Your favorite Estonian grocery chain/store?

**Alex**

Ok, vote for your favorite Estonian grocery chain or individual store, chain or otherwise.

It's a tough one for me. A couple different stores carry different things I like. If I'm in the mood for shrimp, I like the packs of large Thai shrimp they sell at Ülemiste Rimi. They generally have a good selection of other things as well. But I'm always afraid my car will be missing when I come out of there.

I go to Prisma often as my wife likes those jumbo bags of Joe's Farm corn flakes. I also like the Prismas because even at a slow, off rush hour period they have plenty of cashiers, so it's fast to get out. Selver (at least the one near me) tends to cut the amount of cashiers during slow times so there's always a line.

Speaking of Selver, I like them well enough, but Järve Selver is a pain to get in and out of unless you get there super early or super late (parking can be a nightmare and I have a big car). Tondi is much better but their selection of items in some areas is lacking.

The two Konsum stores that I've shopped in regularly down South are the Põlva Konsum and the Eden keskus Konsum in Tartu. I don't care for either, though the staff in Põlva is generally pretty nice.

While I've been to Stockmann and Kaubamaja on occasion, I've never done food shopping there.

Never been in a Maxima, my wife says they suck, so they clearly must.

Been in a bunch of little Säästu Markets. Ok if you just need some little staple items like milk.

Been a few times to Maksimarket, over in Laagri and Lasnamäe. They're ok but neither is near me so I don't go often.

So, I'm picking Prisma for good locations to me, ease of checking out and decent selection.
_________________
"As much as I converse with sages and heroes, they have very little of my love and admiration. I long for rural and domestic scene, for the warbling of birds and the prattling of my children." ~John Adams

Flasher T · Joined: 05 Feb 2008 Posts: 35 Location: Tartu

Kaubamaja and Stockmann should be an expat's main haunts.

Chains do differentiate. Selver is expensive, but pleasant and tends to have a decent selection; Konsum/Maksimarket (which is really the same chain, ETK) have the best produce sections short of Stockmann, which doesn't exist in Tartu, but they have taken over a lot of old Soviet properties that feel depressive; they also have an appalling bakery.

Rimi has an excellent choice of stuff and a good bakery, but by far the most horrible produce section, and no loyalty card program.

Prisma doesn't exist in Tartu, so can't say really, but their Tallinn shops seem nice - if gargantuan...

This would have made a lot more sense as a multiple-choice "which stores do I shop at" question.

**Alex** · Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 11:11 am Post subject:

Flasher T · Joined: 05 Feb 2008 Posts: 35 Location: Tartu

More goods expats would be used to. Like the cheese.

And yes, they are more expensive - Kaubamaja is the most expensive food store in Tartu, according to a recent comparison - but for some things, they are worth it.

**Alex** · Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 2:29 am Post subject:

Actually, the only thing that I've never been able to find at a chain store that I would like is Miracle Whip salad dressing that I use for sandwiches.

Other than that, all my food needs have been met by the big chains.
_________________
"As much as I converse with sages and heroes, they have very little of my love and admiration. I long for rural and domestic scene, for the warbling of birds and the prattling of my children." ~John Adams

Flasher T · Joined: 05 Feb 2008 Posts: 35 Location: Tartu

Don't know about Miracle Whip, but both Rimi and Selver are stocking some sort of Salad & Sandwich dressing - I bought a bottle of the walnut kind to try out...

Georg · Joined: 12 Feb 2008 Posts: 4 Location: Rapla

Flasher T · Joined: 05 Feb 2008 Posts: 35 Location: Tartu

I wouldn't spend the 30-odd kroons they're asking for it again. It's OK, but if I'm after something special, butter is better.

(Incidentally, the EU has done odd things to butter. Most of them are now called võie, which roughly translates as "butter-type product". Only Saaremaa and Tere have või any more, and that's more expensive. The others are probably mixing in vegetable oils - Kris Rikken had an angry blog post about that...)

Marie · Joined: 04 Feb 2008 Posts: 16 Location: Tallinn

Selver is my favorite. Very Happy

Mingus · Joined: 19 Mar 2008 Posts: 7 Location: Tartu

Just joined so sorry for the late reply on this topic, but it's something I feel strongly about. After living in Tartu for 10 years and enjoying trips to Tallinn just so I could visit Stockmann (they actually have a proper bakery) and get a few home-style items, you can imagine my dismay when the selection here got much better, then went downhill again, to where if I want certain things, I once again have to drive on that horrible highway.
I live within walking distance of a HyperRimi, so that's where I normally go. It used to be a SuperNetto, then it changed to Citymarket (which was by far the best) and then on to Rimi. Every week the selection gets smaller by a handful of noticeable items, for example Multigrain Cheerios. Who stops selling Cheerios? They don't even have a section for good cheeses, and for some odd reason, you can't get a simple baguette in Tartu, anywhere. I've asked all around, and they always reply 'We can't, or we don't know how.' But they seem perfectly capable of burning some cat-food-nasty cheese onto things that they call pikksai. They just look at me oddly when I suggest that they hold the cheese. As if, who would eat plain bread?
But Rimi used to have major problems with their lines. 12 registers, 4 cashiers at 5 on Friday. I couldn't finish my shopping because the lines went halfway up the aisles.
Now however, the toy section has disappeared and so have the crowds. Everyone seems to be going to Selver, which, while being more expensive and having a somewhat smaller selection, is at least consistent in products they provide. (I've noticed that every time I get used to a product, they stop selling it, or it expires that day, or the importer simply forgot to order it again...I waited a year for chickpeas.)
Anyhow, is it just me overreacting or is it just Tartu where this seems to happen?

krikken · Joined: 05 Apr 2008 Posts: 9

Stockmann, easily. And Piprapood, the spice shop, is almost next door.

Though Stock is crowded. Supermarkets are one of the few places where I actually do mind rudeness and different body space. You have to have a certain amount of air and space when shopping for something as important as food.

Stockmann has, at least for limited times, familiar foods from the States. Grape Nuts, for instance. I don't know if anyone else eats this brand of kitty litter, but I love it, and it polishes my teeth. Stockmann must have ordered it as a one-time deal and had trouble selling it at $8 a box, though.

Anyway, cereals are one of the few imported processed foods we eat, because they are fortified -- true, maybe heavy on the iron and B complex ones, but I'm convinced it's better than feeding your kid cream of wheat each morning.

**Alex** · Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 8:00 am Post subject:

Mingus · Joined: 19 Mar 2008 Posts: 7 Location: Tartu

krikken · Joined: 05 Apr 2008 Posts: 9

**Alex** · Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:41 pm Post subject:

A sandwich just isn't a sandwich without Miracle Whip! Very Happy

I grew up on the stuff. My sister's sends me a bottle from time to time as a special treat.
_________________
"As much as I converse with sages and heroes, they have very little of my love and admiration. I long for rural and domestic scene, for the warbling of birds and the prattling of my children." ~John Adams