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Buying a floral arrangement is like buying art. You’ll want a florist whose use of color and flower types fits your individual taste. This is even more important if you are spending thousands of dollars on blooms for a wedding or other special occasion. Our ratings of florists for quality and price should help you pick the best.
Since most garden centers buy—rather than raise—most of what they sell, there is room for tremendous variation in buying standards and the quality of plants being sold. The opinions we collected from consumers on garden centers reflect these big differences.
The four Cs—cut, carat, color, and clarity—help determine a stone’s price. Pay attention to these guidelines, but don’t assume better grades are always worth higher price tags. You can spend a lot more money for a higher-grade stone when a lower-grade one will do.
Our ratings of local chains and stores report how each stacks up for price and quality. To compare prices, our researchers used a 150-item list of common items to shop area options. To evaluate stores on quality of products and service, we surveyed area consumers.
ALDI focuses on low costs, and our survey found its prices to be astonishingly inexpensive—lower even than Walmart and warehouse clubs. Trader Joe’s also offers lower prices than most supermarket chains, while earning mostly high accolades from its customers.
If you’re willing to buy in bulk, you’ll usually save by shopping at a warehouse club—but only if you go often enough to justify their membership fees. And you won’t save anything if you throw out half of what you buy.