Quote:
Originally Posted by Festivus
It has some big pros, but also cons:
Pros:
- Much better fresh food section than most stores (with the exception of fruits/vegetables compared to Superstore). The prepared stuff is really great, especially the pre-marinated meats, sausages, fish, etc. Also really good samosas for like $2.50 each.
- Online delivery/pickup
- Definitely the best service
Cons:
- Regular items (canned, boxes, etc) are more expensive than most stores (maybe non-member Safeway options might rival them, I don't know). You can offset some of these prices with a Save-On card, but not all of them.
If you're looking for some nice pre-made meals or meats/sausages then it's a great place. For general big shopping trips, I'd stick to Superstore or Costco. But it serves a niche and for people who don't care about spending a bit more (there is a market like that) it works. I go for the fresh and pre-made stuff, but I wouldn't buy $300 worth of groceries there on a big trip.
Also their self-serve checkout is much better than other places.
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Save on is nice but it still has not become my one-stop shopping place as they do not carry all brands and products that I am used to getting. Some prices are higher but some are lower - like anything you have to know the prices of things at various stores (if you care that udon noodles are .66 at extra foods and .99 at save on). Save on uses group pricing quite a bit - ie. buy 4 for the price of 3 sort of thing and in those cases the prices are typically better than extra foods. There are some meat cuts and products that you can get at Save on (stir fry cuts) that others like sobeys or extra do not have (or they pass stewing chunk cuts off as stir-fry). Save on has some decent steak cuts from the butcher section (ie. thick!!) but for flavour and aging they can not touch cathedral butcher boy. I have not checked out the prepared foods but will be looking the next time I go. At the end of the day, I still find I have to go to at least 3 different places (save on, extra, sobeys, asian grocery store on albert) to get all the food products I need over the course of a month.