Call me spoiled for grocery stores in the past; I have lived in a blessed triangle with the upscale Aldi's and a brand new Meijer anchoring one end, a selection of devoted supermarkets [Dominick's/Safeway, Jewel] and combo ones [Super Walmart, Super Target], and then specialty shops like Whole Foods hanging around. All were within reasonable driving distance of 3 to 5 miles, with their only lack being a consistently excellent butcher or bakery.
Now, I know the D and its suburbs have challenges with clumping all these food-providing cornucopias in one strip or spot. On the other hand, the city and burbs possess plenty of specialty places and I am starting to appreciate the European style of shopping at a greengrocers for produce, ethnic shops for respective ingredients, a bakery (oh a bakery! The world for a flaky pastry...), and so forth on a daily basis to make fresh meals. Let's not forget how awesome Eastern Market is too. Now, while wandering away from this thought, I went to review the local grocery stores around my home base in Ferndale. First up, Ferndale Foods.
For a Spartan store, this is an overpriced embarrassment.
$4.49 for a package of garlic bread that similarly sells at Meijer, Kroger, Target, and other major supermarkets for $2.19 - $3.59? Who are you kidding, Ferndale Foods? I don't see "organic!" and "Michigan only!" slapped all over your pristine aisles, and a cachet that calls to the Bloomfield crew to visit here. Don't mistake me, Ferndale/Royal Oak/Huntington Woods definitely counts as a fine section of society, but the mark-up here makes no sense. So many of their frozen staples were double the price I expected to pay based on a bit of price shopping that I hastened to look only at Spartan brand goods. There's not much price savings there without a serious sale, in which case I suppose I stock up.
There's something about this store which strikes me wrong, even after the apparent renovation, and I haven't decided exactly what that is. Finding rotten or stone-hard produce did not make me terribly happy and I have given up on the deli and their dairy cases after seeing the prices and condition of the food. For canned goods, non-perishable staples, and snagging a jar of salsa or a Faygo (yum! Hello Faygo!) then it might not be too bad but there is no way in heck I'm going to do my local grocery shopping here. I'll drive the extra miles to Meijer off Coolidge and get all those basics, and leave the daily stuff for Western Market and elsewhere.
Employees at Ferndale Foods are mostly the high-school/college-set and they seem fairly unhappy or ready to be gone, no surprise there. However, I smack a star off for the manager hiding in his glassed-in lair near the entrance who came after me for my... tiny hobo purse. He assumed something shorter in length than my forearm and half that tall was a backpack (maybe it was the colourful pattern?) and violated their no backpack policy. When I quietly told the apologetic teenager who came to take it from me that, no, it was a purse and held only my wallet, phone, and some essentials, he went back to his manager. Manager then told him to collect it. I don't mind the policy but I think it was way over the top, and worse, it keeps people from bringing in bike bags, recyclable or cloth bags, and the like because it's so zealously enforced. When the manager wouldn't back down, I walked out.
I like supporting local and state-owned businesses. Spartan stores are something I want to like, and others I think are much better than the experience I have here. read more