Again, the Capital District has gone into a tizzy and a topspin. And it all has to do with grocery stores.
- “Oh my God, we’re getting a second Shop Rite! Praise the Lord, we gotta get there on Opening Day, because if we don’t, the food won’t taste as good!”
- “Oh my God, Price Chopper changed is AdvantEDGE card program again, now we gotta spend $100 for 10 cents off of gasoline! Waah! Waaaah!!”
- “Oh my God, my best friend’s cousin’s neighbor’s mistress, who knows someone in Buffalo, claims that Wegmans might move into the old Ford plant on Green Island! Or maybe it was the old First Prize slaughterhouse off I-90! Or maybe both places!!”
Would you people PLEASE calm down?
Listen to me. They are GROCERY STORES, for crying out loud. You go there to buy bread and milk and meat and fish and toilet paper and garbage bags. You are not going there to get Justin Bieber’s autograph or a personal performance of A Prairie Home Companion.
Price Chopper is a grocery store. It is not a religion. You don’t receive baptism in Aisle 1, confirmation in Aisle 3, and a confessional in Aisle 6. It’s our local supermarket chain, it was once known as Central Markets – see vintage logotype at right – and they competed in our area with Saveway and A&P and Grand Union. Eventually A&P moved out, Grand Union folded, and I don’t know what happened to Saveway. But be that as it may, Price Chopper has been our local grocery store chain for as long as anyone can remember.
And it’s also taken a lot of heat from its customers. It’s the “Big Bad” of supermarkets in the area, people claim they shop there because they have no other choice. Oh, Hannaford’s going to come into the Capital District, they’ll take out Price Chopper in a heartbeat! Hasn’t happened, has it? Oh, Shop Rite will destroy Price Chopper in a heartbeat. Hmm… Shop Rite opened its first upstate store right in Price Chopper’s back yard and I don’t see the Golubs trembling in fear.
Listen. We have more grocery stores in the Capital District than we know what to do with. We have Price Chopper. We have Hannaford. You could count the discount stores like Aldi and Save-A-Lot. We have the mega-stores like Walmart and Target both selling groceries. And that’s not even counting the 6,000 Stewarts stores in the area, or the Trader Joe’s that’s on its way here. Pfft. A Trader Joe’s that can’t even sell Two Buck Chuck in New York State. Not impressed.
When I lived with my maternal grandparents for a few years in the early 1970’s, they always shopped at Grand Union. There were Grand Union stores all over the region. The pantry was filled with Grand Union-branded foods – canned vegetables and dry goods and the like. I think, to be totally honest, we shopped there because it was convenient at the time. We could have gone to Carnevale’s or Sleasman’s or a dozen other single-owner stores if we so chose. But Grand Union had everything we needed. There are still some Grand Union stores – mostly in the North Country as “Grand Union Family Markets” – but not in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area. Bummer.
Now on weekends, when my parents would pick me up and I would spend the weekend with them in that rusted-out double-deep double-wide in the North Country, they shopped at the local Central Market. As I established before, that’s Price Chopper today. Both Central and Grand Union had the same foods – okay, Grand Union had the Triple S blue stamps which my maternal grandmother collected, and I think Price Chopper had S&H green stamps… but that was maybe the biggest difference between the two.
And of course there was Albany Public Market. They were all over the area; you could buy nearly anything you needed at an Albany Public. I think at one point in time they were located at 711 Central Avenue – right near where the newly-built Shop-Rite is today. Then they moved to Westgate Shopping Center – right where the current Price Chopper is today. Noticing a trend? Eventually Albany Public Markets were purchased by another store chain, Weis Supermarkets, and what was once a dominant force in the local supermarket culture – heck, open an old copy of the TU and there’s four full pages of Albany Public Market ads per issue – was gone.
I remember that Delmar had an A&P, which if I recall correctly was one of the first big grocery store chains in the Northeast. The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, I believe that was its original name. Probably couldn’t fit all of that on a single neon or backlit sign. The only thing I do remember about A&P was that they had Eight O’Clock Coffee, a coffee brand you could actually grind and pour in bags RIGHT AT THE STORE. I think one of my aunts used to make special trips to A&P just to buy the freshly-ground Eight O’Clock Coffee. I would go with them; the coolest thing about Eight O’Clock Coffee was that you could smell that roasted freshness as the coffee grinder crunched up the beans and poured the remains into those foil bags. You could never match that smell once the coffee came out of the percolator, however…
Here’s what I’m getting at, though. We hate when our local area is referred to by others as “Smallbany,” that the populace is a bunch of rubes and hicks and hayseeds in the hills. And yet the minute one of our grocery stores does anything out of the ordinary – moves into the area, moves out of the area, buys a church to build a new store on the land, claims to move into our area but doesn’t – we react with the same excitement and enthusiasm and shock as if Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen were going to play a double bill free concert at LarkFest.
As long as whatever store that moves into our area sells milk and meats and my basic essentials, and it’s at a price that I can afford, then all is well for me. Trust me.
