St. Augustine is just like every other place – we have stores. Groceries are a big thing, we all like to eat, right?

Getting groceries in the St. Augustine area is pretty easy, we have all the options of the big cities. We’ve got the national chains, the regional chains, and even a wide variety of smaller family owned places that all make it simple to stock up.

St. Augustine has a Wal-Mart Supercenter. As far as I know, they are the only 24-hour grocery store in the area. For most of the rentals from First Choice Florida, Wal-Mart is a bit of a drive; most rental homes are on the barrier islands, and Wal-Mart is on the mainland. Fortunately, there are no bridge fees, though a few are drawbridges and have long waits. This won’t make sense to you until you’re here, but remember it anyway: 312.

We have two barrier islands, Anastasia to the south and Veterans to the north.

For those on Anastasia Island – Marineland, Summer Haven, Crescent Beach, Butler Beach, St. Augustine Beach – you have our two big regional stores, Publix and Winn-Dixie. They are both grocery stores with limited non-grocery items. There is a liquor store at each of them, and they are both part of larger shopping plazas, with many neighboring shops. They are basically across the street from each other, and situated right about midway down the island.

Rentals in the neighborhoods of Vilano Beach and Ponte Vedra on Veterans Island are a bit more limited, with only a Publix on the island. If you’re close to the Vilano end, you can cross the bridge and hit up Winn-Dixie by the St. Augustine City Gates.

For homes on the mainland, you’ve got easy access to everything, with St. Augustine having just the one Wal-Mart, but at least 5 Winn-Dixies and 5+ Publix Stores. There’s also an Aldi and a Target along US1 south of the St. Augustine Historic District.

Coming as a surprise to absolutely no one, we have many Dollar General stores around, as well as Family Dollar and even Dollar Tree. There’s not much sense in saying where they are, because you already know if you get in your car and drive, you’ll see one of them within 5 minutes or less, no matter where you are.

A couple of local secrets: Discount Grocers, and again, Dollar Tree.

I don’t know if it’s true, if it ever was, or anything, but we’ve got a massive Dollar Tree store, rumored to be the second biggest in the United States. The store is very poorly maintained, they have an unreal employee turnover rate, but don’t let any of that distract you from the deals. Almost everything in the store is $1.25, and they have so much food. There’s candy, chips, and many great things to make road trips and vacations nice.

Discount Grocers is a tiny little cash-only place where you never know what you’ll find. They’ve been here for a long time, and is personally my favorite place to find odds and ends for my kitchen. Be sure to stop by if you’re on Anastasia Island.

If you find any local grocers or other shops we should include, please feel free to drop us a line at Stay@firstchoiceflorida.com with your suggestion!