Arkansas Blog

Yawn! All of this only means that Central Arkansas is STILL without a legitimate grocery store. Wal-Mart is Wal-Mart...and Kroger's agenda is an aspiration to be Wal-Mart ("...more general merchandise...a gas station..."). A note to Kroger management - if I wanted to shop at Wal-Mart...I would go to Wal-Mart! God, it would be nice for a grocery that focused on providing a quality selection of food items at a reasonable price.

I love my Conway Kroger...it's the antithesis of Wal Mart. Great customer service, stuff like carrying my groceries out WITHOUT waiting 30 minutes for someone to come from somewhere in the great unknown...stuff like giving me free stuff if they EVER over charge (and doing it with a smile...unlike WM employees who act like you're taking it out of their pockets)...stuff like having a real butcher to happily do ANYTHING I want...stuff like stocking what I ask for rather than giving me what 'headquarters' sent...stuff like getting immediate responses to questions rather that having to wait while someone somewhere tries to find someone who knows someone who knows something. And, I love having a parking lot that isn't like traversing a football field. Sure, WM tends to have prices that are a little lower than Kroger. But Kroger has great sales/double coupons that enable me to beat WM prices all day long (takes some stocking/planning, of course). And, since hubby turned 55 I LOVE my senior discount on Tuesdays...amazing the things I get excited about these days ha.

I woulda sworn the Kroger that opened on Caraway in Jonesboro back in 1997 was called "Kroger Marketplace." And what in the world does a grocery store need with a jewelry store anyway? And... just a crazy thought here... the Chenal store is already bigger than any of the other ones around here. Why does it need to expand?

"All of this only means that Central Arkansas is STILL without a legitimate grocery store."

Where the hell do you live in central Arkansas? Conway has two and the older store on Oak street is still a far more customer-friendly store than both of the two Wallyworlds combined. There is an issue in central Little Rock with the lack of a competitive grocery business except for the Harvest Foods changed to ... changed to... changed to Food Whatever recently. It is the one thing that keeps Little Rock from having a better environment for those condos downtown. You must have a car to get to food and such places as Target The city hasn't recovered from the city-encouraged abandonment of the downtown area by retail business years ago.

Feel sorry for those in NWA who have a Wallyworld fixation. Except for Harps, they are stuck with Wallyworld and don't have any idea what a real full-service store is like. I mentioned Target in a conversation on the street in Bentonville a few weeks ago and someone told me we don't use that word up here. They now have Target in the Fayetteville area and what they need is Kroger to build a distribution center in the area to service NWA and eastern OK and force those computer nerds at Wallyworld who determine what to sell and when to sell at Wallyworld to recognize that cusomers vote with their feet when there is a choice. A few Cosco's in the area would also be great. I still have my card for the Memphis store.

I hope this means that my little ghetto Kroger's in Hillcrest will be getting a much needed facelift. They only make 48 trillion $ there each day; how about mixing in a paint brush for time to time? But I guess its hard when you are spending all your time counting money.

"I hope this means that my little ghetto Kroger's in Hillcrest will be getting a much needed facelift."

OK, you obviously never leave Hillcrest if you think that Kroger is "ghetto".

Max, give us something better to complain about!!

I wish the Station was larger and had more of the things you'd find at Kroger or Wal-Mart. I'd love to support a locally owned grocery store instead of these huge corporations.
I definitely suggest people look into the practice that many supermarket chains engage in where they charge huge fees just for people to sell their items in their store.
Diet for a Dead Planet is a great read. Check it out from your local library.

The Kroger on Chenal may be the biggest one, but it really has a small meat market. If that is the new style of Kroger I don't care for it. The Kroger at Markham & Rodney Parham is being redone as is the Colony West one. The Kroger out on Hwy 10 by the turn to Maumelle Park seems to have the best meat market. While Wal-Mart may not have a big selection and it's customer service may not be the greatest you have to admit that they are so much cheaper than Kroger on a lot of items. Little Rock only has Kroger and Wal-Mart since Harvest Foods/Cransfords/whatever has folded. Target is starting to get into the food business some, but it's mainly frozen stuff, milk juice, chips, cookies and cereal.

EasyB, hold on, I'm sure they'll get to your 'ghetto store' soon. They're redoing my Markham store now ((well for the past 18 yrs it seems like) and since we seem to be complaining) and I can't find anything.

But, I'm right proud we don't have to go to Wallyworld for our groceries. Not only does WM suck big, green greasies, Kroger is union.

THE KROGERS IN THE HTS IS GHETTO. JUST GO UP THERE LATE AT NIGHT. THEY COULD SPEND SOME ON SECURITY. EVEN BROAD DAYLIGHT. THEY NEED TO BE TRAINED BY THE CHICK FIL A PEOPLE. A LITTLE COMMON COURTESY AT THE CKOUT OR ANYWHERE IN THE STORE WOULD BE NICE.

