Top 5 Grocery Stops
Near Orange Beach
The big arrival run, the late-night backstop, and the shrimp they steam for you while you wait.
A condo kitchen only earns its keep if you fill it, and the first afternoon is the worst time to go hunting for a store. Four of the five stops below sit within five minutes of the building, all of them on Perdido Beach Blvd, so the arrival run is a short errand instead of a project. We have listed them in the order we actually use them, with the winter hours called out, because holiday weeks do not run on the summer schedule.
Rouses is the best full-size supermarket on the island and the one to use for the big arrival trip. It is a Louisiana chain with a genuinely good seafood counter, a hot deli, boiled shrimp and a solid wine aisle. Open year-round, 7am to 10pm daily. Holiday hours are shortened and Christmas Day is not guaranteed, so do the big shopping run on arrival rather than relying on it mid-week.
Use Rouses for the arrival trip: a full supermarket, a good seafood counter and a wine aisle in one stop. If you want the shrimp cooked for you rather than raw, that is a job for a steam-pot specialist. Topsail Steamer sits across the street, and Lartigue's on Perdido Beach Blvd will steam what you buy from them while you wait.
This is a smaller-format Walmart focused on groceries, open year-round, with the longest hours on the island at 7am to 11pm daily. There is no general merchandise to speak of, but it covers diapers, basics, cheap beach gear and a pharmacy. Think of it as the late-night backstop for the moment at 9pm when you realize there are no coffee filters. Expect reduced hours around Christmas.
Build a Walmart pickup order on the drive down and book the slot for shortly after 4pm check-in. You park in a numbered spot, they load the car, and nobody has to walk a store after eight hours in the truck.
This is a clean, well-run Publix at The Shoppes at Palm Pointe with strong produce, a good bakery and the chain's made-to-order deli subs, which are the easy answer to feeding eight people on a beach day. Open year-round. Publix closes on Christmas Day and cuts hours on Christmas Eve, so plan the holiday-week shopping around that rather than assuming normal opening.
Put your sub order in at the deli kiosk the moment you walk in, shop the rest of the store, then pick it up on the way out. It is the fastest way to get lunch for eight without anyone standing in line.
Lartigue's has been a family seafood market on Perdido Beach Blvd since 1979, selling Gulf shrimp, oysters, snapper and grouper off the boats. The part people miss is that they will steam it for you while you wait. Open daily, roughly 9am to 7pm. Winter is fine for shrimp and oysters, but what is landing changes with the season, so ask what came in rather than arriving with a fixed list.
Have them steam a few pounds of shrimp with the seasoning and pick it up on the way back from the beach. You get a real Gulf dinner with no cooking and no smell in the condo. Oysters are at their best in the cold months.
This is a large covered farmers and fishermens market in Foley that runs every Saturday morning year-round, 9am to 2pm, so it is not a summer-only market. Local produce, Gulf seafood, honey, baked goods and craft booths all sit under a permanent pavilion, which means weather is not a problem. The winter table looks different from the summer one: greens, satsumas and citrus rather than tomatoes and melons.
Saturday only, and it winds down well before the 2pm close, so go before about 11am. Baldwin County satsumas peak in December and are worth the trip on their own, since they are a local crop you will not find at home. Take cash, because not every booth takes cards.
Put together by Gene & Jennifer, who do this grocery run themselves.