Super Wal-Mart-Now what?

We've just had our nearby Wal-Mart converted into a Supercenter that is stocked with food. The neighbors and I fought it, we lost, and now we have to live with it. I'm not a glass is half full guy so I want to make the best of it. What should we look for? They opened some small food sections up before the Grand Opening and I was happy to find Dale's Seasoning. What other unusual or unique or just plain good tasting items will I find ? The post on another thread about boiling a country ham has me hoping that I might find this hard to find up north delicacy. I'm thinking there might be other things to try. Suggestions?

You fought it, lost and now for some reason feel obliged to shop there??  Maybe it's spitting in the ocean but you can still cast your economic vote and not go there. 

Walmart Supercenters already ring Milwaukee, in places such as Germantown, Sturtevant, Mukwanago. You can always drive out there today for a preview! Walmart is now the country's largest grocery chain. Much like any new grocery coming to town, they will sell brands and products that existing chain and independent groceries don't sell.

The only thing I buy from the Supercenter about 50 miles from here in Monroe, NY is Martha White baking products, since no one else sells them around here.

I never shop at Wal-Mart. The company is known for its less-than-fair ( and sometimes illegal ) treatment of its employees, and, as a long-time unionized worker, I will never do business with an outfit that treats its people like dirt.

MFL -

Shop at SuperWM instead of Pick 'n Save.  Use the money that you save to eat more Roadfood.

Jim

A Super Wal-Mart center opened near us so we gave it a shot a few times. I find that they carry a very limited selection of things even though the store is huge. We have a Woodman's here too and that's where we shop, can't beat Woodman's price and selection.

northcarolina, Mrs MFL is with you 100%; she will not set foot in a Wal-Mart.
RC51Mike, I have no intention of contributing to the Chinafication of America but I'm talking about hard to find food items here.
David_NYC, Martha White is the sort of response thing I was lookinng for.
JRPfeff, Pick "N Save and Piggley Wiggley carry meats and poultry without the up to 18% saline and phosphate broths that lead me to think they are cheaper than at Wally World.
Also Wal-Mart carries Select Grade meats; sorry USDA Choice is worth a bit more.
kland01s, I love Woodman's but it is a bit of a drive here but I do make that drive once a month.
I have good stores for meat and especially for produce that leave Wal-Mart far behind, but if I walk out my back door and go down my alley I'll find the Supercenter two blocks away, saving me gas, oil and depreciation on my car.

After I started this post, I walked over for a look-see. Since I had some New Glarus Swiss Schublig sausage started on my stove, it was a quick visit. The store was nice, it was clean, it still was not 100% fully stocked so I limited myself to an assortment of day old sourdough bakery breads but one thing jumped out at me. The entrance and exit signs were in Spanish! NO ENGLISH above or below! Sorry, but I find that very offensive. I find bilingual signs annoying but not offensive. It's my opinion, right or wrong. that not learning English is not in the long run helpful for folks. But if folks don't want to learn English, it's their loss not mine and I don't get my underwear in a knot over it. But to not have signs in English left a bad taste in my mouth I'm afraid. We are relatively close to Milwaukee's Hispanic community so this would be Spanish speaking peoples nearest Wal-Mart. That community was last Polish-American and there are many vacant open areas that would be perfect for a Spanish centered Wal-Mart but they chose my neighborhood, a Heinz 57 mix of middle class Milwaukeeans. It would appear that most of us are not their target customer base.

don't buy the steaks. the meat is unnaturally red looking, & the cuts look terrible.

nocarolina


I never shop at Wal-Mart. The company is known for its less-than-fair ( and sometimes illegal ) treatment of its employees, and, as a long-time unionized worker, I will never do business with an outfit that treats its people like dirt.

Hey Nocarolina---which union??--i'm an old SEIU board and repmember myself!


Like your weekend,vacations,health benefits ???--then THANK ORGANIZED LABOR!

Mike -

I should have been more specific.  I meant groceries, where a can of tomatoes or bag of flour is the same no matter where it is purchased.  If you don't mind the house brand the savings at WM are even greater.

Your rant about signage jogged my memory.  The WM Supercenters do have a good selection of ethnic foods.

I agree that the meat and produce is not very good.   The shopping experience at SuperWM is also a crowded busy mess.  If I want the warehouse experience, Woodman's is worth the drive. 

