Grocery chains in your area

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Ohio Man
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Grocery chains in your area

Post by Ohio Man »

How many are there in your area, and which ones are the biggest? Which is your favorite? Are any other chains going to enter your market in the near future? I'm starting this thread mainly because of my interest in the topic in general, although I admit to a personal motive. I have a daughter with multiple food allergies who cannot eat most restaurant food. So when we travel, we usually stay at a hotel/motel/etc. that has rooms with kitchenettes or full kitchens, making trips to local supermarkets mandatory.

In the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky/Southeastern Indiana tri-state area we have:

The top four:

Kroger (The King--founded and based in Cincinnati)
Wal Mart Supercenters
Meijer
biggs (regional chain owned by Supervalu)

Other players:

Remke Markets (employee-owned chain in Kentucky--Ohio locations have closed)
Marsh Hometown Markets
IGA
Costco
Sams Club
Supervalu (at least one store under its own name)
Jungle Jim's

Discount chains:

Aldi
Save A Lot

Upscale:

Trader Joe's
Whole Foods
Fresh Market

Until recently, I did most of my shopping at biggs. They've instituted a gas rewards card program that is much more generous than the one Kroger offers. However, this has been accompanied by a significant rise in their prices. Coincidence? I think not. I still like biggs, though they don't have a consistent format. Some of their locations are supermarket only, others have a full discount department store to go along with the supermarket, and at least one has a supermarket with a partial discount department store format.

The Marsh Hometown Markets were recently rebranded by Indianapolis-based Marsh. They were formerly known as LoBills, which is (was?) Marsh's discount grocery operation.

Independent Jungle Jim's deserves a mention. Although it still has only one location (plans for others have never gotten beyond the planning stages), it's well worth stopping in if you're visiting the area. HUGE international sections and specialty departments, mammoth beer and wine selections.

On edit: there are a couple of Fresh Markets in the area, so I've added them under Upscale. Also, the last Ohio location of Remke Markets has closed, so I've amended the entry to reflect that the reamining locations are all in Kentucky.

And although it's a little south of what is generally considered the Greater Cincinnati/Tri-State area,
the Food Lion in Dry Ridge, Kentucky merits a mention. That store's quick demise was predicted when a Super Wally opened nearby a while back. While I'm not the world's biggest Food Lion fan, I'm glad to say the Dry Ridge Location is still in business!
Last edited by Ohio Man on January 8th, 2010, 4:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Grocery chains in your area

Post by tesg »

In central Iowa, we have:

Hy-Vee
Dahl's
Fareway
Walmart
Target
Aldi

We may still have a Save-A-Lot on the south side, I'm not sure. We also have two specialty markets called "Gateway Market". These are two upscale small market/restaurant operations.

Fareway is the most unusual operation in that, for the most part, they still build small footprint stores (in the 24,000 square foot range) that are very old-fashioned in their operations. Their interiors are all basic white with no department signage (some are putting up hand-drawn paper banners over the produce area now).

They are best known for their full-service meat department. The meat is kept in a big long display case. You pick what you want, and your meat is hand-picked and wrapped in plastic, then butcher paper, in whatever size packaging you want.

They also have full-service courtesy carry-out to the car. A shopping cart doesn't leave the store without an employee pushing it. There are no cart corrals in the parking lots.

In just the past couple of years, Fareway has made the most significant changes I can recall in their operating history. They have started to build bigger stores (around 40,000 square feet), and they're replacing the open frozen food cases with taller closed cases (with swinging doors that most chains adopted decades ago). But the stores still otherwise look and operate in the spirit of Fareway.

