Sign me up for the club. I avoid Ralphs whenever possible.

Sadly, the 3 closest markets to us our all Ralphs. And they all suck in ways that you wouldn't imagine would cross over between stores. But there's something about the way they're run (confirmed by CP's brother who worked at one for a short while) that just sucks. Feh.

Luckily I can avoid them but I haven't found one yet that has sufficient parking. Which starts me out aggravated. They never have enough checkers/coursey clerks. Generally half the number Vons will have working on a weeekend or during the evening rush. The only time they were sufficiently staffed was during the strike. And honestly the scabs were much more compitent and nicer than the usual workers.

The Ralphs in the Marina Pacifica Center on PCH is nice... and HUGE. We go there a lot now that we have moved.

Ralphs is our preferred store. While it is further than the Von's (which is within easy walking distance), it is much larger and better stocked.

I like Albertson's with the self check-out

It hasn't been so much about size and stocking, it's about the employees. At best, they're chatting with their friends when they should be helping customers ("No, for the third time, I want a half pound of roast beef.") and at worst they are talking sh!t with each other about their coworkers within easy earshot of customers. They are unfriendly and unhelpful. And it's been consistent between two different Ralphs I go to regularly. When we mentioned it to CP's brother he said, "Yup, that's what it was like at the one I worked at too," and made a good case that it has a lot to do with the company's policies (or lack their of) on training and how they treat their employees. Once he was there for some time and his coworkers could tell that he wasn't an idiot, all of the long-termers warned him to get the hell out while he still can.

Many Ralph's have self checkout too, but the system is inferior to Albertsons'. It's a little buggy, less intuitive, and requires a lot more intervention from employees (something I would rather avoid at Ralphs. See above), and innevitably at every Ralphs I've been to that has one, it's roped off and shut down a good portion of the time because it doesn't help anyone.

What's Ralphs ??
What's Albertsons??

...... I KNOW what Vons is... :mad: (ow, my feet)

you folks do realize that most of those are WIC stores and that first-of-the-month is NOT the time to go anywhere near a major grocery outlet, right? that is, not if youre hoping to avoid massive crowds, anyway.

nothing against the low income folks, just anything that brings them out en masse on the same day can make for a frustrating grocery experience, not to mention you can only have your foot run over/ be crashed into so many times by children driving overloaded grocery carts they cant see over before losing some small bit of ones cool.

/end rant

At my Ralphs it's the surly employees. They are rude and unhelpful. One particular checker who's been there for years literally will NOT bag your groceries but will spend a ton of time YELLING over the pa system for a courtesy clerk to do it for her.

Today we woke up and looked outside to see...snow.


WTF?!?

I's APRIL. Why is there snow here?