In small mountain towns, little things like new grocery stores get people talking. When I moved to Jackson, Wyoming in 1999, the local Albertson’s was in the process of building a new store. They opened to much anticipation and the reaction was mixed. Some people complained that it was too big and too “fancy” while others marveled at its novel-for-the-time features such as a coffee shop and fireplace. A few months later, a new executive director moved from the Washington D.C. area to assume leadership of the organization I was working for. Several weeks after his arrival someone asked if he had been to the new Albertson’s. He looked at them blankly and when he realized they were serious he said, “It’s just a grocery store.”
Although Bozeman is much bigger than Jackson, we’re still a small mountain town in many ways with the propensity to succumb to chatter about new grocery stores. I had never heard of the WinCo chain before they opened a store here. As with many things during this tumultuous period of growth in Bozeman, people had opinions about it. I didn’t follow the saga closely (And it was a saga – Bozeman Daily Chronicle links at the bottom of this post), and they opened their store in February.
Being nosy and wanting to see what the fuss was all about, I finally got around to shopping there for the first time three weeks ago. Is WinCo a big deal or just another grocery store? Here’s what I found.
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WinCo Foods is an employee-owned supermarket chain based in Boise, Idaho. In 2016, they first unsuccessfully submitted plans to open a store in Bozeman. Apparently, the city and the company could not agree some of the store’s design features. As you can imagine, some folks grumbled about government regulations stifling business while others complained that a big-box grocer like WinCo would create increased traffic and harm small retailers.
Eventually, the company revised its plans, which were approved by the city commission. WinCo now had permission to build not far from I-90 near their big-box brothers and sisters Target, Bob Wards, Staples, and Costco. The United Food and Commercial Workers Local-4 Union members claimed that a WinCo would compete with other grocery stores, increase traffic, and put their jobs at risk so they filed a lawsuit against the city of Bozeman for upholding the commission’s decision to approve the store. Eventually, the Montana Supreme Court dismissed the case and WinCo was in.
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The first thing I noticed when I arrived at the store were the red letters on the storefront announcing “24 Hour Saving.” In a town where it’s almost impossible to find a place serving food after 9:30, I question if Bozeman is ready for around-the-clock food shopping.
The next thing I noticed was how big it is. But it’s not just the store’s size; everything about it is big. WinCo has only one size grocery cart, the humongous size, and no small shopping baskets. Once inside I noticed the long rows of wide aisles and tall shelves stacked high with boxes. It’s as if Town and Country and Costco coupled up to make WinCo. The plastic bags for bulk items were also huge.
I was surprised to find three aisles of bulk items in the store. An assortment bins and barrels were filled with grains, pasta, beans, spices, nuts, and more, and the assortment of bulk candy was shockingly large. (As was the snack aisle across the store.)
The international food aisle was also large, and I pleasantly surprised to find that it was popular. So much so that at one point I as forced to tango with three other customers as we navigated through the aisle with our behemoth carts. The international aisle had many spices, a few rows of chilis (Dried whole chilis and powder), many shelves of hominy, (I had to look up what that is), and 28-ounce cans of La Costeña tomatillos, which are becoming hard to find in Bozeman.
Over in the beer aisle, WinCo was well-stocked with 30-packs of Keystone, Busch Light, and other crap beer. They had a few imports (Stiegl Radler, Guinness, Stella Artois, and a selection of Mexican beer) and only a handful of microbrew cans and bottles. And they had a ton of brands of hard seltzers and ciders – who that many existed.
Signs around the store advertised sale pricing in bold letters and red signs capped off the end of each aisle declaring WinCo the “Low Price Leader.” It definitely had a warehousy feel to it, which makes it easy to think you’re “getting deals;” it’s the kind of place where you find yourself thinking it’s probably wise to “stock up.”
I left the store with the impression that WinCo was inexpensive but how much so I wasn’t sure. I saved the receipt and compared a few key items during subsequent trips to the Community Food Co-Op, Rosauers, and Town and Country. (List at the bottom of the post.)
I discovered that in many instances WinCo prices are indeed low. In some cases, so low that I wondered how it could be possible. I thought of the book Cheaponimics: The High Cost of Low Prices. The book discusses the illusion of low prices and how big retailers can undercut small, local competitors. The book makes the point that we all pay the price for these deals in terms of poor working conditions, environmental impact, and social justice. I'm not really sure if WinCo is doing harm (And there are bigger offenders even in Bozeman) so I won't make a judgement but it's something that has me thinking.
The Verdict
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| As seen at WinCo Bozeman. I won't comment. |
I’m not whooped up about WinCo one way or the other. Yes, it could threaten local retailers, but we all have the ability to combat that by shopping locally. Bozeman keeps growing and as far as I can tell, the grocery stores in town (ten to 12 or more depending on how you count) all seem to be busy, local and chain alike. WinCo is inexpensive but not so much so that I’d go out of my way to shop there.
I support the local food stores as often as possible, and three grocery stores are located not far from my house (Plus a Whole Foods is under construction nearby and plans are being finalized for a Town and Country to be built within walking distance of my house.) I pass the Co-op regularly on my travels throughout town. It’s very easy for me to get to a lot of grocery stores and WinCo is not in my regular town travel path.
A big warehousy place like WinCo doesn’t resonate with me, but I’m fine with it being here, especially where it's located in the big-box, strip-mall part of town near the interstate. I may drop in to WinCo from time to time if I’m in the area, and I now know that I have one more grocery store to go to if I can’t find what I need in the plethora of options around town.
But in the end, who really cares. After all, it’s just a grocery store.
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Price Comparisons
Regular prices, none of these items were on sale
• Bulk peanut butter – per pound
o $1.99 WinCo
o $4.29 Town & Country
o $4.39 Rosauers
o $5.99 Co-op
• Bulk salted almonds – per pound
o $5.78 WinCco
o $8.19 Town & Country
o $8.36 Co-op
o $2.96 WinCo
o $3.99 Rosauers
• Talenti gelato
o $3.88 WinCo
o $4.99 Co-op
o $6.79 (!) Rosauers
• Zoi Lemon Cream Greek Yoghurt
o $2.78 WinCo
o $4.79 Town & Country
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Check out the Bozeman Daily Chronicle if you want to read more about the WinCo saga. (Open in an Incognito Window if you want to read them without a subscription.)
- https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/economy/winco-foods-abandons-plans-for-bozeman-store/article_f9e090ad-9274-54b4-9bdd-c252104a71fc.html
- https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/winco-again-proposes-location-in-north-bozeman/article_4d13f3aa-0b71-5e58-89da-2cdfe3a9b2f0.html
- https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/winco-now-closer-to-adding-bozeman-location/article_7c2bc306-6f75-57cb-8a3a-09437ade79a4.html
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