Life in Big Canoe, Real Estate in the Mountains

We have blogged in the past about how nice it is to live in the virtually self-sufficient community of Big Canoe.  We have our own water department and supply, our own public safety, roads department, etc.   We also have a small general store known as the IGA Express (complete with squeaky spring-loaded front door).  The IGA Express is great for grabbing an ice cream for the kids, a snack, or a bottle of wine, but it is limited in the selection of groceries available to the shopper.  While Big Canoe is fairly convenient to both GA 400 and I-575/515, it is still a bit of a trip to hit one of the big chain grocery stores.

While driving clients around to view real estate listings in the Big Canoe Community, we are often asked where do we go to get our groceries?  As I mentioned, the IGA Express is great for minor items, fishing supplies, wine and beer, soft drinks, snacks, and frozen foods, it’s not where you want to go to fill out that Thanksgiving grocery list.  There are really 4 main grocery stores that we visit (and probably most of the residents in and around Big Canoe).  I’ll cover each of them over the next few days.  Some of this is obviously my personal opinion, and your results may vary.

I’ll start with the Kroger grocery store located just outside the city of Jasper at the intersection of GA 53 and GA 400.  This is roughly a 20-25 minute drive from Big Canoe.  Kroger is a huge grocery store complete with a Starbucks, bank, pharmacy, deli, as well as seasonal and home items.  The quaility of the produce and meat seems to be pretty consistent.  I have never had to return an item because it was spoiled or bad.  The seafood selections do not look appealing to me, but I have a rule I go by where I never purchase or eat seafood more than 50 miles from the coast, so I can’t really fault Kroger for this.  Kroger’s prices are good, but only if you submit to their Kroger card routine where you must sign up for the card with much of your personal info attached to it.   Kroger offers a really nice wine and beer selection and their prices seem to be competitive if not a little better than some of the other stores.  It’s worth mentioning that both Kroger and Ingles (which I’ll cover next) are both within a stone’s throw of Trouts Package store.  Checkout usually moves pretty fast, but Kroger does seem to hire a lot of teens so expect some inconsistency in the consistency/friendliness department.  Last, Kroger does offer great gas prices at this location in conjunction with a Kroger card.

• 115 Bill Wiggington Parkway
• Store Phone: (706) 692-1200
• Pharmacy Phone: (706) 692-1255
• Store is open 24 hours

Tomorrow night, I review the Ingles grocery store (which is across the street from the Kroger), and you can read why I prefer it!