Jim

I drive once or twice a year to a Super Walmart about 50 miles from home.

It's that they have regional products that I can't find around here.

I walk up and down the food aisles and feel like I'm on a vacation.

Their precooked chickens are great for pulling apart when you don't feel like first baking a chicken as an ingredient in another recipe.

A few things I'll buy that I don't find locally:

pimento cheese

pickle loaf

green goddess dressing

huge bag of individually packaged string cheese

assorted ethnic foods

For me it's a way to inexpensively spend a day with my mother who likes to read item labels.  She's 82 and for some reason she has to read the calorie content of items she has absolutely no intention of purchasing.

SW would not be my primary choice for grocery shopping but it does have a purpose and it's in it's perfect place around here.

As expected, we all have much to say about Walmart. Their business is  not my favorite destination. However, I Shop and defend totally their right to run their operation as they see fit.
Employee treatment and compensation? Not new but relevant," no one one is forced to work there", they ask for a job understanding the expectations and compensation. You don't like it, don't work there! I don't understand pro-union activists, they appear as self serving bashers of a successful business operation who are driven by greed. Occasionally I see an employee, shall we say with "diminished capacity" working at Walmart. They are happy, a sense of pride and dignity. I like that!!
 We live in a rural part of our great country, by choice. Walmart has brought forth many of life's comforts in an affordable manner.
Walmart, an american icon, represents the values of self reliance, capitalism and the free market economy from which has arisen success!
 
This is a time we Americans should be proud of successes in the midst of taxpayer "bailouts"!
 
 

if you didn't want it there in the first place, why, in heaven's name would you shop there??????
 
i avoid walmart at all costs:
 
they don't have what i want to buy...in other words, they only have certain brands offered and have taken away my freedom of choice
 
they don't treat their employees fairly/legally - and that goes back at least 20 years
 
they don't treat the customers properly (that 3-in-line-we-open-another-checkout-bit never seems to occur and the no selection issue)
 
their clothing is CHEAP quality
 
almost everything is made in china and they promote 'sweatshop' situations there.
 
they undercut everyone else and that's directly against the  my ideal of america...they're also a monopoly and that's supposed to be illegal...
 
and, not everything is low-priced...only the loss-leader stuff is.  everything is the same or more than at other stores.

Our WalMart SuperCenters handle the Sriracha Hot Sauce that has been discussed here on Roadfood, along with the House of Tsang line of stir-fry sauces, which you may or may not have had available to you before.  In the frozen cases here are Sister Schubert's yeast rolls and Mary B's biscuits, both far superior to anything Pillsbury puts out.
 
Since WalMart is big on stocking the products in any given store that they perceive to be appropriate to that store's clientele, you may or may not have a wide selection of Glory brand southern canned foods.  From what you have already described from your first visit, I will assume that your Mexican section is large and includes imported Mexican brands of juices and sodas along with nopalitos (pickled cactus) and the normal wide variety of salsas.  If you like it, you may also want to check in the cake mix section to see if they have the Duncan Hines Tres Leches cake mix. (Some stores carry it; some don't.) 
If you get a Woodman's weekly ad, you will be able to take advantage of one of WalMart's policies.  If you bring in the ad, WalMart will match the Woodman sale price on any same-brand items advertised (if WalMart's price is not already lower than Woodman's.)

tiki - until my recent retirement, I was a long-time ( 30+ years ) member of the Transportation - Communications Union ( TCU. )        rouxdog - I'm sorry that you feel the way you do about unions, because, without organized labor, working conditions in this country would probably be as miserable as they were in the 19th century.

6star, it's funny, no ironic I guess. We have a local 5 grocery store chain called El Rey that I do a lot of shopping at. So I guess as I drive to the more Hispanic majority area to do my shopping, I'm passing Hispanics driving to my neighborhood to do their shopping! I am blessed with several SE Asian stores, one within walking distance, where Sriracha and sauces from Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines are always stocked. I'll have to check out that Glory line and thanks for the heads up on the rolls and biscuits.

JRPfeff, were those Bar S brand sausages you BBQ'd? Those were the only 3# packages of sausages I saw.

jocylyn and rouxdog, I hear you both. I'm just looking for specialty food item recommendations in a within walking distance location. I'm afraid Sam Walton would turn over in his grave if he saw all the "Made In China" tags in his store.

mar52, I'm afraid I have much in common with your mother. It drives Mrs MFL nuts.