IF THEY CAN GET PERMISSION TO BUILD A CHENAL KROGER RIGHT SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE OF KANIS ROAD. (CK IT OUT.. THEY DID IT) THEY CAN ENLARGE ANY WHERE AND ANYTIME THEY WANT TO.
TO GET FROM THE NORTH KANIS TO THE SOUTH KANIS YOU MUST (IF IN THAT AREA) CONNECT TO CHENAL PARKWAY AT THE FIRST KANIS STOPLIGHT TO GET TO THE OTHER. WONDER WHO OK'D THAT MADNESS.

"WONDER WHO OK'D THAT MADNESS."

Don't know, probably the same asshole who superglued your caps lock key.

LargeAss, I believe that Kanis was cut up like that before Kroger ever began building on Chenal Parkway. I assume it happened when they changed Rock Creek Parkway to Chenal and continued it out to Chenal CountryClub.

Well, at least I'm not alone in my griping about a lack of choice in grocery stores. Here in Jefferson County, we have Wal-Mart (which I despise), Brookshire's (which I despise even more), Cranford's and Sav-a-Lot, which I'm gonna have to check out again sometime.
I've been happy with Cranfords, although I've been known to sneak over to Sheridan's W-M to stock up on certain items.
Until.
Yeah, you guessed it -- the Affiliated Foods mess.
Sigh. I hate change. Well, unless it's change I initiate or approve of. But no one asked me if they were gonna inconvenience me and I think that's a grievous oversight.
Anyway, since Cranford's had to find a new supplier, prices seem to have risen substantially and often that increase is not reflected on the shelf price. I've been know to have a line of five or six people build up behind me while I argue the issues -- yes, multiple -- and I've heard that some of my neighbors now forego a trip into the store if they see my truck in the lot.
Add to that the fact that Cranford's no longer seem to be able to stock hubby's favorite Hot Springs honey and you find me looking farther afield, although with no real luck yet.
Fred's and various dollar stores are stocking more food items, but their selection is limited largely to canned goods (salt!) and a small selection of frozen processed foods (salt!), snack foods (sugar! and salt!), milk and soft drinks. And wouldn't you know it? The store I ran into to get a gallon of milk charged almost a dollar more for it than Cranford's. Oh, I nearly forgot -- probably because I didn't buy it. A loaf of wheat bread was nearly $3.
Sigh.
Still, it's gonna be interesting to watch what happens with these stores, especially Dollar General and Family Dollar, which seem to be popping up willy-nilly in neighborhoods.
In the meantime, I wonder how long we could live out of our pantry and freezer. Anyone got any suggestions how to make dry milk truly palatable?

People in America need to realize jus what got America in this shape."cheap" yes so-call cheap items from a foreign land.

quote*Wal-Mart firmly believes in local procurement. We recognize that by purchasing quality products, we can generate more job opportunities, support local manufacturing and boost economic development. Over 95% of the merchandise in our stores in China is sourced locally. We have established partnerships with nearly 20,000 suppliers in China. *end quote!

Now! if there be 182 country's making items for the world to buy and they have only 5% of the pie in China.duh! This company makes the nice people of China support their currency(yuan) by keeping it in their country working for the people there.. but with the "yuan" going up in value and the US dollar going down.all the foreign items that the American consumer buys thinking it is cheap has went up in price.

People.its all about the currency and to keep a currency strong you got to keep it floating around the country you live in so it can work for you. For the past 12 years all them US dollars are being shipped overseas to a foreign bank and with the American worker not making anything for the foreigner to buy the "we the people" have to turn to the "second" largest employer in America(Uncle Sam) to sell "we the people" debt in order to get all them dollars back!

50 years ago a foreigner would had given their left nut for a US dollar or a Hershey's chocolate bar and today the same foreigner has got Uncle Sam and the American consumer by both all the while Hershey is moving the chocolate factory to Mexico. Wake up! America and think "MADE IN AMERICA."

"Now let us look at Wal-Mart again; you buy a product there, 6% goes to the employees, 10-18% is profit to the company, 25% goes to other costs and 50% goes to re-stock or the cost of goods sold. Of the 50% about 20-25% goes to China, a guess, but you get the point. Now then, how long will it take at 433 Billion dollars at year for China to have all of our money, leaving no money flow for us to circulate? At a 17 Trillion dollar economy less than 40-years minus the 1/6 they buy from us. Some say that if we keep putting money into our economy, it would take forever, but if we do not then eventually all the money flow will go. If China buys our debt then eventually they own us, no need to worry about a war, they are buying America, due in part to our own mismanaged trade, so whose fault is that? Not necessarily China, as they are doing what's in the best interests, and we should make sure that trade is not only free, but fair too."

http://www.worldthinktank.net/pdfs/TheFlowofTrade.pdf