For instance, Fiesta Markets of Houston got its start as a supermarket specializing in fresh produce and ethnic foods for Latin and Asian immigrants and expanded in size, locations and gourmet offerings. Several years ago Fiesta moved into Austin to do battle with H-E-B, the San Antonio-based supermarket chain that owned the Tejano market. H-E-B responded with Central Markets, which offers acres of exotic foods (mainly for yuppies on the affluent west side of town). Fiesta opened two locations in Austin. One is a giant market on the east side, which serves north and central Austin as well as the lower-income eastside. The other was a smaller grocery on the south side, which it abandoned a couple years ago to H-E-B.
There are also at least three farmer's markets operating in Austin, in north, south and east Austin, as well as three natural foods supermarkets, in north, south and central Austin. Consumers are relatively well-served (as long as they can get to the markets), although the big chains have pushed some of the smaller neighborhood grocers out of business or forced them to become convenience stores, charging higher prices for a limited selection.
Even my hometown of Storm Lake, Iowa, a town of 8,500 where fish sticks used to be exotic fare when I was growing up, now has two supermarkets that between them offer a relatively sophisticated choice of produce and condiments that cater, among others, to the immigrants from Mexico and Asia who have moved in to work at the union-busting meatpackers. You can get "fresh" seafood, as long as you remember that you're 1,200 miles inland and they ain't flying it in.
-- Jim Cullen
Austin, Texas
>ok, ok, ok, i wasn't going to jump in on this thread, but NYC has the best
>food choice in the western hemisphere, both in restaurants and purchases (I've
>visited the bay area and many other USA locations and I insist that this is
>true). It used to be that poor neighborhoods had the worst and highest priced
>supermarkets, but that does not seem to be as true as it used to be.
>F'rinstance, I've been told I live in a ghetto, whatever the fuck that means.
>A & P used to be the most expensive market here, and it closed, and was
>replaced by another expensive no-name market, and that has closed and been
>replaced by a relatively inexpensive CTown which is doing a land office
>business. In the mean time there is a huge pathmark and a medium sized no-
>name supermarket which had decent prices. However, only a little travel
>(10-15 minutes by subway or bus) brings you to fresh fruit places in several
>directions, and there is also a good butcher and fish place up here. I think
>that New York's poor neighborhoods are not as isolated and residents vote with
>their feet, travelling to other areas rather than buy overpriced produce (by
>and large, there are of course exceptions -- the elderly, brand new
>immigrants).
>
>maggie coleman mscoleman at aol.com