Grocery Shopping In Las Vegas

Grocery Shopping has gotten a little bit more competitive in Las Vegas as Win Co has opened up two new grocery stores,one in Henderson and another in the northern part of the Valley.  They join other grocery store chains like Wal-Mart, Smiths, Vons, Albertsons, Fresh and Easy, Whole Foods and Food For Less and a couple of other stores.
In the past couple of days, we have visited Win Co, Vons, Smith and Wal Mart and found the following:
Win Co is new and has a lot of specials, but will these low cost food items still be on sale 6 months from now?  The advantages of Win Co: The Henderson store is very big, probably has the biggest square footage of any grocery store in Las Vegas.    They have a section of bulk food and candy, which may lower costs in some areas.  They also have some competitive prices in some areas and mostly the same in most other areas.  Their meat section was not that good but the deli section was as good as any other store, if not better.  The store is not that well organized, but that may change.  Their produce prices were quite good (bananas 39 cents a pound vs 59 cents at  Wal-Mart)  Some of their selections were not that great, like their cereal, though if you like organic cereal, they have a pretty good selection.  Their soda section  was good, with Shasta on sale for $1.98 for a 12 pack.  Hy top is Win Co's generics and they have some good prices, though maybe not as good as the other stores.  You also have to bag your own groceries and they do not take credit cards but take debit cards.
Smiths:  Good prices on many of the meat prices and with their discount card, you can get some good deals but it is hit or miss on the different sales.  The store on Valle Verde in Henderson seems to have more sales than the other Smiths stores, probably because they are so close to Win Co.
Vons:  Really expensive and their supposed sales are mostly fake sales.  Foir instance, they have a buy 1 get 1 free, but in reality, they boost up the price of the first item, so you really do not save very much.  But once in a while,they do have a good sale, if you look at their promotional mailers.
Wal-Mart: They generally have good prices on the box items like cereal, toiletries, and other canned and boxed items.  However, they are generally more expensive in their meat and produce departments than Win Co and Smiths. 
Wal-Mart:,of course, has other departments.  When we went to the Wal-Mart store in Henderson, on Boulder Hwy and Lake Mead, they were out of a lot of products. 
So, when we go shopping, we will hit Win Co, then Smiths and then Wal-Mart because of 3 stores are within 10 minute of our house. 
The loser: Food For Less.  They really do not have many items we need and their prices are not really that cheap compared to other stores.  Again, you have to check their sales.
If you plan your shopping, you can save a lot of money by going to different stores, even with high gas prices.  Each store will give you some good sales but they also have some high prices, so you really have to plan and look for the good deals.

On another note, Lee Discount Liquors may not be all that about discounts.  Genesse Beer recently came to the Las Vegas Valley.  At Lee's, the price for a 24 ounce can is $1.99.  At the Chevron gas station close to where I live,  have the same can of beer for only $1.  So, Lee's is not that much about discount.  Maybe on the more high end booze, they maybe cheaper and they do have a large selection of wine and hard liquor, but for your average booze hound, Lee really is not the place to go.
So, no matter where you live, in the day of rising gas and food prices, you have to check the prices carefully, use generics if possible and just be smart.  The grocery stores just love it when people come into their stores who are not informed about the different sales and the shopper just throws their money away.