A lot of folks may not like them but they sure are handy to me.
 
Paul E. smith
Knoxville, TN

joclyn


they're also a monopoly and that's supposed to be illegal...

Uh, tell us how they are a monopoly.

Yes, how are they a monoply?  I live in a small central-Illinois town.  For my groceries, I can shop at Walmart or I can choose to shop at three other grocery stores in town.

MilwFoodlovers

JRPfeff, were those Bar S brand sausages you BBQ'd? Those were the only 3# packages of sausages I saw.

Mike,

Those were Cavanaugh brand from Sam's Club.

Jim

Our Save-A-Lot in Georgetown OH has the Glory line and a whole lot of specialty Mexican food.

I buy all my groceries at WM except fish and meat. Their prices can't be beat. Why should I pay the other guys 20 cents more for the same can of Del Monte peas? That's just one example.

As just about all WM threads this one is starting to slide towards the uncivilized.

We all have our own opinions of the benefit or horror that is Wal-Mart. Keep this thread civil or it too will be gone.

MikeS.

MFL, you may find some foods you don't normally see at youe other grocery stores. You will find all the common food brands like Del Monte, Green Giant, Stouffer's and such. Usually a fair bit cheaper then your other stores. If you compare prices or know what you pay for an item at store X you will probably find it cheaper at WM.

I know WM prices and so I watch the other guys ads. If they have a sale running that is cheaper on an item than WM. I have WM price match.

I lie WMs store brands, GV and Sam's. I usually buy them. Some exceptions; Green peas, I only buy Green Giant. I only buy Tide laundry soap and Dial bath soap. Only Kraft mac & cheese.

I refuse to buy their meat, fish and poultry. I refuse to pay for salt water added to my foods. A very few exceptions there too though. Brisket, I can buy a whole brisket that isn't treated. Raw oysters in a jar. Chubs of ground beef that hasn't been "enhanced". I buy them when they get marked down for quick sell. Take them home and freeze them.

We use a combination of places to do our weekly shopping, Wal-mart is one of them, we don't do our full shopping there but there are a few things that are consistently cheaper.  I actually find the meat to be not too bad, I don't tend to buy steak or anything, usually just stirfry beef, ground beef, etc and it's cheaper and in better choice of quantities than our main supermarket.  Not fussed on their instore bakery products though. 

I know alot of people may not like it but we find it convenient and cheap for a number of things.

I love this robust discussion!  I didn't see any uncivility, everyone seems respectful.  But it is great to hear some real opinions.  Let's slap it around a little.
 
Regardless of whether one agrees on all the good issues discussed here, the low prices have an important result for our economy -- a lot of cash stays in the pockets of poor people, and that cash will be used for other things, like heat, or clothes for the children.  

Regarding the unions, I have had a lot of jobs in my life, and been a union member twice; my dad was a lifelong union man.  Both sides expressed here are right, there is no one single answer.  Like so many other things, unions have done good, and been bad.  Like so many other things (corporations, politicians), we need them but we gotta watch them.

MFL, our WalMarts over here carry a nice line of bread, Ecce Panis, a company from New Jersey, I believe.  The dough arrives frozen, they thaw it overnight and bake on site.  We like it a lot, especially the round Tuscan boule loaf.  All the various loaves sell for 3.00 each.  By comparison, the local Festival Foods also carries the brand, at 4.29 a loaf.

You might not see it, though.  My sister in Menomonee Falls says her local Supercenter does not carry it.  Which is a surprise, it seems like Milwaukee is on the way.

We have found that the Sam's Club brand of almost anything is pretty good quality, and we have grown to trust it.

No more for their own meat though; tried it once, and there was something very wrong with the texture and taste.  Not for me.

I guess the convenience of WM's Super Centers that attract my family.  It is mostly a one stop shopping from gardening to groceries.  I frequently get my oiled changed which I shop.
 
I especially enjoy their spice section which many are priced at $0.50 for a large container.  It seems that they usually have  a large vegetable department.
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN
 

Near us we have a Super WM & Super Target across the street from each other. When we need more than groceries, we tend to go to Target. Not exactly sure why, but shopping in WM is a depressing experience to us. The Target seems brighter & cleaner. Plus, anything we've tried of Target's "Archer Farm" brand has been above-average to excellent.