Even with their small footprint stores and full-service operations, Fareway pretty much universally beats Hy-Vee and Dahl's on price.
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Re: Grocery chains in your area

Post by klkla »

In Los Angeles we have

Ralphs (conventional supermarkets with modestly high prices, average quality owned by Kroger)
Food4Less (warehouse supermarkets with lower prices, poor quality perishables also owned by Kroger)
Vons (conventional supermarkets just like Ralphs owned by Safeway)
Pavilions ( Larger supermarkets with slightly higher prices and quality - also owned by Safeway)
Albertson's (Conventional supermarkets similar to Ralphs and Vons)
Stater Bros. (Conventional supermarkets with slightly lower prices)
Gelson's (Very expensive and very good quality conventional markets - my favorite)
Whole Foods (Very expensive and very good quality natural foods stores- my second favorite)
Trader Joes (Small specialty stores - we have a lot more here in SoCal because they started here)

We also have a lot of independents that have taken over locations closed by the major chains and they usually cater to a specific ethnic niche.
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Re: Grocery chains in your area

Post by Brian Lutz »

Around where I live (Seattle metro area) here's what the picture looks like:

Major players:
-Safeway (there have been Safeway stores in this area in one form or another going back to the 1920s)
-Fred Meyer (Kroger owned multi-department format,found mostly in WA and OR)
-QFC (Quality Food Centers. Also Kroger owned and found mostly in WA and OR, somewhat upscale with prices to match. The local QFC is where I do most of my shopping. This chain was founded in Bellevue, and is still based here.)
-Costco (They are based locally, and have a strong presence here.)
-Albertsons (Has been in decline here for a while, and a number of stores have closed over the past few years. I believe the ones here are Supervalu owned.)

Lesser players:
-Walmart \ Sam's Club: No Walmart stores exist within Seattle city limits, although I do believe there's at least one Sams Club there. They would probably run into insurmountable political hostility if they did try to open a Walmart anywhere in Seattle. The nearest Supercenter stores are also some distance away. Some of the regular stores have been expanding grocery departments as well, presumably in response to Target doing the same.
-Target: Many stores have added much larger grocery departments in the past few years, but they sell only packaged foods. (EDIT: They have now started converting existing stores to the new PFresh format with limited fresh groceries)
Haggen \Top Foods: Independent chain based out of Bellingham WA, with 30 stores in Western WA and the Portland metro area.
WinCo Foods: There are a handful of these, but all of them are located some distance away from Seattle.
-Whole Foods: There are a handful of these in the more upscale areas.
-PCC Natural Markets: A co-op with a number of stores in the area, focused primarily on organic foods.
-Trader Joe's: Has a few stores in the area, but has also been expanding, and just opened a new store here in Redmond a few months ago.
-Red Apple Markets: A small independent chain, which mostly operates stores in the rural areas.
-Uwajimaya: Asian markets found in a number of locations in the area.
-Metropolitan Market: Local chain, scattered stores throughout the area.
-IGA: A few scattered stores in the outlying areas, and (oddly enough) one store right in the middle of downtown Seattle

Edit: Made a few updates, Added a couple I forgot about.
Last edited by Brian Lutz on July 8th, 2011, 11:30 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Grocery chains in your area

Post by Andrew T. »

In northeast Wisconsin, the supermarket scene essentially consists of...

* Copps and Pick 'n Save. Formerly separate chains; now one and the same under the ownership of Roundy's, a Milwaukee grocery supplier that expanded into retailing in the last decade.
* Festival Foods, an expanding chain of 13 well-run stores; supplied by Supervalu.
* Piggly Wiggly franchises have a strong presence as well, particularly in smaller cities.

Things are rounded out by a few remaining independent stores and Supervalu franchises bearing that name (plus one of the last Red Owls in existence), Aldi and Save-a-Lot stores, and the inevitable smiley face of Wal-Mart Supercenters.

Sentry Food Stores used to have a big presence; though they've retrenched considerably in the last decade. Kroger and A&P left the area in 1971 and 1979, respectively.

(As a side note, I visited Jungle Jim's International Market in Fairfield, Ohio last spring, and I can truthfully conclude that it's the holy grail of supermarkets: Essentially a library of food, memorabilia museum, and amusement park rolled into one! I'd love to go back there someday!)
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Re: Grocery chains in your area

Post by submariner »

I've moved this to the Non-region Specific area. I'm familiar with two regions: Detroit and San Diego.

In Detroit:

The major player here is Kroger. After the closure of Farmer Jack stores, Kroger is now the only national conventional supermarket chain in the Detroit area, and most of Michigan.

