That big store where you buy food, the one with the produce department, the meat department, the deli counter, maybe even a pharmacy, and all the aisles of cans, jars, and dry foods in the middle. What do you generally call that store?
The supermarket (“I’m going to the supermarket.”)
“The market” (“I’m going to the market.”)
The grocery store (“I’m going to the grocery store.”)
“The store” (“I’m going to the store.”)
Store’s proper name (“I’m going to Safeway.”)
The store’s proper name (“I’m going to the Safeway.”)
Most of the time, I use the store’s actual name. In my area, there are two big intersections about equidistant from me and each has two grocery stores, so saying “the grocery store” is pretty vague. (Plus, we do a lot of our shopping at one that’s a little further up.)
If I use a generic, it’s generally “grocery store” but I’ll often use a variant of a the vendor’s full name. So there’s a little pop-up tent vegetable market during the summer. I can’t even remember the proper name, but it includes the word “market” so I would never call that the grocery store and usually call it the market. (Not only is it run by people who speak Spanish, half the signs are written in Spanish. If they’re not Mexicans and have some other country of origin, my apologies.)
Likewise, I will sometimes shorten “Central Market” to “the market.”
People n New York do not go to the grocery store or the supermarket, they go to Wegmans. And anyone who says otherwise is from out of state, because only heathens refuse to shop at Wegmans.
In practice, mostly the store’s name (“I’m swinging by Aldi; do you need anything?”). This is relevant because not all stores carry the same things, and not all of them have the same prices: If I’m going to Giant Eagle, I might pick up Life cereal and herbal tea, because I can’t get either of those at Aldi, but I’m not going to get bananas, because they’ll cost twice as much at Giant Eagle.
In situations where that doesn’t work (in an unfamiliar area and just need to grab something quick, say), it’s usually “Do you see a grocery store anywhere near here?”, or occasionally “supermarket”.
I’m going to the store is probably the leader in the clubhouse and default. I never really intentionally go to any store that isn’t a grocery store (I hate shopping) but might say grocery store if there is some contextual possibility of confusion. Mentioning the specific store is more to give my wife context in case she might want to ask for something specific (seafood requests, for example, would never be made for our Safeway).
I would never say the words “market” or “supermarket.” Also never just “grocery” or “grocer.”