Reporting by Nate Trela, Fort Collins Coloradoan
It seems like every trendy specialty or discount grocery store eventually comes to Colorado. Trader Joe’s long seemed to be at the top of people’s wish lists, and they’ve been in the state for more than a decade.
And now Aldi is nearing the opening of its first Colorado stores this year, meaning there will be a new chain without a presence in Colorado people long for the most. But what is it?
Lenspricer.com, a deal-tracking site for contact lenses, surveyed more than 3,000 people nationally to find out which budget-friendly retailer they most wish would open in their state.
“No state named a big-box giant as its most-wanted chain,” the report reads. “The winners were discounters, warehouse formats and treasure-hunt stores, not the household names already on every corner. Americans aren’t asking for more shopping. They’re asking for cheaper shopping.”
What are Colorado’s most-wanted discount grocery stores?
The survey’s Colorado findings pointed to three discount stores.
- Grocery Outlet Bargain Market
- Meijer
- Price Rite Marketplace
What makes Coloradans want Grocery Outlet Bargain Market?
Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, based in northern California, was the top choice in Colorado and 27 other states. It sells a rotating collection of name-brand groceries at deep discounts, giving deals for things it bought on the cheap for being surplus stock, discontinued products in old packaging, or other reasons why they won’t end up on other retailers’ shelves. That means the lineup of what is sold in the stores will change frequently, but the savings can be sizable.
The chain operates in a handful of states in the western U.S., northeast and upper Midwest.
What makes Coloradans want Meijer?
The discount retailer has a broad selection of household goods, hardware, toys, electronics and more, similar to the kind of selection found at Walmart. So you can stop in for cold cuts and leave with a tire iron, flat-screen TV and new bedding.
Meijer, which operates in a contiguous footprint of six largely midwestern states, was the top choice in 13 states.
What makes Coloradans want Price Rite Marketplace?
Like the other top picks in Colorado, Price Rite Marketplace offers lower prices on groceries. But it adds a large selection of what a release on the report calls multicultural foods and ingredients such as spices, sauces and cuts of meat that entice more people to try one-stop shopping.
The New Jersey-based chain operates in the northeast and mid-Atlantic region and was the top pick in three states.
Nate Trela covers trending news in Colorado and Utah for the USA Today Network, with an emphasis on consumer finance, legal issues and state laws.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan.
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