What are the Grocery Store Chains Near You?

In My Humble Opinion
1

When I was younger, I was always interested in visiting all the foreign grocery stores while on vacation. I never knew there were so many chains.

When I lived in north St. Louis, we had Aldi, Shop n Save, Schnucks, Dierbergs and Save a Lot to choose from. They were all within 10 minutes of my childhood home. My parents usually went to Schnucks. Dierbergs was the “nicest” one, and the most expensive. Schnucks was second. Besides Shop n Save, the others only had a limited selection. From driving around in other places in St. Louis I’ve also seen Whole Foods and Straub’s.

I now live in Columbia, MO. I can go to Hy-Vee, Gerbes, Schnucks, Aldi or Super Wal-Mart for groceries. I go to Hy-Vee because it’s by far the closest, minus the new Super Wal-Mart but I hate Wal-Mart. I would go to Aldi but it’s across town and I am lazy. Hy-Vee isn’t bad - they have some pretty good deals and a lot of their store brand stuff is good.

So what are the chains near you? Which ones do you prefer? And if it’s not already listed, where ya from?

2

When I lived in Milwaukee: Pick N’ Save, Cub, Sentry, Piggly Wiggly.

When I lived in Florida: Albertson’s, Publix, Food Lion, Super Walmart

In Minneapolis: Cub, Rainbow, Byerly’s, Super Target

3

U-Save, Save-a-Lot, Winn Dixie, Albertson’s, Kash n Karry (rebranding to Sweetbay), Super Wal*Mart, Super Target, and – of course, since this is Florida – Publix.

4

We’ve got Safeway, Albertson’s (though they’re closing a lot of their stores in the Bay Area), Trader Joe’s, Andronico’s, and Whole Foods. There are some others, but those are the ones I go to. I don’t think we have Super Wal-Marts, and I wouldn’t go to them if we did.

I can walk to Andronico’s and Whole Foods, and usually do. Andronico’s has a slightly better selection of normal packaged stuff (as opposed to organic, chemical-free stuff, which I don’t care about), has a good selection (if not good regular prices) of wine, and is closer. Whole Foods has better quality, prices, and selection on produce and fish.

If price is the most important consideration (either something where generics are about as good as name brands, like toilet paper or canned tuna, or something that’s available a lot of places like Diet Coke), I usually go to Safeway. I usually go there for bulky or heavy stuff, too, because it’s far enough away that I can justify driving there. Whole Foods has a parking lot, so I can drive there, but it’s so close that it seems silly unless there’s a good reason. Andronico’s uses the Parking Garage of Terror, complete with maniacal drivers and really narrow parking spaces, so I don’t ever drive there.

If I want kosher meat or poultry, I go to Trader Joe’s, because that’s the only supermarket that I know of that has it around here. They tend to have good stuff at good prices, but it’s usually stuff that’s unique to Trader Joe’s (so no Diet Coke). They have excellent prices on wine, so I always get as much as I can carry when I’m there.

When I lived in Maryland, we had Safeway and Giant. I preferred Giant, because it was a bit nicer than Safeway (Safeway out here isn’t like Safeway in Maryland).

5

Baltimore County, MD: SuperFresh, Safeway, Giant, Food Lion, Shoppers, Aldi, Weis, Mars

Southern Alberta, Canada: Safeway, Superstore, IGA (I think this is called Sobey’s now)

6

You actually still have Winn-Dixies where you live in Florida? Here, they were all pretty much destroyed by Publix. Also gone…Albertsons.

I remember the A&P, IGA, and Acme when I grew up in New Jersey.

Living in Georgia, I remember seeing Piggly Wiggly, but the seemed to slowly be disappearing.

7

In the Sacramento metropolitan area:

Safeway, Raley’s/Bel Air, Albertsons, Whole Foods, CostCo, and one or two others that I can’t remember at this point.

My preference is the Bel Air division of Raley’s.

8

I have two homes. In Columbus, Ohio, the chains near me are Giant Eagle, Aldi, Meyer and Kroger. In Newcastle, Australia, the chains near me are BiLo, Coles and Aldi. Yes, Aldi is there in both countries (I believe it originated in Germany, so it’s a real multinational supermarket chain).

9

Bi-Lo, Food Lion, Super Wal-Mart, Save-A-Lot, and United Grocery Outlet are the chains in my hometown of Cleveland, TN although there are Aldi’s, Sam’s Club, Fresh Market, Winn-Dixie, Super Target, and Piggly Wiggly are all in cities near here.

10

Oooo! Do you spend the northern hemisphere summers in the US and the southern hemisphere summers in Australia? I’d love to do that, and never again have to deal with the sun setting way too early.

11

Vons (too expensive and generally obnoxious);
Ralphs (used to be good, but seems to be circling the drain);
Stater Bros (the 70s called and want their decor back);
Albertsons (negative points for buying out my local Lucky’s, but call me a convert because but so far so good);
Whole Foods (way too far away. Come closer and we’ll talk); and
Trader Joes (ah, how I love thee, let me count the ways).

Also, if you want your shopping experience jumbo-sized, you can go to Sams Club or Costco.

12

No – I’m mostly in the US. I visit home in Australia once or twice a year. (And I don’t really like summer weather: it’s too hot, and I prefer coping with a little Ohio snow).

13

I come from the land of Red & White, IGA, Loblaw’s and Dominion. Now I live in the land of Publix, Winn-Dixie, Albertson’s (the Big Three), Super Wal-Mart, and Harvey’s. Nearest where I live, the Giant Tiger went out of business and became Harvey’s. Not long ago, the Harvey’s went out of business, and has no stores in our area of town. I think we prefer Publix, although there are a few things we have to go to Albertson’s for.

14

I forgot to add that there’s currently a Super WalMart being built (on a site which used to be Big Bear, that went out of business), and when it’s finished it will be the closest to my Ohio home.

15

Roger that, only slightly to the east. (BTW, Stater Bros started in my town. Now the original building is a Big Lots!) You also have Pavilions (Vons upscale entry), and Food4Less.

16

It’s happening here, slowly. The only two chains to have gained market share recently are Publix and Wal*Mart.

Just FYI Winn Dixie’s still dirty, and Albertson’s still smells bad.

17

Albertson’s is nearly a monopoly here in Boise, as Albertson’s was founded here. The other top contenders are Fred Meyer and Wal-Mart.

18

The closest is an IGA. There’s a Woolworths about 2km away.

19

Giant (moving soon)
Super Fresh (nearest)
Acme
Genuardis
Clemens (just acquired by Giant)
Wal Mart will be opening its first grocery nearby in a few months. I’ll probably be shopping there since the Super Fresh is crap.

20

in Honolulu:

Safeway (closest, seems to be the most upscale)

Local stores
Star Market (expensive, but not upscale)
Foodland (small stores)
Times (ugly stores in lower-income locations)
Tamuras (ugly, but best seafood)

Japanese
Don Quijote (formerly Daiei, the store near Waikiki is a site to behold; it’s decorated in the flashy, crowded, kitschy, cramped downtown-Tokyo style)