Preferred national super market chain

Just curious, with the demise of regional supermarkets, most regional chains are now part of a larger conglomerate, which is or are your favorite national chains, Safeway, Kroger, Albertson's(Super Value) etc
 
Also, which remaining indy regional supermarket chain do you prefer?
 
My wife and I prefer Safeway because of its So Cal regional chain Von's, Ralph's was great as an indy but now as part of Kroger's it is vastly inferior
 
Our regional picks are Stater Brothers but they are mostly in the Inland Empire and not here in metro L A so when we stay with our daughter who lives in the Inland Empire we like them-especially their meat dept and bakery/deli.  Also we like Liborio's which besides So Cal are now in Las Vegas and Denver for its wide variety of Latin American and Caribbean products from every nation within those categories
 
Our all time favorite chain was The Pantry, based out of right here in Pasadena with locations throughout the San Gabriel Valley and beyond but sadly, they were bought out by a congolmerate in the late 1980s and the brand dissolved.

Publix-Hands down... there arent that many here in Florida, and when I get back to SC, the new upscale Piggly Wiggly that opened a couple years ago...great store with upscale and gourmet items. There is Boulineaus, but they are pricey, and cant shop there all the time.
http://www.boulineaus.com/

I don't even bother with the "national" chains anymore. Almost all my shopping nowadays is done at Strack & Van Til, a small supermarket chain in northwest Indiana. There's one not far from me in the nearby town of Munster IN.

We don't have any of the ones listed in West Michigan.

I prefer Meijer, but that's only in about five states.  When I'm in California, it used to be Albertson's, but I haven't been in a couple of years.  I still have a Lucky frequent shopper card as well.

True independent grocery stores I love, and we have several here.  One of them is now under the Spartan family, but they still have all the good stuff we loved before they joined.

Whole Foods for me when I was on the coast.  I could go there for a jug of milk and walk away with a cart load of loot.  Quality was second to none.  But you paid for it.  Cha-ching.

Now in my little town of Minot, there's only four grocery stores, all owned by the same family. Diversity of products is low, quality is marginal, and I long for spending way too much money at Whole Foods.  Closest one to me is in Minneapolis, a good 8 hour drive east.

roossy90


Publix-Hands down... there arent that many here in Florida, and when I get back to SC, the new upscale Piggly Wiggly that opened a couple years ago...great store with upscale and gourmet items. There is Boulineaus, but they are pricey, and cant shop there all the time.
http://www.boulineaus.com/

 
Store Locations
1,004 supermarkets in:

Florida - 721

Georgia - 177

South Carolina - 42

Alabama - 38

Tennessee - 26

Fresh Market..OUTSTANDING...$$$ though.  When you want something special!  My absolute favorite supermarket.

Publix - Wonderful...Incredibly caring service.

Shop Rite - My "go to" in NJ!

porkbeaks

roossy90


Publix-Hands down... there arent that many here in Florida, and when I get back to SC, the new upscale Piggly Wiggly that opened a couple years ago...great store with upscale and gourmet items. There is Boulineaus, but they are pricey, and cant shop there all the time.
http://www.boulineaus.com/

 
Store Locations
1,004 supermarkets in:

Florida - 721

Georgia - 177

South Carolina - 42

Alabama - 38

Tennessee - 26

 
Hi PB, I read it as you did but I think Tara was referring to Piggly Wiggly. 

I use Kroger more or less as a convenience store that happens to have several things I like that I can't find anywhere else. I shop at regional chains Giant Eagle and Meijer, and The Andersons, a specialty store and Carfagna's a local Italian specialty store. I buy all my meats at Carfagna's.

I like Safeway and Von's, but there are none nearby. Stater Brothers was my main chain until WinCo moved to town. Now I only have eyes for WinCo.

What national conglomerate is Wegman's a part of? Whatever it is, Wegman's is my answer.

Hey captain...if you are into any type of Latin American or Caribbean food besides the abundant Mexican products available everywhere, try the Liborio's in Ontario not too far from Fontana, our daughter lives in Riverside and we travel to Ontario on ocassion when we want to go Caribbean Latino or island style.
 
 

 Wegmans is part of Wegmans. They are family owned and only in NY, PA, VA, MD,NJ and soon MA.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll be heading over there. There's an African-Carribean grocery on Foothill in Fontana also. Can't remember the name, but I've been meaning to drop in there as well. The African angle intrigues me.

enginecapt


Thanks for the suggestion. I'll be heading over there. There's an African-Carribean grocery on Foothill in Fontana also. Can't remember the name, but I've been meaning to drop in there as well. The African angle intrigues me.

