Have you shopped at Whole Foods or Bristol Farms for seasonal products? Compared to the major grocery store chains their produce is leaps and bounds better. I don't believe in the organic marketing crap but their food, especially when it comes to fruit, is amazing, unlike anything you can find at Kroger, Publix, or Safeway.
Cherries, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, pears, apples, tomatoes, and countless of other produce taste much better than anything I can get at a normal grocery. Hell, I have very fond memories of eating fresh food from my grandparents dacha or picking wild berries in the forest behind my school and the high end grocers are the only place where they taste even remotely as good as what I had in Russia. Russia.
You get what you are willing to pay for, especially when it costs two to three times the lower end.
Part of this is due to volume. A chain like Safeway needs massive volume to supply all their stores. A smaller chain can be more selective in what they buy because they need smaller amounts. Smaller chains are also more willing to deal with local farms directly for regional supply.
In PDX, I'd rank the produce quality as:
1) farmers market (unlike many cities, in Portland the vendors are the farmers)
2) Zupans - on the spendy side but quite good
3) Whole Foods
4) Fred Meyers
5) New Seasons - small local chain, but lousy buyers
6) Safeway
At one time the farmers markets in PDX were superb, great produce at modest prices. Over the years they've become "fancy", kind of resembling Saturday Market, and prices are high. There are bargains to be found, though it takes some effort.
Asian markets, like out on 82nd, offer some interesting (and to us non-Asians, rather exotic) options. Unlike the Chinese vendors described in the article, produce is generally in good shape and prices reasonable. Also they're good places to buy cooking hardware, like an authentic cast-iron wok, for way less than what they charge at upscale kitchen stores.
No argument about Zupans for fresh fish, better than other grocers in PDX. They usually have good produce, but it is expensive and often available elsewhere for less.
Whole foods is OK, but I don't find it's particularly superior. New Seasons can be good, if selections somewhat quirky.
Freddy's is probably best for staples, partly because they're a Kroger's subsidiary which is a huge national chain. Hardly ever go to Safeway as nothing special there and further away.
I'd add that local, seasonal produce isn't hard to find in PDX, many grocers do feature regionally sourced fruits and vegetables, along with the "factory made" stuff. There's always the option of "U-Pick" on Sauvie's Island, an adventure in itself.
Whole Foods produce is only better in areas that have a Whole Foods. In areas without a Whole Foods, all the produce goes to the lower-end stores and sold for the lower prices, regardless of quality. Once Whole Foods moves in, they split off the higher-quality produce, selling it for a higher price, and the quality everywhere else drops.
Do you have any data on that? How would you know that the food that would be marked up by Whole Foods is sent instead to regular groceries to be sold for cheaper? Maybe the good produce grown locally at small scale is sold to local stores but given the extremely lucrative agricultural export market, I find it very hard to believe that the good produce is sold cheap locally instead of shipped elsewhere at a huge markup. California avacados or oranges, for example, cost significantly more in Florida or New York, far beyond the extra cost of transportation, spoilage, etc. and this profitability fuels the California agriculture industry.
Cherries, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, pears, apples, tomatoes, and countless of other produce taste much better than anything I can get at a normal grocery. Hell, I have very fond memories of eating fresh food from my grandparents dacha or picking wild berries in the forest behind my school and the high end grocers are the only place where they taste even remotely as good as what I had in Russia. Russia.
You get what you are willing to pay for, especially when it costs two to three times the lower end.