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Fill your cart at local grocery stores
Gone are the days of the one size fits all grocery store. Today's jumbo giants specialize to attract niche shoppers hoping they'll become loyal customers.
Before you settle down (to just one store), like the song says, you'd better shop around.
The big boys
All three of our foundation stores do such a great job of providing us with fresh, healthy, competitively priced food that it's impossible to have a favorite.
All have fabulous meat departments with lots of stuffed, spiced and oven (or grill) ready selections. Each has a quality, fresh fish department.
Wine and beer from around the world are standard at all three stores with discounts for bulk purchases.
All have very fine in-store bakeries offering crusty breads, fancy tortes and special occasion cakes. And, each has freshly cut flowers and seasonal plants.
All three accept cash, checks, debit and credit cards plus you can get cash back ? so how do you choose?
Here's are a few, ever so slight differences that might tip the scale to make their store, your store.
Bloom
There are three Blooms here in Fauquier County, located in Bealeton, Warrenton, and Marshall. Shopping at one is just like shopping at another ? a life-saver when you need to make a quick stop outside your usual store.
Bloom is a wonderful, all-around, family grocery store. It's the place for bulk frozen vegetables, family sized entrees, jumbo pizzas and gallons of ice cream with enough variety to keep the kids from ever getting bored.
Smaller families will love the convenience of the store-packaged, home-style meals to go.
Bloom has the largest selection of fresh mushrooms in our area with oodles of unusual varieties to try. They also offer exotic fresh produce like sugar cane, cactus, mini bananas, mini pineapples and cherimoya.
At Bloom, you don't need a club card, you automatically get the lowest prices.
Giant
Located in Warrenton, Giant sets the standard for dairy. There are lots of choices (both regular and organic) in every category whether you're looking for milk, sour cream, cottage cheese, butter or ricotta. There's an exceptional selection of soy, rice and almond milk products, too, plus an excellent selection of cheese.
The store made donuts can't be beat. While the rest of the world is uber glazing theirs, Giant still makes old fashioned donuts that are plain or just sugared ? yum! And yes, they make glazed donuts, too.
There's a huge, well stocked, prepared food case they lovingly call the deli but if you like to cook from scratch, Giant has all the ingredients you'll ever need.
To save you time and gas, there's a full service pharmacy and a bank right in the store.
Safeway
If you're an "almost home made" kind of cook, where convenience is king, you'll find the Warrenton Safeway loaded with foods you can pass off as your own. The store's dramatic lighting sets the stage for an urbanesque shopping experience.
Just inside the door you'll find mountains of quick to grab, ready to reheat, takeout. Signature soups, rotisserie chickens, salads and dips are piled high plus there are enough sides to round things out. You can feed a hungry family or dinner party guests in no time flat.
The fine wine section will tempt the most educated palate with special occasion wines and champagnes from around the world.
Just shopping for routine groceries? There's Starbucks in the store so grab a cup and shop till you drop.
New Kid on the Block
If you like to shop at the top, Harris Teeter in Gainesville is for you.
Think: extravagant cuts of well-marbled, fresh, prime meat, shrimp the size of lobster tails, gourmet takeout, fresh, filled to order canoli, mounds of freshly baked, crusty bread and every kind of artisan cheese imaginable.
Aromas from in-house baking and gourmet food preparation tempt you at every turn. Samples are everywhere.
There's a big selection of cookware and kitchen gadgets, an in-house florist and custom bakery, fancy brands of tooth paste, exotic wines, and imported snacks. The store also boosts a huge produce section, as well as a small sit down café if you need a break from shopping.
If Harris Teeter doesn't have it, you probably don't need it.
Oh, and yes, there are plenty of regular groceries, too.
An independent grocer
Marshall's IGA is an old-fashioned grocery store, a time-honored, Fauquier tradition.
The IGA likes to carry locally produced foods and prides itself on its selection of area meats, vegetables and specialty items.
If you're a yard sale kind of shopper who loves to ferret out the unusual, this is a gem but don't let its well-worn appearance scare you away. Stop in, grab a cart and poke around.
It's a country store combined with an indoor farmers' market, offering a paired down shopping experience for urban tastes.
Leave your grocery list at home because temptation is everywhere. Hand-made sausages, fresh chickens, double yolk eggs, organic produce, sweet potatoes the size of melons, honey of all flavors plus a cook's tour of spices, sauces and grains.
You can spend the better part of a day rummaging around.
Grocery adventures
For shoppers who love rock bottom prices, Aldi in Culpeper is an adventure.
You'll know you're in a different sort of grocery store when, to get a cart, you have to deposit a quarter in a lock box. Return your cart to the proper place and you'll get your quarter back.
This is a no frills store. No background music or rest rooms, but the prices are so low you won't care.
In additional to regular groceries (Aldi brands, only), there's fine, European chocolates and frozen, imported tortes. Fresh meat is very limited, but there is an abundance of frozen fish.
There's not much dairy or produce, but like everything else at Aldi, it's good and cheap, cheap, cheap.
Cash or debit card, only. Bring your own bags because the store doesn't provide them.
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