands, I don't eat flesh, so I am far more open to have others select my groceries.
12. Gas discounts, ours have their own pumps.

What I dislike:

1. They do not allow tipping.
2. Their app does not include all items they sell.
3. Veggies and fruits are not the best and not the most local.
4. Although store managers listen, corporate doesn't when you have a issue.
5. Inventory issues, they sell out too quickly.

Edit: corrected a couple of spelling issues.

Convenience

I like to use the price guns and bag my own groceries as I go along. At the end I use self checkout, scan the code, exit with everything bagged up in my order (easier to unpack).

It’s not as insanely crowded as Market Basket

I am vibing with this. I used to shop at our super walmart but did not feel I was getting the best quality of foods. Big Y is expensive(3.50 for a can of campbell soup?!) unless you go exclusively for one of 10 for 10 sales. Price Chopper/Market 32 is further away, more congested, and their flyer/prices seem to follow Stop and Shops, i fucking love their food bar tho. We got another small brand store that is the closest (>2miles) but the selection does not include everything our family eats. Stop and Shop seems to have the most of what every one eats. So less time traveling between stores and I feel better about food we are eatting.

For us, we live in a slight food desert so either I'm driving 25mins north or south for grocery shopping🤷🏼‍♀️

That being said, fuck all these prices😭 its been like 550$ a month on groceries. Man, I remember when I would spend 220$ for a full cart😫

Their curbside pickup in my town is free, no subscription required. If there's a problem with my order, they always fix it. Their employees are usually very nice.

They're always less busy than Market Basket. (I actually like MB quite a bit.)

The two other options within a ten minute drive of my house generally cost more than S&S. Since S&S is directly competing with MB in my area, they hold their prices a bit lower. It's also easy to shop mostly sale items from S&S. Most everything goes on sale at least once a month.

Stop and Slop is a rip off.

I shop at whatever grocer is closest to me. I’m not gonna drive 20 minutes out of my way to save $10 at market basket

Less crowded, more convenient locations. It's the place I go when I just need a few things. Also the gas points have more value than at Market 32 - and are more convenient because there are more Shells than Sunocos around here. For everything else I go to Market 32.

If you know how to shop, it’s not that expensive.

What, did you just get fired from there or something?

I always get my lunch meat there as we like Boars Head and no other grocery stores sell it…

For me, I am able to get most everything I need at Walmart, but occasionally they are out of something and Stop & Shop is extremely close to where I live. The other times I go there is if I don't have access to my car or don't have the time to go to Walmart and Stop & Shop is like 2 blocks from where I live, and it is only an item or two that I need not a whole shopping cart full.

Market Basket and Aldis are right near each-other, so I just combine those into one trip. Aldis pickup for staples, MB for meat, produce. It’s pretty convenient!

S&S has gone DOWNHILL the last few years, both in quality, availability, and price. At least I knew where everything was so trips were fast.

Then our local one did a complete rebrand/aisle shuffle for no discernible reason, and now you can't find anything and things are not in logical places anymore.

Then they added those weight-sensitive self checkout machines, so even the benefit of fast self-checkout was gone (if you don't time the scanning and the bagging perfectly the machine locks up and you have to wait for the lone attendant).

So I started using the self checkout gun. But now their price bar code machines in the produce section almost never work or they constantly are out of paper. All four of them. It's insane.

After a week or two of that bullshit I realized it was just a slow slide to absolute shit and started planning my shopping better so I could do it once a week with a car (one car household that's needed for commuting) and go to Wegmans. They're not perfect, either, but as long as you like their store brand it's definitely cheaper AND the quality of the produce and meat is phenomenal.

Why waste time worrying about other people? Do what you feel is best and helps you sleep at night. Screw everyone else.

I don’t shop a whole lot so I don’t have a keen awareness of price, but this week Walmart was out of my favorite cereal so I ran into S&S to grab one. Their price was exactly a dollar more than Walmart

If I pay a dollar more for one simple item, what must it be like for a whole cart full of groceries?

I like it for smaller shopping trips because it has a better selection of products than other nearby stores in some categories such as no salt added products. I also find it more comfortable to shop in because it's generally less crowded, has a simple store layout, and has fast checkout.

Market Basket

When I lived in Beverly I could walk to Stop & Shop in a few minutes or drive there in like 2 min. I imagine proximity is the common denominator here for most Stop & Shop-ers.

