The usual suspects made the list of companies that 24,000 consumers rated as best and worst among grocery store operators in the U.S. as part of Consumer Reports annual survey on the subject. Wegmans, Publix, Fareway Stores, Trader Joe's, etc. all received high marks overall while Pathmark, Pick 'n Save and Walmart did not.
In all, roughly one in three consumers dumped a particular grocery store for a variety of reasons. The one most often given was price, with 43 percent taking their shopping elsewhere in search of savings. Twenty-five percent pointed to long lines, poor selection and low quality as being behind their switch, while 17 percent cited rude employees and 14 percent mentioned crowded stores.
It's interesting to note looking at the findings that there really are no "perfect" grocers. Even those that are rated very highly — take Trader Joe's, for example — get low marks for parking. Anyone who has ever circled a small Trader Joe's parking lot for 15 minutes in search of a space, knows this all too well. But the chain grades well overall because of high marks in areas such as knowledgeable staff, open checkouts and checkout speed.
The same is true for those near the bottom of the list. For all the griping that goes on about Walmart's checkouts, people continue to be drawn to the stores by its prices.