New Andersons expansion = awesome

I love to grocery shop too, Upso. One can never have enough different mustards, etc. :0
That said – this is great news. I will definitely be going out of my way to check it out. Maybe this will make me finally make a weekly list so I don’t have to drive across town all the time. I am still not a fan of Andersons Market in Sylvania. But they may be more the fault of the clientele than anything else. (nothing against Sylvanians, just a lot of you like to use your time there to chat with others while standing in the middle of already too narrow aisles. It’s a grocery store – not a coffee shop)

I also like the expansion of the Maumee store.They even have a walk in cooler for beverages. Ryan,I used to shop at the old Churchills on Byrne road and had the same problem with the talkers.It was like social hour for the retirees.I found the best way to shop in that situation was to leave my cart at the end of the isle and walk down and get what I needed.Otherwise you could not get your cart down the aisle and had to wait while people were chatting.

I agree, my wife and I have been there a couple times and were very impressed. We're also huge fans of Costco on Central Avenue - we think that was a great addition to the city as well.
Hey, wait a minute.... this post has a pro-Toledo atmosphere to it so far - Please, we need a dissenting opinion! (Usually I am the one commenting on the decline....)

I am so out of the loop. I had completely forgotten about the Maumee store. Wow. I really need to try and make an effort to spend my money at Andersons when possible.

The Maumee location has also had an incredible makeover and expansion. I had the tires on my van replaced at Tire Man in Maumee last Saturday so I had lots of time to roam around the new and improved Andersons General Store.
Amazing! They are truly positioning themselves to be a one stop shop for everything one could need.

I spent a while with the wine steward who showed me around the expanded selection - over 4,500 different wines to choose from and hundreds of different beers. Wines at every price point you could imagine - from $6.99 to $699/bottle. Mind boggling selection.

I thought along the same lines as you upso - I intend to do more of my shopping at Andersons to support their commitment.
That being said, I can't give up on my beloved Fresh Market. Their meats/poultry and seafood are top shelf and, I've never been a fan of House of Meats. Been burned by them too many times and have learned my lesson. I know that opinion is the equivalent of Blasphemy in this town but that's the way it is.

Andersons has also expanded their bakery selections. Wide variety of fresh breads and other goodies.

I have only been to Fresh Market a few times and can’t seem to quantify the cost. I picked up a rotisserie bird there one day and not only was it 3 dollars more than Kroger, but half the size and absolutely no flavor. Call me a poultry whore, but every now and again I get a hankering for a Kroger chicken served with corn and fresh tomatoes and cottage cheese,mmm.

Actually, I was referring to the raw chicken. It's vegetarian fed/raised and antibiotic/hormone free.

I prefer to clean and cook it myself and am willing to pay more for the quality.

Yes, FM can be pricey - but I've figured out what not to buy there and what I'm willing to pay more for. In addition, IMHO, they have the BEST non restaurant Sushi in town. Though I noticed that Andersons has now employed Sushi chefs. Repeat those last two words five times - real fast.

Not to sound stupid; but what do you mean clean it? Please tell me I am way off base here. :()

Raw chicken - of any type - I remove any excess fat, cartilage, pinfeathers, etc. and rinse it well and pat it dry before I freeze it or cook it.

Foodie may say something different, but I tend to rinse off any chicken I buy (just rinse under the tap). Gets off the loose fat and any gizzard leftovers on the inside before I roast da bird.

Got in the habit after I saw a 60 Minutes piece on how Tyson processes chicken. If I remember the story right, they showed freshly plucked carcasses being "rinsed" in a vat of water that basically was never changed and full of chicken s$1t. Then it was off to be either cut up and/or wrapped in plastic for the sucker on the consumer end.

They've probably changed since that report, but it still sticks with me!

Oh--meant to add that the 60 Minutes story probably aired about 20 years ago now. So it wasn't recent if anyone was going to look it up...

Got it – I was imagining a full feathered bird or something.

FWIW, I hear most say now that rinsing a chicken in your sink only contaminates your sink and the surrounding area since cooking the chicken kills any bacteria there is anyway.

That's very true Ryan. And that's why when I'm finished, I spray my sink, cutting board and any cutlery used with germicide. Then wash everything in hot, soapy water.

I do this after handling any raw protein - meats, poultry, pork, seafood.

I'm guessing you don't do much cooking?

You guys know Fresh Market is owned by Kroger, right? Your bird at $3 more most likely was the same as one from Kroger.

Only, you know, $3 more.

wow. it is?! crazy!

Hmmmmmm.....owned by Kroger? No, I was not aware of that. Sure there isn't a store with a similar name that is one of the Kroger owned chains?

There is no way it was the same bird, 50% smaller and 1/3rd the taste.

Foodie, actually I cook alot. Just stopped washing my chicken in the sink is all because that made sense to me and I have no desire to wipe everything down each time.I eat raw meat too which makes most sick, so maybe I have an iron stomach. Although they say the typical kitchen sink is dirtier than your toilet! YUCK!

i love steak tartare. mmmmmmmmmm

IKR?

have you had it at rockwells? giant portions. so good

FWIW, The Fresh Market website says it started off as a small store in 1982 opened by a man named Ray Berry and his wife Beverly. It also says that their corporate offices are located in Greensboro, NC.

yeah... and krogers is based in cincinnati.

IMHO - Meijer has the best rotisserie chicken. As for the Anderson's on Talmadge...what a depressing looking place inside. Dingy, horrible lighting, awful looking floor. The joint needs a total makeover.

Maybe you missed my previous post, but that's what they are doing! It looks great!

^needs it

tried the rotisserie chicken from costco? it's really good, in my opinion. agree with foodie that fresh market's meats are high quality, but i'd venture to say that schorling's meats are excellent, too. can't say that for their produce (or most of the rest of the store, for that matter), but i guess nobody's perfect. love the anderson's, even before the makeover.

I stop by the Sylvania store from time to time and like it. Not a place I want to do all of my shopping, though. Never liked the Talmadge store in the past.

Fresh Market is a family owned chain. NO connection to Kroger, or as the locals say "Kroger'S".

Love the new expansion at The Andersons, but for meat I'm at Fresh Market, Churchill's or Zavotski depending on what I'm hungry for.

we're 2 minutes from the Andersons at Woodville Mall and have done a heck of a lot more shopping there in the last 6 months than ever. I like it for meat and shelf goods but their produce has gone down, so we go to Meijers for that. hope they put some money into our store, they have lots of room to expand. (like the whole mall! ;p)

Fresh Market has great pre-made wraps and sandwiches. I stop there for a quick lunch often. Costco does have awesome Rotisserie Chicken - always 4.99 and twice the size of krogers. Will go out of the way to go to Zavotski's over H.O.M. any day.

I would bet that bigger chicken = more steroids.
Try to find a stewing chicken sometimes, good luck.

yeah... i really am not excited about giant chickens.

I love Anderson's new expansion. I shop at the Maumee one regularly. I avoid Fresh Market because their restaurant inspection reports in the Blade are repeatedly poor.