This tends to change every few years with big conglomerations gobbling
up other not-as-big conglomerations.
20 years ago, if I remember
correctly, we had Fry's, Basha's, Smitty's, Safeway, and Alpha Beta Co.
Alpha
Beta Co. shortened their name to ABCO about 10-15 years ago, and then added
the tag "Desert Market" to their name about four years ago, then went out
of business about two years ago.
Smitty's was bought out by
Fry's about 10 years ago, Albertson's enterted the picture about 15 years
ago.
And then there are the discount grocery stores that pop
up for a few years and go away, Mega Foods, Food-4-Less, and Food City..
of which I think only the latter is still here.
Best of all,
there are the "natural" grocery stores that sell lots of things that used
to be hard to find rarities.. these are Sprouts, Sunflower Market, Whole
Foods, and AJ's.. the latter tends to be in very upscale neighborhoods.
There
are the big discount membership warehouses that aren't exclusively grocery
stores, but they have lots of groceries that can be purchased in bulk..
these are Sam's Club and Costco.. Costco used to be called Price Club about
12 years.
In smaller towns, there is the whole IGA chain. I
haven't verified this, but I'm assuming that these are franchises. You
have Weber's IGA, Gordon's IGA, and I think a few others that I can't remember.
If
anyone can name any that I've missed, let me know.
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