Tell me about it. I visited my parents in Fort Collins and it was a Friday night. I’m not used to crowds anymore, and it was also Cheese Sampling Night. Their produce was beautiful but it was annoying that the only canned black olives I could find were 3.49 a can! And the people were a snooty bunch.
Just for informative purposes, I’ll mention that Krogers, Ralphs, and Food 4 Less are all the same company (F4L is where Krogers and Ralphs sends their stuff after it’s been on the shelves for a few weeks). Threw me for a loop the first time I went to Vegas and wanted to find a Ralph’s – couldn’t find one anywhere, and was left wondering what this “Kroger’s” place was instead.
Let me add Trader Joe’s, Winco, FoodCo, and Sam’s Club.
We shop at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op which is hardly a chain, but does have 2 locations. We also prefer Bel Air.
I live in Austin TX,
The main chain is HEB (virtual monoploy from what I see). Of course they did give the world Central Market.
The 2 closest Albertsons have closed their doors in the last couple of months.
Randalls - one of their nearby locations closed about 8 months ago.
Whole Foods - I think they started here.
I want to say that 4 out of the 5 closest stores are HEBs.
The SF Bay Area also has Cala/Bell stores, which are owned by Ralphs, which is in turn owned by Kroger.
Well, I used there store locater, and while there is none in St.Albans (though I do remember lots of news stories about some new Wal-Mart, so they might be building one there,) there is one in Berlin. So we do have two, amd maybe soon to be three.
Damn.
Wow - Cleveland still has Fisher’s??? They were Fisher/Fazio/Costa when I was a kid… I thought they were all gone by now.
BrianJedi, I used to shop at Slone’s (for incidentals) all the time, but they closed their Tates Creek store near my house. I think they’re putting a Whole Foods there instead.
OK, that is very far away from every place I ever go to, but I’ll have to make a special trip some time. Thanks!
Let’s see - Western Puget Sound Region - We have Albertson’s, Safeway, QFC (Kroger owned), Red Apple, Fred Meyers (also Kroger owned), Grocery Outlet.
My preferred stores are Safeway and Albertson’s - because they are the closest. Also like Fred Meyers
I’ve noticed that everywhere in metro Orlando is very far from everywhere else in metro Orlando. Truly fascinating – maybe the center of Florida has some weird space dilation thing going on.
The usual,
Panda
Danube
Sawary Super Store
We will be getting a French hypermarket Carreflour at some point in the future. We really need a Marks & Spencer Food Court in my opinion.
I’m not sure how big the chain is (was) but I’ve patronized one or two Hoggly Woggly stores (somewhere between a convenience store and a grocery store) in rural north Florida. If your town’s got a Hoggly Woggly and a Piggly Wiggly—that’s big-time.
Growing up in New Jersey:
Acme, A&P, Pantry Pride, Shope Rite, Pathmark…
In Portsmouth, Ohio (Where I live now), we have Krogers, Save-a-lot, and Aldi.
I (mostly) grew up in McArthur, Ohio, where we have a Super Value, and we had a Krogers but it was closed when I was in elementary school.
My family also owns a farm in a tiny town near Mansfield, Ohio, where there is an IGA/Super Value (not sure what it is named now though).
Brendon
(bolding mine) My father-in-law, when my in-laws came to visit us in St. Louis, always mispoke and called it Schmuks.
Funniest damn thing he ever said. 
Springfield, Illinois:
Aldi, Schnuck’s, Shop & Save, Cub Foods, a recently-opened County Market, a Wal-Mart Supercenter, one IGA (in the ghetto) and some place called GFS Foods or something, which is small (by grocery store standards), never advertises, and is in a part of town surrounded by electronics and hardware stores.
Dallas, TX:
Albertons, Kroger, Tom Thumb, and Minyards were all the big ones (with Minyards seeming to be fading fast)
Harford Co. MD
Weiss
Kleins
Giant
Superfresh
Mars
Drive 30 mins and we have a Wegmans which is good for getting Brit staples like Heinz Curried Beans, Cadbury Chocolate, Crumpets and PG Tips.
When In Virgina a long time ago, I saw a Food Lion and Food King. I always thought it would be funny if they merged and became Lion King.
Morris, MN: Let’s see, there’s Willie’s SuperValu, locally owned (they used to be affiliated with Red Owl). That’s THE supermarket in town-in its third location, and “Remember, we love you at Willie’s!”.
We also have a Coborn’s, which was a Holiday supermarket when I started college. Pro: They were open 24 hours a day. Cons: It smelled funky, and the freezers/coolers always seemed to be on the fritz. But, when I lived there for college, I ended up going there most often, due to it being open at 1:00 am.
We also have the Pomme de Terre Food Co-op, which is especially good for items in bulk (spices, flour, beans, etc). They also carry my preferred brand of shade grown fair trade coffee.
Yep, I live near it. I don’t shop there because it smells bad.
Wal-Mart also has their Fresh Markets, or Neighborhood Market stores in Indy. Not as massive as the Super Wallys.
We are getting a Whole Foods Market on the north side next year.
Back where I lived on Long Island we have King Kullen, Waldbaum’s and Stop & Shop.
Now I’m in Manhattan and the main ones near me are Food Emporium, Whole Foods, Gristede’s & D’Agostino, plus hundreds of smaller shops & fancy upscale markets.