Advice please: Dallas/Fort Worth area supermarkets

[Ohio Man]

This summer I'll be spending some time in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and will have the need to do some supermarket shopping. To those of you who are familiar with the chains in the area, which ones would you recommend? The biggest requirement I have is a store which sells Silk soy milk susbstitute (most places do but some don't) and, if possible, Tofutti brand soy ice cream sandwich substitutes. Second in importance would be a relatively large selection. And while it's not necessary, a store with a good selection of craft beers (especially local and regional ones) would be a bonus.

Don't know exactly where I'll be staying but probably in one of Dallas' northern suburbs. I will have a car, though, so I can go to other neighborhoods. I live in Cincinnati where Kroger is king, and I know Kroger is in the DFW area, but I haven't sworn a blood oath to the chain--I'm willing to consider other chains.

[wnetmacman]

In D/FW, you have a long list of choices:

Of course, you have Kroger, and they're fairly well entrenched in the area. Albertsons still has a decent presence, though not as big as before. Tom Thumb has a good number of stores as well, most of which are now adorned in Safeway's Lifestyle format. Also, HEB out of San Antonio has a few Central Market http://www.centralmarket.com stores, and they have a pretty good dairy section. Additionally, United Supermarkets out of Lubbock operates a few of their Market Street stores http://www.marketstreetunited.com that are much like the Central Market stores. I'd tell you Walmart has the #1 share, but I'm pretty sure you aren't interested in that at all.

[Ohio Man]

In D/FW, you have a long list of choices:

Of course, you have Kroger, and they're fairly well entrenched in the area. Albertsons still has a decent presence, though not as big as before. Tom Thumb has a good number of stores as well, most of which are now adorned in Safeway's Lifestyle format. Also, HEB out of San Antonio has a few Central Market http://www.centralmarket.com stores, and they have a pretty good dairy section. Additionally, United Supermarkets out of Lubbock operates a few of their Market Street stores http://www.marketstreetunited.com that are much like the Central Market stores. I'd tell you Walmart has the #1 share, but I'm pretty sure you aren't interested in that at all.

Thanks for replying, wnetmacman. If Tom Thumb is owned by Safeway, I'm hoping they'll accept Safeway frequent shopper cards--a friend will let me borrow his.

I recently learned that HEB stands for Here Everything's Better. Maybe I'll check out Central Market and see for myself if it's true--certainly everything there isn't modest!

You're right, Wally doesn't interest me--you must have read some of my previous posts on here. I'll say this for Kroger: they've done a great job of keeping Super Wally's market share in the Cincinnati area as low as possible. Of course, Kroger is an especially tough rival in its home area.

[klkla]

I recently learned that HEB stands for Here Everything's Better.

Actually it stands for Howard E. Butt. The company was called H.E. Butt Grocery Company for a long time and then they started just going by the initials H.E.B.

[Ohio Man]

I recently learned that HEB stands for Here Everything's Better.

Actually it stands for Howard E. Butt. The company was called H.E. Butt Grocery Company for a long time and then they started just going by the initials H.E.B.

I would say we're both right. The HEB does come from the founder's name but the company frequently uses "Here Everything's Better" in advertising right below the HEB logo, most prominently on the home page of their website http://www.heb.com

[trainman]

If Tom Thumb is owned by Safeway, I'm hoping they'll accept Safeway frequent shopper cards--a friend will let me borrow his.

Yes, I and my Vons frequent shopper card can tell you that the Safeway brands all accept each other's loyalty cards. Only problem you'll run into is the cashiers calling you by your friend's name: "Thank you, Mr. ______, you saved $x.xx today."

Of course, no reason you couldn't get your own Tom Thumb card, even as a temporary resident. (They won't care if you put down your permanent Ohio address. Or a fake address.)

[tesg]

You can see an actual HEB store as well in Burleson on the southwest side of the metro.

It's at 165 NW John Jones Dr. From I-35W, take Exit 36 (Hwy 174) and head southwest to SE John Jones Dr. You'll be able to see it on the right from Hwy 174.

It's a big brand new store. I was surprised to see it when I drove by about a month ago.