Last updated on 30 April 2025.
San Diego is the second largest city in California, but often doesn’t really feel like it. While part of the greater Southern California region, it often feels like its own world, and its grocery chains reflect this to some extent. Los Angeles area chains were slower to penetrate the market (Ralphs did not arrive until after 1980) and local chains like D.D. Williams/Piggly Wiggly and Big Bear were strong contenders through much of the 1900s.