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I like Sprouts for produce and some other items but not meats. My favorite large grocery stores are Smiths on east Paseo del Norte and on Constitution/Carlisle (smaller store). Also go to Costco - prefer the Eubank store. Occasionally go to La Montanita Co-op on Rio Grande Blvd for organic produce or to the Downtown Growers Market on Saturday morning. Kellers is known for their meats. Whole Foods and Trader Joes are also popular but not my thing.
La Montanita Co-op has the best produce dept.! They actually have two: one section for locally-grown veggies, and their main one. I've been getting some of my produce lately at Sprouts, too, which has some of the same hard-to-find items.
I like Whole Foods for meat, fish. Sprouts isn't bad, either, actually. Oddly, most of Sprouts' dairy products are more expensive than either WF or the co-op. WF just lowered their prices on a number of things, since it's run by Amazon now, and they're trying to attract more customers. Their pricing on some things is more competitive now, with other stores.
I go to Sprouts occasionally but isn’t convenient for me. I wish one was closer. I can get everything I want at Albertsons and I have to drive past them to go anywhere else. There is a Smith’s but I never liked going there. There is a new Natural Grocers near me but I’m not impressed and it is too expensive. They don’t have all that I want so I have to make a second stop somewhere. I don’t enjoy shopping that much, especially now.
The following is Albuquerque/Santa Fe focused. Don't know about the rest of the state.
Smith's and Albertson's are the major chains. Smith's for example is a Kroger affiliate.
Sprouts, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's are the health/specialty/organic focused corporate chains. I find Sprouts has the best value on produce in terms of being good quality for its generally low prices.
La Montanita Co-op is the Co-op (think like Whole Foods, but much smaller, more local, more expensive, vaguely political in that they have a lot of fair trade and eco-friendly products and much fewer mass market corporate products). Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
Keller's Farm Store is a full service butcher with a nice dry goods selection as well. Albuquerque only. There are also several Mexican butcher shops around called Carnicerias. They have good prices and harder to find cuts.
El Mezquite and El Super (aka Pro's Ranch Market) are the main Mexican Supermarkets in Albuquerque. Well worth checking out even if you are not Mexican! In addition to everyday products and Mexican brands, they have good ready-to-eat hot foods, good butcher shop, and bakeries.
Ta Lin is the international foods market (Albuquerque). They have sections for food cultures all over the world, but are mainly east Asian focused. Their Indian, Middle Eastern, and especially European sections are lacking, to put it mildly, in my opinion, but they still may have things you can't find anywhere else. Also in Albuquerque are the Indo-Pak grocery for south Asian specialties, and a few deli/groceries that serve the Middle Eastern community like Cafe Istanbul and AlQuds.
Walmart, Target, Costco, and Sam's. Self-explanatory.
There are a few smaller independent grocery stores and smaller chains worth checking out in Albuquerque. Many of them are no-frills, but many times they offer less hectic, more personal and more pleasant shopping experiences:
Lowe's Market has a few locations, but the downtown location at 11th and Lomas is the nicest one. It was completely remodeled and re-imagined a few years ago to cater a bit more to the hip downtown crowd. Growing up, that location used to be Landmark Foods and I have many fond memories of shopping there. My sister worked as a cashier there when I was little and she was a teenager.
The Downtown grocery store, Silver Street Market, is a nice, middle of the road store. It's been a godsend for those of us who live downtown since it opened four years ago. The owners are very nice and accomodating, as are most of the employees. It has most everything one may need and free parking, so don't be afraid to go there if you don't live downtown.
Stadium Supermarket is also in the general downtown area at Broadway and Cesar Chavez. I haven't been there in awhile but it has been a neighborhood staple since the 1960s. I have very fond memories of it growing up in the South Broadway area. The owner is very nice and accomodating as well.
John Brooks Supermarket is part of a small regional chain. In Albuquerque it has unfortunately been winnowed down in the last decade to just one location at 12th and Candelaria. There used to be at least three more locations in town that I remember.
Price Rite at Arenal and Isleta is a discount outlet for Kroger and Smith's. In recent years It has been re-branded as Smith's Price Rite, but it is still a discount version of a regular Smith's or Kroger store.
For specialty meat markets, there is also Nelson's Meats on Old Coors south of Central Avenue. It's a long-standing local institution and a great value in terms of a specialty meat market.
Ta Lin is the international foods market (Albuquerque). They have sections for food cultures all over the world, but are mainly east Asian focused. Their Indian, Middle Eastern, and especially European sections are lacking, to put it mildly, in my opinion, but they still may have things you can't find anywhere else. Also in Albuquerque are the Indo-Pak grocery for south Asian specialties, and a few deli/groceries that serve the Middle Eastern community like Cafe Istanbul and AlQuds.
I've never been, but there's a somewhat newer place called Bombay Spice on Central across from the fairgrounds that has a few billboards up proclaiming themselves "New Mexico's largest Indian Grocery." They seem to be pretty legit, and both bigger and a lot more polished than Indo-Pak or other small Indian markets in Albuquerque. Speaking of which, on the north side of town the former India Grill restaurant on Wyoming south of Harper has rebranded as a deli/lunch counter and smallish Indian grocery.
As for those little Middle Eastern market/groceries, Cafe Istanbul and Al Quds are my two favorites as well (and both have great restaurants too), but there are a lot of these around town including some more specialized options. Ariana Halal Market and Cafe on San Mateo between Constitution and Lomas is a tiny Afghan grocery with a tasty if somewhat half-hearted in-house Afghan restaurant. In the same shopping center as Al Quds, another relative international-foods newcomer is the Casa Blanca Market, which bills itself as an "international grocer" but seems to have a rather odd split focus on Middle Eastern foods on the one hand and South American products on the other. If you're looking for European specialities Cafe Istanbul seems to carry a lot of Russian stuff for some reason, but there's also Eurozone Food Distributors which is exclusively Euro-focused.
Finally, ABQConvict already said all there is to say about Ta Lin Market and I agree it's Albuquerque's go-to East/Southeast Asian grocery, especially if you're looking for products from those regions but aren't Asian yourself. However, there are a few other options, most notably the 999 Seafood Supermarket on Gibson at San Mateo. 999 definitely markets itself squarely at Albuquerque's Chinese, Vietnamese, and Lao/Thai communities and unlike Ta Lin makes little or no effort to appeal to customers outside that base: products aren't always labeled in English, for instance (especially produce), and stocking and shelving are not carried out with neophyte American sensibilities in mind. (If you're familiar with Asian groceries in large cities, you probably know what I mean). That said, they have a pretty impressive selection of stuff and may be the place to go for Asian ingredients if Ta Lin doesn't have them in stock.
Last edited by Cactus Hibs; 10-13-2020 at 01:55 PM..
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