Now if we get a Kroger or a Food Lion or a Piggly Wiggly… look out, folks… 🙂
Oh, and one more thing. Regarding Price Chopper changing the rules for their AdvantEDGE card so that you have to spend $100 to get 10c off your gas? Listen carefully to what I have to say. Go to your local Sunoco station that has an A-Plus mini mart. Get their rewards card. Then get their flyer – you can receive gas discounts by purchasing various individual items. Example – this month, if you buy a 20 ounce bottle of Sun Drop soda or a can of Rockstar energy drink, you save 10c/gallon on your gas.
Hmm… $100 to save 10c versus a bottle of soda to save 10c. I don’t even have to play the Jeopardy! theme to figure this one out.
Chuck The Writer 
@Peg: I think you’ll find that Chuck is correct. Price Chopper is changing the fuel discount from spending $50 to get 10 cents off to spending $100 to get 10 cents off.
http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Price-Chopper-shifts-fuel-card-promotion-3509783.php
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i love shopping for food. I may be boring but it is what it is. I shopped at Albany Public ( for a long time, the L was blown out) Market in Troy because they carried boneless chicken breasts and PC didn’t! I’ve never been a Price Chopper person. I love Adams Fairacre Farm in Kingston if I’m going in that direction. You can get things there that just don’t exist in the massive markets that have entire aisles of sugary cereal. I went to the new Shoprite yesterday and they have an incredible selection of gluten-free products. I’m in Hudson often and have shopped at Shoprite there. The store is a bit dated, but hardly nasty. They have a huge variety of stuff and I noticed, Halal meat. I believe they are the first mass market place to do so.
I have been a food person since I was a teenager and realized steaks and burgers didn’t have to be grey inside.
For people who have never been to Trader Joe’s, it’s much more like an upscale Aldi’s than a Whole Foods. (Aldi’s owns Trader Joe’s) Their prices are great.It’s a hard place to explain if you haven’t been there.Really good variety of frozen ethnic dinners.
Whole Foods and TJ’s compliment each other, as the trekkers to Hadley know.I’m wondering why Whole Food’s decided on Sears Space instead of the deserted Barnes & Noble building? It will be great for Colonie Center. Hope it gives Sears the incentive to spruce up a bit.
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But…to me, grocery shopping is a religion! I absolutely love it. Am I the minority here? I just think food is as beautiful as it is delicious. I lived in Syracuse for 4 years and when I walked into Wegmans…I was “home.” We make a bi-yearly visit to load up on items we can’t get around here (Speculoos, anyone?) If you’ve never been, make the trip to the one in Fayettville. The fish counter alone is enough to bring tears (of joy) to my eyes. I was so disappointed with Shop Rite (Niskayuna) since I had visions of grandeur as it was opening. Not even close! (The small aisles drive me nuts)I switch up my food shopping destinations between Hannaford, Price Chopper and the Nisky Co-op, but haven’t found any to compare….just sayin’…
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I go to the closest store. Period.
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I have to agree with the many comments about Wegman’s. They are totally consumer-oriented. If we ever make a trip to western NY, we always make sure we stop at Wegman’s. The produce is outstanding, the bulk is the best I’ve ever seen and they have a wide variety of products, especially in their organic section. The Price Chopper I shop at regularly is ok. Most of the time the cashiers are very nice, as are the other employees. The folks at the deli are not so detail-oriented but I’ll go to another store for that (no choice in the brand names). I’m not looking forward to a renovation but the newly renovated Hannaford is nice and has more selection, although the prices went up every time I shopped there.
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I think people are way too concerned about a store where everything you buy turns into poop or piss.
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I am interested in going to Wegmans since everyone says it is so amazing – of course, I really don’t get that excited about grocery stores – I agree it is a place to go and buy necessities and not a religion – but I think competition is a good thing because prices will likely be lower. I am originally from Long Island and I used to tell people I worked with who were so amazed at 99 cent soda that 69 cent soda was often found down there as were 99 cent shirts at the dry cleaner – competition is good for prices – I hope that happens here. I love the people in my local price chopper and the small hannaford in my town – they are what makes the store special, not the things.
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I think that the only good thing about having anther grocery chain coming to the area is that maybe they will beat each other up so much that the consumer will be able to get lower prices as an end result.
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I lived in Wegmans country to 12 years. Are they gorgeous stores? Yes. During any of those 12 years could I afford to shop there? No. I went to P&C or Price Chopper. I don’t buy prepared foods so that matters to me not one whit, and there is nothing on earth that would convince me to drive to Colonie (to Wolf Road, no less) to get groceries. I agree that people are nuts. When I first moved back to this area, I did drive out to the Great American on Western in order to get a bunch of Central New York brands that I missed, particularly cheeses.
The Grand Unions that continue are just branded as such. It’s not the same company. We had one near us in East Greenbush but again, they were just crazy expensive for produce and meat, so I never shopped there.
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A cute article but off the mark. All stores are the same, I guess there is no difference between K Mart and Macy’s. If anyone spent anytime in Wegmans you know its not Price Chopper and I am not keen on fake promotions that give me back my own money for a lower price per gallon. Give me a clean store, with employees who help, are not on their cell phone. Go shop at Weagmans and you will see the difference.
