Publix vs.Kroger: The dueling grocers (Atlanta, Columbus: house, to buy, pharmacy)

[thrudaluknglass]

With these two leading grocers nearly on every corner in GA, please give some of your customer insight on your preference. Please include pros and cons of your overall shopping experience and for those of you that use their pharmacy services, please give your overall experience of the two. Thanks!

[bryantm3]

publix has higher prices on almost everything, and the customer service and the things they offer are about the same as kroger. they close earlier, also. i have no idea how they stay in business.

[billl]

Publix versus Kroger. My personal preference is Whole Foods.

Seriously, between those two grocers I have found that the experience varies widely from store to store, in terms of selection, quality, and service. I have had great experiences and bad experiences in stores from both chains. I don't think you can characterize the experience on a per-chain basis. It really comes down to how well each individual store is run. I usually find that I end up having to visit both to get everything that I need anyway. Where we live now I prefer to drive past the Publix and go to Kroger, but that's because the Publix closest to our house isn't very good with customer service.

[Mattie]

I have a bias against Publix. We moved here from a city in South Florida that had 5 Publix stores, and nothing else. At first I liked shopping there due to the clean, bright stores, wide aisles and customer service.

When we moved to GA the nearest Publix was just being built, so I used Kroger, and never went back to being a Publix regular. Pharmacy service is good at both. Customer service is good at both. I love the $.10 off gas for every $100 spent at Kroger.

I don't care for the meat at either store, for that we go to Costco. Publix has an edge on produce(slightly better) and the bakery (much better, but I don't buy often anyway), but I prefer Kroger's Private Selection cold cuts over the Publix ones.

For pantry staples, Kroger has much better prices. Publix has the bogo stuff, but it always seems to be processed foods that I won't buy.

[Columbuskidd92]

Publix ran Kroger out of Columbus. So Publix!

[pit2atl]

I would buy all my meats from Publix because it's "raised in humane environment", and all my other groceries from kroger. You cant beat the prices at Kroger, and I swear their advantage card knocks at least $10 off a $70 bill.

[cqholt]

I worked at Publix, I refuse to shop there since seeing how they treat their part-time employees. The prices are too high, for the same quality foods.
Kroger's Plus Card is by far the best reason to shop there. It gives the user special prices on items and fuel points at Kroger gas stations, none within Atlanta city limits, and participating Shell stations. The customer service the the Edgewood Kroger, 'Hipster Kroger', is on par with Publix and it carries a lot of varieties.

[LynnHarris]

Overall I prefer Kroger. I will shop at Publix to get certain bakery or deli items, but that is about it. For me, it's about saving money, and I can do that better at Kroger than I can at Publix.

[Mal93]

cq- there is a fuel station at the kroger a little further down moreland (I didn't realise there was one that close to ATL since the only ones I've seen are in the outer suburbs).

I agree that each store varies widely. The Kroger by Cascade/285 is much nicer than, say, the one on Powers Ferry/Delk at the edge of east Cobb (even though that one was just remodeled!). I love Disco Kroger and Ansley Kroger's wine sections and cheese shops- wish we could get something like that in my area. I despise the parking lot at Edgewood so I rarely go to that Kroger. The worst Kroger is Murder Kroger on N Avenue (poor selection & quality), and the selection at the West End Kroger not as nice as most considering the size of the store. You could get diabetes just walking through the front bakery area. The CitiCenter Kroger on Metropolitan seems to have a lot more "manager specials" and bargains on "family size" packs of meats than I see at other stores. Most Publixes (publixi?) seem to be about the same as far as their offerings, but there is a big difference between Krogers in terms of size, departments, and quality.

Publix is overpriced, especially when you factor in the Kroger plus card, and aside from their bakery and deli the other sections don't seem to warrant it. I used to shop at the Ansley and Tech Plaza ones most often.

Fortunately I work close to Harry's so that's where I tend to buy my produce and fish from- but I'll also go to Star Provisions, Life's Essentials, Buford Hwy Farmers Market or local farmers markets (or my own garden!). I don't really rely on one store to solve all my grocery needs.

I use Kroger's pharmacy as those purchases rack up fuel points as well.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by thrudaluknglass

With these two leading grocers nearly on every corner in GA, please give some of your customer insight on your preference. Please include pros and cons of your overall shopping experience and for those of you that use their pharmacy services, please give your overall experience of the two. Thanks!

We prefer Kroger. If you use the Plus card, you can get decent discounts on labelled items, and the points you earn via the card give you discounts on gas at the Kroger pumps (every $100 on groceries you spend gives you $0.10/gallon off).

Each carries a few things the other doesn't, so my wife makes an occasional trip to Publix anyway, but it isn't our main store. We have a 2-3 locations for each one to choose from within a few miles, and as others have said there can be differences between stores.