We live near 2 Smith's off Decatur and we can get to an Albertson's when we need a better place to shop.
I said to my husband- "shall we go to Vons?"
He got to the store (we liked our local Vons in SoCal) and meandered around looking at the departments. Of course the nicer stores are put where the $$$ is to be spent. We whipped our Vivino apps to evaluate wines, bought food for the week and felt clean and happy.
We like the people working in our 2 local Smith's but Jeezus why are these stores so janky? Tired, lacking some special items and just not enjoyable.
We may not make it here each week but we noticed the difference.