Take the grocery store poll

Al's/Valueland is my favorite. The Pontius family has been great to Michigan City for a long time now.

I agree--they're my favorite as well. The amount of community support they offer is amazing for the size of their company.

Wonder why they were left ot of the poll...?

EDIT: They're listed as Valueland, and I was looking for Al's (since they're now all Al's stores...not V-land). Oops...I marked other.

I fixed it for you.

Al's and Valueland are one and the same,

www.alssupermarket.com

I listed them in noparticular order

I'm well aware of that (they also own Barney's in New Buffalo, FWIW). I was just looking for Al's, not Valueland. My mistake...glad I caught it, too.

Are you being a bit biased?

Absolutely!

Good

I go different places. For convience sake and to help local business, I shop often at Al's. The produce is OK. The best produce in town, hands down is Meijer's. The best meat counter in LaPorte County is East Side Produce. The best produce in town comes from my garden.

I've been doing some shopping at various stores to check them out. After having been gone for four years I see a lot has changed. I haven't quite picked a favorite yet, and there are many stores I still haven't shopped. Here is what I've got so far:

LaPorte:

Wal-Mart: Not a good place to buy groceries. The prices are fair but the fresh food is worthless. The selections are poor and it is not all that "fresh" IMO.

Al's West: Great store! The people are helpful and there is always someone around to help you find something. They will even walk with you from one side of the store to the other to make sure you find it. The valuecard is truly a value card as well.

Aldi: Not too bad. The fresh fruit was really fresh and very tasty. The canned goods prices have gone up a little since I was here last (there is no Aldi in Wyoming) but are still fair. It was clean and the people were friendly. I don't recommend buying the meat, but otherwise I like it.

Michigan City:

Meijer: One word - UGH!

Wal-Mart: Similar to the one in LaPorte. Basically, it's really nothing special. If I have to buy typical Wal-Mart stuff and I need an item or two of food I will get it from Wal-Mart, but for grocery shopping it's not my store of choice.

Al's on Franklin: Hasn't changed much since I left. Looks like they jazzed up the appearance a little, but otherwise it's the same Ol' Al's. Which is great because that was a good store to begin with.

That's it for now.

You must not like the store or something because they have, without doubt the best produce section around.

Everytime I go in that place I leave irritated and frustrated. It's not any one thing but a combination of things every single time, so I just don't go there anymore.

I also clicked "other" because I was not aware Al's was Valueland. I just moved here

Al's is my favorite place because their bread is a-maz-ing and I save lots of money with their sales. I love Meijer too, though.

ND reporter first off, welcome to the area. If you're talking about good bread at Al's I can only assume that you're talking about the La Briola bread they have, the stuff in the brown and red packaging. Yup, it's pretty damn good, ins't it? I think the La Brea (named after the tar pits in CA) bread that Jewel bakes off is probably slightly better but I don't really like anything else at Jewel, especially the one in M.C. The Jewel in Chesterton is pretty nice though.
For the best meat counter, hope on highway 20 and head EAST, go toward highway 35, past 35 on the right hand side you'll see a little market, East Side Produce. That's the best meat counter around IMO.

Again, welcome to the area.

Thank you!

They make their own garlic bread and pita chips at Al's, and they're superyummy. It very well may be the La Briola bread. Whatever it is, it's magic.

I will have to check out East Side Produce, although I hardly buy any substantial amount of fresh meat. I usually stick to frozen pizzas and meals, and chicken nuggets, outside of PB&J sandwiches and the occasional fast food....my tastes are a little juvenile, I know. Cooking for one can get annoying!

I went into Meijer this afternoon to get a gallon of milk and my favorite take to the game snack (chocolate covered turtles) for tommorow night. The whole place was decked out in Colts advertising, parking lot, grocery aisles, even the bag carasoles at the end of the checkout lane, made me want to scream out loud and go someplace else, I'M A BEARS FAN!!!

I'm always amazed by stuff like that. Yes, I know we're in Indiana. But this area is at least 80 percent Bears over Colts. At least.

Appearently somebody got the wrong memo, I mean, what kind of allegiance would Meijer have with the Colts anyways? Meijer is based out of Grand Rapids for crying out loud. Maybe they're too ashamed to be associated with the Lions? I'm confused, A Michigan corporation promoting an Indianapolis team in the Chicago market, that's messed up.