Meijer and Walmart have seen increased grocery presence as well.

Aside from those three players, several independents exist, as well as Aldi and Save A Lot stores.

In San Diego:

Conventional Grocery Stores in order of presence:
Vons
Albertsons
Ralphs

Others of note (no particular order):
Food4Less
Walmart (still limited to 2 'supercenter' stores in the area)
Various IGA
Trader Joe's
Fresh & Easy
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Re: Grocery chains in your area

Post by krogerclerk »

Walmart Supercenter is dominant here
Kroger is leading traditional supermarket
BiLo next but falling share, local stores could close due to bankruptcy
Food Lion
Ingles

Publix has so far skipped over a wide swath of NW GA but has opened 3 Chattanooga stores over the last 1 1/2 year

Sav-a-lot has a few stores
Aldi is new to Chattanooga area

Nearest SuperTargets are in Acworth and Woodstock ATL burbs

Former:
Winn-Dixie left in 2005 bankruptcy, dating back to late 50's King's acquisition
Big Apple and Big Star left in early 80's
Piggly Wiggly hasn't existed locally since late 40's or early 50's when Kroger rebannered its local PW, though surrounding rural areas have Pigs supplied by PW Alabama
A&P closed its downtown store around the time the competition began building modern supermarkets, survived in nearby Chattanooga until 1972, and Atlanta until 1999
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Re: Grocery chains in your area

Post by maynesg »

Hi,In Delaware Acme is predominat with eleven High Volume units in New Castle and Kent Counties. Foodlion is second with stores in all three counties.Walmart has four or five Super Centers, Super Fresh has six stores pl;us three Pathmarks, five Safeways, four Super G!s, One Redners, two Hockners, two Super Thrifts ,several SavA Lots, a Trader Joes and two recently opened units of harris Teeter in the lower part of thes tate.
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Re: Grocery chains in your area

Post by jamcool »

The Phoenix grocery biz...listed by current market share

Wal-Mart (AZ's largest retailer and employer)
-Traditional Wal Marts
-WalMart Supercenters (many are expanded regular WMs)
-WalMart Neighborhood Markets
-Supermercado de WalMart (a hispanic version of the neighborhood markets)
-Marketside (an upscale competitor to Fresh & Easy)
-Sam's Club
plus a large dist center in Buckeye

Fry's Food Stores (a part of the Kroger empire-celebrating their 50th anniversary in AZ)
- Fry's Food & Drug (traditional grocer)
- Fry's Marketplace (slightly upscale combination grocer and limited dept store - the former Smitty's/Fred Meyer stores- the "Marketplace" concept is being expanded to other Kroger units)
- Fry's Signature (more upscale version of the grocery format)
- Fry's Mercado (hispanic-oriented grocer)

Safeway (operating in AZ since the 1920s)

Bashas' (the "home town" chain dating back to territorial days)-operating as
-Bashas' markets (traditional grocer)
-Food City (hispanic-oriented discount grocer)
-AJ's ( gourmet grocer)

Albertson's (part of the LLC operation)

And the rest...

Super Target
Sprouts Farmer's Markets
Whole Foods
Pro's Ranch Market
Fresh & Easy
Trader Joe's
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Re: Grocery chains in your area

Post by Ohio Man »

maynesg wrote:Hi,In Delaware Acme is predominat with eleven High Volume units in New Castle and Kent Counties. Foodlion is second with stores in all three counties.Walmart has four or five Super Centers, Super Fresh has six stores pl;us three Pathmarks, five Safeways, four Super G!s, One Redners, two Hockners, two Super Thrifts ,several SavA Lots, a Trader Joes and two recently opened units of harris Teeter in the lower part of thes tate.




One of those two Harris-Teeters is located near Ocean City, MD, where I spent a few vacation days this past July. I drove past it driving back from Ocean City. I'll have to stop in when I'm back in the area. I would imagine the selection is better than Food Lion and Super Fresh, which are Ocean City's mainstays. Don't know about the prices, though.
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