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The Grand Unions up in the North Country aren’t much like the old chain we had in the Capital Region. Produce is especially bad, someone got caught at one of the Saranac Lake Grand Unions (there are 2) putting sarcastic Post-It notes on the veggies–I didn’t hear exactly what they wrote, but I imagine it was something along the line of “You should be ashamed to sell tomatoes this bad”.
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At the end of last week, I read an article on Yahoo! News which summarized a national consumer ranking of supermarkets. Wegman’s was named the best supermarket with a score of 88 (out of 100) — not a surprise to me. ShopRite was ranked the 12th worst, with Pathmark the absolute worst. Food Lion was right at the bottom of the list as well. Roz, you are right — there were Victory Markets in both Canajoharie and Fonda many years ago.
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#43, I shop at Price Chopper all the time. The employees at the Colonie Price Chopper are very friendly. The cashiers almost always say thank you. The guy in the produce department treats us like family and I don’t even know his name, the meat department people always ask us how they can help, matter of fact, I have friendly conversations with the people in the bakery, the deli, meat, produce, the cashiers and even just walking through the aisles the employees ask me how I’m doing, if they can help. I knew a couple of kids who worked at Price Chopper through their high school and college years and never heard them complain about tyrannical management. Can’t imagine why you run into so many problems. Let’s give credit where credit is due people, these people work hard for a living, no reason to go around bashing them.
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I lived out in Syracuse for school for a while and I was 10 minutes from a Wegmans. If you’re calling it “just a grocery store” …you have never been to one. A lot of the larger Wegmans have actual restaurants in them, or atleast sit down areas where you can eat hot food that is a lot higher quality than the crap you get at hannaford or price chopper. Not to mention, their natural foods section is larger than most price choppers and almost all of their herbs and vegetables come as both roots off and roots on (to keep them fresh).
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I would stack up a Wegmans hot buffet against a Price Chopper hot buffet any day and certainly Wegmans would end up winning.Also the bakery and seafood departments any day.Presentation,freshness,quality and consistency is Wegmans key.
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The writer clearly does not do a lot of grocery shopping. Or at least has nothing to compare our stores to. Our local stores – Hannaford and Price Chopper – are disgusting. With relatives in Cape Cod and Florida, I actually enjoy grocery shopping at their chains – Publix, Stop&Shop. They’re CLEAN, well lit and well kept. I can’t say that about the ones near me. What a turn-off when I go into the Price Chopper in East Greenbush. Cigarette butts everywhere and just plain dingy and dirty. Ugh. Yes, I get that it’s a different climate in FL, but if Cape Cod can do it, why can’t we? Again, yes it’s a resort community, but it’s the locals who are there year-round maintaining it. I welcome a Wegman’s or some other chain on our side of the river.
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Wegmans will change the face of the local supermarket scene. If you haven’t been to one, you simply don’t know what you’re missing. They make Price Chopper and Hannaford (and all the others) look like convenience stores – overpriced places lacking in selection and unconcerned with customer service. Wegmans does it right. I can’t wait until they enter this market.
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I absolutely LOVE this post. Chuck, you really cracked me up & brought back some good childhood memories.
I am & always have been a Price Chopper shopper. Even if their prices are (according to some),slightly higher, they are still the ONLY chain that is offering gas points & MOST of their employee’s are helpful. Also, they are VERY customer oriented, (especially the Slingerlands store). They accommodate even the most obnoxious, foul- mouthed customers, some who should be kicked to the curb.
How many places do we really need to buy food? We need to have more than 1 cable company…Time Warner is practically the ONLY company & they ALWAYS rip people off b/c there is not much competition for them. However, there is FIOS/Verizon, but that is only offered in SOME areas. The Dish Network & Direct TV, are only good IF you can have a satellite dish installed on your roof. Which of course, may not be optional for renters. So basically, as I previously stated, there is a very minimal choice for cable.
I could not tell you how many times I have heard customers @ Pice Chopper ‘threaten’ the employees to shop else where. I also could not tell you how many times I have seen those SAME customers back in the store again. Which only tells me that Price Chopper must be doing something right. 🙂
In conclusion, no matter how many options there are for groceries, Price Chopper is going nowhere, that I can assure you.
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The writer obviously has no idea what he’s talking about, the reason the Capital District embraced Shop Rite was that it was something drastically needed to stop the scams Price Chopper pulls. He’s a wah-wahhh for even writing this. More competition usually equates to better deals for shoppers at all stores in the area since pricing is a major draw. Price Chopper changing it’s Fuel Advantage program making you spend more is just stupid at a time when they’re up against strong competition from Shop Rite. Really, it hurts them that much to give the average 10 gallon fill up $1.00 per $50 spent? So now you’ll save $1.00 on $100? It makes no sense. It really was the only reason I shopped there, from now on it will be Hannaford and Shop Rite. They jack up their prices to begin with at Price Chopper then claim to put stuff on sale when it’s the same price that Hannaford usually has it for, it’s rare that it’s cheaper. Sunoco gas is also always higher priced than all the other stations, so really you’re not saving that much…
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Hi, No one remembers Acme Markets being a major player in the Capital District in the 70!~s and early 80!~s
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