Merkur is the most "American-ish" grocery store I've been to in Vienna, and that's mostly a good…read morething.
It's big, which means it has many different items in stock, and many different varieties and brands from which to choose. It has a bakery and a deli and, perhaps most importantly for me, it has ground turkey. (Austria apparently has interesting laws re: machines and poultry and red meat, such that very, very few places sell ground poultry, but Merkur happens to be one of them. I am actually regretting writing this because when Merkur actually has ground turkey in stock, we buy like all of it and freeze it...)
Continuing.
Merkur also has a large produce department, and although they have a wide variety of produce available, I find that it's not necessarily as fresh as at the Billa where I normally shop (on Neubaugasse). And it's usually more expensive.
That's the last thing about Merkur. It's more expensive.. I used to shop here almost exclusively, but since I can get most of my "bio" (organic) brands and produce at Billa for cheaper (or at a market for WAY cheaper), I don't really need to shop at Merkur.
Nevertheless, I'm really glad this place exists - for the ground turkey, for the large wine and beer selection, for the party supply selection, and for their delis.. They have a deli and cafe that are outside of the store itself, and the food there tends to be pretty good. I had some pesto ravioli ages ago; it was decent and easy - I could eat it there, and we didn't have to cook that night!
Plus, there's a kind-of cobbler located in the Merkur (random, I know) - he resoles shoes, and makes keys. Yeah.. interesting, but convenient (I had a pair of boots resoled when I first moved here, to have better traction when walking in the snow..)