My data is about 10 years old, as that's when supported IT Sales Reporting for a certain Chicago-based consumer packaged goods (food) company.

The biggest customer was and still is Wal-Mart. Target was never close. The number 2 was Kroger. These are national numbers so forget local.

Albertstons wasn't that big on a national level, but they were once they merged with Safeway.

This will make for a pretty large chunk of the CPG market. Crazy big....but since you still have other competitors (not many) it will go through.

Kroger didn't ruin Mariano's. That started once Safeway got a hold of them. Kroger just finished it off. Mariano's is a great case study of how to successfully enter a very mature market and be successful...only to get bought up and then destroyed by the competition you beat

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Don't cry for Bob Mariano - he made plenty on the sale.

Parks at the pump, buys food, drink, and lottery tix. Scratches em off in the vehicle, wins, goes back in.

Today’s WSJ had the data on the two chains. When both made other acquisitions, they were forced to divest certain locations in concentrated markets. The Biden administration has been fighting all large mergers, so I suspect they will move to block this one. However, they have taken loss after loss in court this year.

There is probably enough competition in Chicago. When I lived in West Dundee, we had Woodman’s, Wal-Mart, Super Target, and Meier close by. There was even a Butera….

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Hawaii (fuck) You

bathroom stop as well, maybe chat up Patel on what's new in the industry

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

No tears for Bob Mariano. My tears are for the us the consumers. Mariano's was fucking awesome...it went to shit.


Woodman's, Butera, Piggly Wiggly are all under the same umbrella as "Central Grocers"

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We're very lucky to have a grocery expert here at CFMB.

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Marianos is a shell of what it used to be. At this point I don't care who owns marianos, just don't take away my Christie's chocolate chip cookies

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"You know 'that look' women get when they want sex? Me neither" ~Steve Martin

Jewel is so expensive now other than the BOGO deals.

I can still get two weeks worth of food for a $120 at Aldis. It may taste like shit but welcome to the Biden Economy.

What kind of stuff do you buy there?

The bag of chips are still a steal, like a $1.50 you can't beat that. Then I'll load up on ground beef, chicken (though chicken can be shitty at times), can goods etc.

Coupon Clipping Bob

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This is what the Dems want! I'm really improving my pronoun usage, and I'm not assuming gender either!

High priced chain grocery stores

- read the small print on sale itelms
- high non sale item prices storewide
- high priced non sale regular items tagged "multiple quanity for" with customers thinking they have to buy multiples when they don't.
- tricky sale signage near floor so out of eyes view.
- must buy "specific "quantity" sale item price signage in LARGE print. Less than specified quantity higher price in SMALL print. Customers thinking they get sale price actually don't because they didn't buy the small print quantity.
- clicking your rewards while shopping won't go through. Have to click hours before shopping trip.
- be vigilant for out of codes, leakers and dented items. If there is no best by date put it back on shelf.
- look your receipts over with a fine toothed comb. They're hoping you won't.
- never buy regular priced items unless Walmart or Target doesn't carry them. They'll be almost certainly cheaper there.
- big multiples sales are great but the items tag regular, sale price, middle non qualifying sale price must be exactly the same or it won't go through at the cheapest sale price

mushrooms and asparagus are free in the forest preserve. You might even be able to catch a squirrel or racoon for protein. If you can't find anything, you can always find old dudes in the parking lot to blow for a quick $20

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

no one cares

Busse Woods (suburbs) win again.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Mariano's with their 2 for $5 milk and it's never stocked.

Mariano's is so gross

It was the fucking bomb like in 2013-2014.

Generational welfare recipients aren't usually discriminating shoppers.

You’d save a lot on groceries if you just put the money you spend on groceries into a high yield money market account you dumbass.

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I was reading about a grocery store that used to be in Toronto called Knob Hill Farms. It was basically the first whack at the Woodman's concept, a sprawling store that's not quite a warehouse and seems to have subpar produce and weird brands. They did okay for a while. But they called their stores "food terminals," and that sounds like a really creative way to refer to your asshole.

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Aldi has a few good things:
- knockoff Girl Scout Samoas (Benton's)
- their cheese is pretty good
- some of their salad dressings are good
- dried fruit
- their house brand onion dip is about the same as Dean's at half the price, but I have cut out having chips in the house so oh well...
- Mamba fruit chews in the check out line are at a good price compared to other grocery stores

I have both Aldi and Lidl near me. Lidl has a decent little bakery for things like soft pretzels (usually 3/$1) and inexpensive baguettes, and they used to have good knockoffs of Nutrigain bars, but not much else.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

i dont know what most people do, but pre-packaged foods are many times more expensive than raw and bulk items. anytime i get annoyed by how much im spending on food, i just go back to cooking. a bag of rice, frozen veggies, 10lb packs of chicken breast.. still cheap. just gotta spend a couple hours a week cooking it up. when you look at it from a cost-per-calorie metric, its quite shocking how much of a ripoff anything processed and pre-cooked or pre assembled is.

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

Knuckle walker.