Are you apologizing for having a car?

Taking two kids to market basket is a nightmare with how crowded it is. I like being able to shop without it being a bumper car race. :)

You can add Shaw's to that list too. I do my shopping at MB and items such as paper towels are at least $3-4 more. That is a huge increase.

Shaws/Star Market is pretty pricey too, at least the one near me. I only go to stop and shop for the cheap gas. Them and Circle K are the cheapest near me usually by 20-30 cents per gallon.

The same reason why I shop at Hannaford even though I have three Market Baskets in my area. Because it’s easier and more convenient, and they have higher quality products. I like to save money but when it comes to food the $10-$20 difference doesn’t matter to me.

Now, I lived on the Cape for a couple years. There are only two supermarkets on the Cape: Stop & Shop and Shaw’s. Which one you pickin???

Are you serious with the tipping? The fact they don’t allow tipping is a HUGE plus for me.

In short, tipping culture is highly correlated to corrupt societies. The more tipping there is in a society, the more corrupt that society is in general.

I do most of my shopping at Market Basket, BJ’s and Whole Foods and am honestly shocked at the high prices at Stop & Shop. I avoid it whenever possible. Whole Foods can be expensive but at least you know what you’re getting into with them. I feel like Stop & Shop should be on par with the other large chains and instead it’s just crazy town.

Yes but I grew up in the 60s and the culture I grew up in is very different than today. I grew up in a tipping culture. People today are surprised to get tips, but I have always tipped delivery people, on Christmas the trash collectors, paper deliverer, postal carrier etc. Never very much, just a couple/few dollars as a sign of appreciation, annual tips a bit more. Tips should never replace a liveable wage, but what is wrong with giving people basically a free coffee or soda or snack on me.

No? Just explaining that I’d rather go through more effort and planning than continue giving S&S my money.

Closest Market Basket to me is over half hour away. Closest Stop and Shop is less than 10 minutes.

Edited a letter

MB 4-Eva!

> what is wrong with giving people basically a free coffee or soda or snack on me.

https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/9491448/Here's-a-Tip_Torfason,Flynn,Kupor-Tipping-and-Bribery-6-6-12-SPPS.pdf

“We suggest that tips and bribes both emanate from similar norms of exchange—indeed, the timing of the gratuity may be the key distinguishing feature between these two acts. This subtle temporal distinction may help explain why tipping and bribery practices are positively correlated across countries even though many individuals perceive them as diametrically opposed from a moral standpoint.”

Union employees

I actually, prefer Big Y, but they do not deliver, and despite most people acting like COVID is over, it's not over. I'd rely on Instacart, but that seems silly since they mark up their prices, do not honor the sales, and Big Y is down the street. Paying a premium in these circumstances does not make a lot of sense.

I have attempted to order from Big E's Supermarket, but they have some 3rd party app called, Rosie, which is not user-friendly, and they often do not update their online selection. I also learned they do not send their communication through the app or text, but via e-mail, so the 1x they asked if I'd be OK with a substitution, I didn't even know they asked. The other time they asked, either I received their email with a delay, or they received mine with a delay, so the communication laps. In either case, they seemed to require more input and time, and I would have been fine with nearly any substitution. I don't recall if the delivery fee if it was reasonable or not.

My hanging mother, who is disabled and who is low-income, still prefers delivery because she too is trying to avoid COVID, and because she is a senior it's easier. But she also has the added "bonus" of using EBT (food stamps) and Stop & Shop accepts that for her home delivery. She primarily alternates between Aldi Supermarket and Stop & Shop Supermarket. She likely would use Walmart more if their delivery fee locally was not outrageous (she's 11 miles away, so they surcharge the delivery). Occasionally she will use Amazon and once in a long while, she will rarely use Whole Foods if she needs something that was harder to find.

My sister switches between Big Y and Stop & Shop. She's in the middle of two locations, but since Big Y does not deliver, if she's had a long week and no one wants to go to the store, it's going to be Stop & Shop. She works in the medical field, plus has 4 kids, so as of late, she has been doing more delivery.

So overall, I think it is a matter of convenience and availability on why, as of late, we have been using Stop & Shop Supermarket.

Yes, indeed. My stop and shop has nice wide aisles and rarely feels crowded when I’m there.