 
Liborio Market
130 W G St     just off Euclid in a shopping center
Ontario, CA 91762
(909) 983-4002
 
West African and Caribbean cooking are cousins and they use many of the same products, just prepared differently and varying from African region to region and island to island


 

I don't think there is yet a full national supermarket chain. WalMart's grocery operation is one that can be added to jonjax's list of national chains, but they don't penetrate all of the country yet, either.

In my travels, I have been been to affiliates of all the super-regionals listed here, and to some of the regionals listed here as well. My favorite regional chain of all is Wegman's. The closest one to NYC is in Woodbridge, NJ. I say this after shopping at other regional chains in various parts of the country as well.

porkbeaks


 
Store Locations
1,004 supermarkets in:

Florida - 721

Georgia - 177

South Carolina - 42

Alabama - 38

Tennessee - 26

So, Publix is not a national chain, it is a regional chain.  I don't think there are any national chain supermarkets here.

We moved back to Florida a few months ago and I was initially thrilled to be able to shop at Publix again. Unfortunately I feel Publix has fallen off in the 16 years we were gone especially the bakery. In this area however it could be called the best of a rather mediocre lot. We have one Albertson's left and a few Winn Dixie's which have a few specials worth shopping. Recently Bravo came into the area taking over 2 Freshco locations and they have an interesting selection. Actually imho suoer Walmart has a better selection and better prices than most.

Fresh Market is very nice but also very expensive.Ingles is where we usually buy our meats.Aldi & Wally World for the rest.

I contend that the only thing close to a mainstream national grocery chain is Walmart. 

The rest are either:

• Regional (Kroger, Wegmans, Publix, Safeway, Jewel);
• Too limited in locations in any area (TJ's, Fresh Market, ALDI, Whole Foods - I'm at least a 45 minute round trip from the closest of these in my area): and/or
• Too limited in selection (TJ's & ALDI only offer house brands). 

That doesn't even attempt to weed out those chains that are too expensive to shop at regularly.

˙ǝlqɐılǝɹ ʎɹǝʌ ǝq oʇ xılqnd puıɟ puɐ ʇıq ɐ ǝʇınb lǝʌɐɹʇ ı

wheregreggeats.com


˙ǝlqɐılǝɹ ʎɹǝʌ ǝq oʇ xılqnd puıɟ puɐ ʇıq ɐ ǝʇınb lǝʌɐɹʇ ı

That message hurts my brain, but I love a challenge!
 
I love most supermarkets in general but my favorite is the regional Kings Supermarket here in NJ.
Ben, my local Shop Rites, one in Hillsdale(huge) and one in Emerson are not impressive. I do know thay are franchises, though, and that the one in Tom's River is quite good!

I don't know of any truly national chains. Hereabouts, the biggest players are Giant (Carlisle, PA), Weis and Wal-Mart Super Centers. Giant is part of Ahold which has several chains, i.e., Giant (Landover, MD), and Stop and Shop. Weis is out of the mid-state, and I believe, like Wegman's, is still family owned.
 
I like Giant, I work there part-time, and I do most of my grocery shopping there. They have expanded their product line greatly over the past five years. This is probably due to the shadow of Wegman's starting to fall over the area. 
 
I have been to both Whole Foods and Fresh Market. Both those places totally blow my mind. I regret the fact that neither are close enough for regular shopping, but there is also no way I could afford to shop at either of them on an exclusive basis.

Let's talk REGIONAL supermarkets since about the only national ones are WalMart and Whole Foods...
 
I love GELSON'S in Southern California!!!
Anyone with me on this one???!?
Gelson's has a carving station, with PRIME RIB (the real thing), and real good WHOLE TURKEY'S ... (love that skin!)
 $$ Warning, as the price per pound on the prime rib ain't cheap...
but it's yummy and convenient..
And lots of other nice looking hot and cold prepared foods..
 
Also, how about BRISTOL FARMS in Southern Cal??
I like them a lot, too, although my #1 vote goes out to Gelson's..

ellen4641


Let's talk REGIONAL supermarkets since about the only national ones are WalMart and Whole Foods...
 
I love GELSON'S in Southern California!!!
Anyone with me on this one???!?
Gelson's has a carving station, with PRIME RIB (the real thing), and real good WHOLE TURKEY'S ... (love that skin!)
 $$ Warning, as the price per pound on the prime rib ain't cheap...
but it's yummy and convenient..
And lots of other nice looking hot and cold prepared foods..
 
Also, how about BRISTOL FARMS in Southern Cal??
I like them a lot, too, although my #1 vote goes out to Gelson's..

