The Top Grocery Stores in Owings Mills
1. The Food Lion on Lakeside Boulevard.
If you’re looking for a quick grocery shopping experience in Owings Mills on the cheap, the local Food Lion is where you want to shop. Nationally, Food Lions typically have a bad reputation when it comes to cleanliness and convenient grocery shopping, but the Food Lion in Owings Mills is a winner. There aren’t a lot of frills here. You’re not going to find coffee shops, aisles of gourmet cheese or an expansive olive bar. Food Lion sticks to the basics-it’s a smaller grocery store with only one or two brands of each item. But the price and convenience can’t be beat.
It has a small but efficient bakery, pre-prepared items near the front where you can see them, and phenomenal sales. Party trays are prepared on-time with little notice for reasonable prices. Meat and fish are frequently marked down to be bought in bulk and saved in your freezer. Food Lion is never overcrowded, always clean and well-organized, and the produce offered to the average grocery shopper is actually of better quality than any of the higher end stores in town. Best of all, the checkout aisle is always available without much of a wait. For these reasons, even though Owings Mills also has a competing nearby Shoppers Food Warehouse, Food Lion gets the nod for a fast and easy grocery shopping experience.
2. The Safeway on Reisterstown Road.
Safeway affords the highest end grocery shopping experience for Owings Mills shoppers-unless they want to drive to Pikesville or Hunt Valley. The large grocery store comes complete with a Starbucks, an admirable produce selection, and wide aisles housing everything from seasonal flatware to patio furniture. For your convenience, there’s also a ‘ready-to-eat’ display by the door and a large ethnic food section.
Safeway has the best grocery store bakery in Owings Mills, as well as the widest selection of gourmet cheeses and company-friendly items. If you’re throwing a party, Safeway wins hands down. They even sell some Safeway brand frozen appetizers that rival gourmet brands-the mushroom medallions are not to be missed.
Safeway’s offers a wide variety and a pleasant shopping experience for Owings Mills shoppers, and they now offer home delivery as well. While Safeway’s online site leaves much to be desired, the fact that they don’t mark up items for home delivery says something about their business ethic. The delivery fee is modest, and the drivers refuse tips. Whether you grocery shop online or in the store, you’re likely to find what you need at a reasonable price.
3. The Giant on Groffs Mill Drive.
Like most Giant Food Stores, the produce selection of this Owings Mills store leaves something to be desired. But it’s clean, well-lit, and the personal hygiene aisle has been completely remodeled. This should be contrasted with the other Giant in Owings Mills, on Reisterstown Road, which is old and run down.
Though the variety of items offered in the Groffs Mill Drive Giant cannot compete with the nearby Safeway, it’s worth noting that Giant is the only union-run shop in town. If you feel like you’re paying a few cents more than you’d like, remember that you’re helping workers keep a living wage, and off the public dole, which would have come out of your pocket anyway.
But this is not to say that Giant charges unreasonable prices or that their selection is poor. Giant has two separate refrigerated bins of cheese, so Owings Mills shoppers can go home with some decent company-worthy cheeses without the half-hour drive to Wegmans. Giant also has an excellent pharmacy, but the hours cannot compete with the nearby Rite-Aid up the street.
One major drawback of Giant is the placement of their restrooms. You have to go to the very back of the store, run past the smelly fish counter, and brave the back storage room with busy employees. In the modern day, where customers expect clean and easily accessible restrooms, this kind of layout is a turn off. Worse, the Giant is typically crowded and difficult to navigate. Luckily, Giant has an affiliate program with Peapod, so you can have your groceries delivered. But it will cost you a mark-up on each item, and a hefty delivery fee-not to mention a far less exotic selection than you’d have in the store itself.
