My friend shops at the Plainfield Strack and Van Til and sings the praises of their loss leader coupon deals. I've yet to get there. But Woodman's I can't say enough about.
That's the thing, they have a million kinds... of uninteresting bread.
HA! I skip the bread area, the fresh meat and the deli section altogether.
Other than that, Woodman's is a *destination* shopping experience for us, odd as we are. We leisurely wander the liquor department ,exclaiming over the great selection of regional beers (O'Fallon Smoked Porter for being a recent purchase) as well as the shelves of cheap brandy--which we've always figured to be a nod to Wisconsin snowmobilers. While we generally go to the Algonquin or Kenosha stores, we've been been to North Aurora. Classier looking department and sampling on the weekends! (Although Tommy Bahama rum is just weird branding.)
Then we sprint through the bread and produce areas; although bok choy and other Oriental veggies seem to be a little cheaper than my local stores. A cursory glance at the fresh meat, which I can generally get at a better price at my local Italian owned groceries, and then it's the sausage and cheese department, which is always amazing.
Up and down the packaged goods aisles for things I usually can't locate anywhere else and better prices for the things I do normally buy. Their frozen food department is huge--with an emphasis on pizza. I'm not a fan of frozen pizza, but my husband likes their prices and is fine with them. LTH purists would probably be aghast at what goes in our cart--Snap-E-Tom juice, Linda McCartney frozen mac and cheese, frozen beef pasties, flavored cheese curds, Kaboom! cereal, Betty Crocker date bar mix. But, it's mainly things my husband, daughter and I have food memories of from childhood.
They pull the stuff out of the cart for you, are pleasant and never heave gigantic sighs about asking for paper bags instead of plastic..so my using my debit card is fine with me. I think we spent over 100.00 in liquor and equally the same in groceries last week in N Aurora. That's a big deal for us to plunk down in one trip, but it will carry our cravings awhile.
I prefer the Kenosha store--no sales tax and slightly cheaper liquor, but I recommend any of them.
Woodman's Store
7145 120th Avenue
Kenosha, WI 53142
(262) 857-3801
Woodman's Store
2100 Randall Road
Carpentersville, IL 60110
(847) 649-9005