Here in NE Ohio, we have Giant Eagle, Acme, Fisher’s (local chain), Marc’s (discount groceries), and Super Wal-Mart. We tend to shop mostly at Giant Eagle (for the gas perks) and Super Wal-Mart. I would KILL for a Super Target, however.
In my hometown of Richmond, VA, there’s Kroger, Food Lion, Super Wal-Mart, and Ukrop’s…sigh. I miss Ukrop’s. It’s not really a chain, exists only in Richmond and up to Fredericksburg, and while it’s more expensive, their produce is always fresh, they have a killer natural/organic/vegetarian section, and they carry your groceries to your car for you.
Giant - It’s one of the nicer ones because it is fairly new, but I think that the produce is overpriced for what it is.
Safeway- The one closest to me which I could walk to in about 10 minutes is depressing. I’ve been there twice and the produce is bad, the lines are long and the store doesn’t carry what I am looking for.
Trader Joe’s. There is one about a fifteen minute walk or five minute drive from my office. I do a lot of shopping here.
Whole Foods- I almost never go there as the parking is a nightmare and I don’t feel like paying that much.
Harris Teeter. They are all right.
Hahn Ah Rheum - About 25 minutes drive- Korean grocery chain. They have good produce and a relatively large.
Super H Mart- 35 minutes on a good day. The flagship store of the above chain. They are a huge specialty store about as large as any Giant or Safeway. Great Produce at good prices. Too far for me to shop at regularly though.
There are other places around, but I couldn’t recall what they are now.
We have a few Trader Joe’s too, I think they’re mostly pretty new.
We usually go to Schnuck’s. We actually have 3 that are convenient: “Bad Schnuck’s” is the closest, but it’s tiny and doesn’t always have everything we want; “Mediocre Schnuck’s” is bigger, and usually has everything we need, but not always. “Mecca Schnuck’s” is huge and always has everthing (the latter two are about equidistant from our apt, so it just depends on where else we need to go).
Sometimes we go to Dierberg’s, but only if we need to run errands in that area, or need to go to the bulk foods section.
To add to Angel’s list, we’ve also got SuperWalmart, Whole Foods and Cub. Well Cub for a little while longer. I think they’re going away at the end of this year.
Another D.C.-area doper checking in here. But in addition to the ubiquitous Giants and Safeways, we also have two Shopper’s Food Warehouses in quick driving distance, and a Food Lion in not-so-quick driving distance.
Price Chopper
Shaw’s
Hannaford
A local co-op
Grand Union (I guess some of the old Grand Union stores were bought by…somebody when they went bankrupt and kept the name.)
I have no Super Wal-Mart anywhere in the whole state (Hell, we only have one regular Wal-Mart here,) and no Target at all. For bulk shopping, we have a Costco.
Jersey Shore area: 07703 ZIP code. within 10 miles, there’s a:
Path-Mark
Acme
A&P
Food Town
Shop-Rite
Aldi
Wegman’s
Whole Foods
Stop & Shop
Wal-Mart - not anyone’s first choice
Target Greatland - also not a first choice
There’s also a Costco and a BJ’s, as well as quite a few smaller markets, but certainly not SUPER.
In the Denver metro area, we have King Soopers, which used to be a local chain until purchased by Kroger quite a few years ago. I’m a big fan of King Soopers. We also have Safeway and Albertson’s, neither of which appeal to me – their newer store layouts seem awkward and their older stores are kinda icky.
For the health-food-conscious shopper, there’s Whole Foods and Wild Oats. I’ve been in both a couple of times, but I can’t handle being around their clientele a whole lot.
There’s also another smaller chain called Sunflower Farmers Market (different from gardentraveler’s), which I believe was started by a former founder of either Whole Foods or Wild Oats. I like shopping there, and their clientele doesn’t seem to be quite so full of themselves. They’ve got roughly a dozen locations in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada.
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