 
Gelson's is very good, I prefer it quite a bit more than Bristol Farms, I have one of each within 10 minutes  of me homestead
 
Neither one is really a supermarket, they are specialty or "gourmet" markets kinda like an upscale Trader's Joes. You'd still have to go to another market to complete all your household needs available at a supermarket. Ditto for Whole Foods, that's a specialy market chain too, it is a "health food specialty chain"
 
I don't consider Wal Mart's or Target's supermarkets either, they have a grocery section within a large discount department store.

Bristol Farms is fun to walk up and down the aisles.  Too expensive for everyday shopping.

I do most of my shopping at the newly changed from Vons to Pavillions as it's right across the street.

I go to Gelson's when it's raining because I can park downstairs out of the rain.  I get shocked on everything I touch in Gelson's so I limit my time there.  Electric shock, not price tag shock.  Some things at Gelson's are a little bit higher, but not much.  If it wasn't for the static electricity in the store I might have shopped there exclusively.

I used to go to Ralph's all of the time.  I'm surrounded by them.  But the closest one to me because a Fresh Faire which means they sell the same as the regular ol Ralph's but they charge more.

Once in awhile I'll go to Whole Foods but talk about expensive!

I get shocked at the new Staters and the older Ralphs near me. Highly annoying, especially as I'm such a wimp when it comes to static shocks.

I walked into burning buildings and trudged up and down burning canyons for 27 years here in So Cal, but I'll go to any lengths to avoid a static shock.

jonjax71

ellen4641


Let's talk REGIONAL supermarkets since about the only national ones are WalMart and Whole Foods...
 
I love GELSON'S in Southern California!!!
Anyone with me on this one???!?
Gelson's has a carving station, with PRIME RIB (the real thing), and real good WHOLE TURKEY'S ... (love that skin!)
 $$ Warning, as the price per pound on the prime rib ain't cheap...
but it's yummy and convenient..
And lots of other nice looking hot and cold prepared foods..
 
Also, how about BRISTOL FARMS in Southern Cal??
I like them a lot, too, although my #1 vote goes out to Gelson's..

 
Gelson's is very good, I prefer it quite a bit more than Bristol Farms, I have one of each within 10 minutes  of me homestead
 
Neither one is really a supermarket, they are specialty or "gourmet" markets kinda like an upscale Trader's Joes. You'd still have to go to another market to complete all your household needs available at a supermarket. Ditto for Whole Foods, that's a specialy market chain too, it is a "health food specialty chain"
 
I don't consider Wal Mart's or Target's supermarkets either, they have a grocery section within a large discount department store.

jonax, SuperTargets and Super Wal*Marts, along with Fred Meyers, are most certainly full service grocers.
  Don't know the extent to which Kroger has absorbed the  Freddie's idea, which was the original
combo concept.

How about Target's Archer Farms Markets? This is a full-service market attached to a Target or a Super Target. It is not inside the Target, itself.
 
I'm familiar with them from central Florida where there are several.
 
I preferred them over Super Walmarts any day, but I don't know how widespread they are.
 
There are two Targets here in York. Both carry a very limited selection of groceries, but I would love for one of them to build an Archer Farms. The prices couldn't be beat.

Target no longer calls the grocery store portion "Archer Farms". They were never "attached" or "not inside" as they were always part of the whole store. Grocery were at one end of the store simply because it made sense that groceries should be in one place. That is not much different than what Super Walmart does. The design was labeled a SuperTarget as opposed to just Target so people would know it included a grocery store. However, regular Target stores have expanded packaged grocery items over the years with additional shelving devoted to it and more freezers and coolers. Now Target is expanding groceries further in their regular Target stores with packaged fresh meats and produce. The regular Target stores will not have the full lineup as the SuperTargets such as on site bakery and deli counters. I suspect there will be more energy in building regular Target stores and remodeling existing Target stores with more groceries than their SuperTarget program. A current design regular Target store will probably offer as much or more than a typical Trader Joes from what I have observed with the first ones they've built to give you an idea where they fall in the spectrum. Targets are in every state now except Vermont.

There is a simple reason Walmart and Target got into groceries. It drives additional shopping trips. People shopping there for groceries will go once per week vs. maybe once per month for general shopping and they benefit from the synergy of the cross shopping four times per month vs. the old one. I have a bit of intimate knowledge as I was on the team that conceived the first SuperTargets in 1995. I've been retired now for two years so am fast losing knowledge about their future endeavors. They are pretty much in the habit of reinventing the design of their stores on about a three year cycle.