Robbin Dzembo is a grocery dabbler.

The Rensselaer resident likes Price Chopper's salad dressing more than Hannaford's, but gets her balsamic vinegar from ShopRite. She'll travel to PriceRite in Schenectady for produce or Mexican sour cream. She'll swing by Aldi for bread or milk, get her paper goods at Walmart, and her coffee and cheese at Trader Joe's.

But she wishes there was a Wegmans nearby.

"I would knock over an old lady for a Wegmans," she said. "I love Wegmans."

She makes one large shopping trip a week, but she says she stops at one market or another almost daily.

"When we go on vacation, I don't want to see a famous museum," she said. "I want to go to Piggly Wiggly."

With Trader Joe's and The Fresh Market opening here in recent years, ShopRite jumping into the supermarket wars, Honest Weight Food Coop opening a new store and Whole Foods coming soon, the Capital Region is awash in grocery choices. And those stores are joined by Target and Walmart, which stock their shelves with fresh fruit and frozen french fries.

In 2001, grocery consultant Burt Flickinger III told the Times Union that the Capital Region was oversaturated with supermarkets.

"It will be a game of market conquest and cannibalization," he predicted. "The stronger will overpower the weaker in a Darwinian battle of market share. The weak will ultimately get wounded and die."

Flickinger, managing director of New York City-based Strategic Research Group, now says the prediction came true, with Grand Union, P&C and A&P all bankrupt and closing. But he said the Capital Region is now enjoying a retail renaissance, helped by high-tech jobs in nanotechnology that bring new, educated shoppers.

"Albany was not on the retail radar screen for Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and The Fresh Market in the 20th century, but now it is a destination market," he said.

Willard Bishop, a grocery consultant in Barrington, Ill., who owns a company called Brick Meets Click, said there may not be enough consumer dollars for everyone.

"The answer to '(Are) there enough grocery dollars to go around?' is no," he said. "The pie isn't growing nearly as fast as the appetite of the people eating the pie."

Dzembo isn't so sure.

"You can divide a pie into eight pieces or 10 pieces. Everybody still gets a piece of pie," she said. "If the Golub Corp. or the Hannaford Corp. get a smaller piece of pie so I can get more choices, I am OK with that."

Some parts of the Capital Region have an astounding array of grocery options. Within the Saratoga Springs ZIP code, with a population of 36,915, there are seven places to shop for groceries. That's a store for every 5,273 people.

In the adjoining parts of Albany and Colonie near Central Avenue, a population of 43,372 has 11 places to buy groceries — one for every 3,942 people. Price Chopper and Hannaford have long faced off almost directly opposite each other, while ShopRite opened a store last year a half mile down the road.

At the other end of Central Avenue, ShopRite built a second store six miles away with a Target and a BJ's Wholesale Club nearby.

Latham and Clifton Park also are packed with options. In fact, Clifton Park has two Price Choppers on Route 146 within little more than a half mile of each other.

But some shoppers don't mind driving some distance to get what they want even if other stores are closer.

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Laura Patterson of Troy said she has stopped at ShopRite in Albany, and Hannaford and Price Chopper in Latham on the same day.

"I like particular things at cheap prices," she said.

She says she prefers ShopRite's meat, but thinks her total bill is lower at Price Chopper.

Albany resident Adam Morey says he also likes a variety of grocery stores.

The general manager of Empire Wine and Spirits often stops at Trader Joe's because it is near work. He likes to vary his route home and will stop at a ShopRite or a Hannaford store on his way.

"I moved here a couple of years ago from New York," he said. "I am just used to having a lot of choices."

The arrival of ShopRite appears to have inspired both Hannaford and Price Chopper. Both spent millions to renovate their stores to fight off the intruder.

"We're certainly investing in major remodels of our stores," said Hannaford spokesman Erik Blom. "We're certainly committed to Albany. We welcome competition. It keeps us all sharp."

Jerry Golub, CEO of Price Chopper parent Golub Corp., said his stores are trying to capture customers' loyalty by changing to meet their needs.

"I can't try to predict what is going to happen to other companies, but we plan to be successful for years to come," he said. "For us, the focus has to be on doing the best we can. I am not so worried about how many competitors we have."

After swiftly opening four Capital Region stores, ShopRite has no new ones in the works but is still weighing its options, said Thomas Urtz, vice president of human resources and community affairs.

"We're always open to pursuing new opportunities," he said. "We're actively looking to see what presents itself."

To win the battle for consumers' hearts, he said, grocers must focus on pleasing them.

"The next battle is for creating a great personal experience for shoppers," he said. "Ultimately, it's the consumer that votes."

Predicting who will survive is a tricky proposition. Price Chopper, Hannaford and ShopRite are all well-run chains, said Bishop, the Illinois-based grocery consultant.

"I don't think there is any pushover in the market," he said.

But A&P and Grand Union were once-powerful chains and it was hard to imagine they would fail.

Flickinger believes The Fresh Market is the most vulnerable to competition. "It could get caught in a severe competitive crossfire," he said.

The megastore Price Chopper is preparing in Latham is the brightest spot Bishop sees on the Capital Region horizon. Intended to represent the next wave in grocery shopping, it will house 16 eateries, an in-house cooking school, and will sell produce grown and harvested in the store.

That's a smart way to take advantage of consumers' growing desire not to make their own meals, he said.

"The American shopper spends about as much on food away from home than on food at home," he said. "That is more of a strategic way of thinking about it."

Golub said the store will serve as a testing area for ideas that could be used in Price Chopper's other stores.

"People like choices, and one of the things we're trying to do in our stores is produce more choices," he said.

Like Dzembo, shoppers may make a main weekly shopping trip to one store, but vary where they stop other times to pick up a few things.

"The traditional shopping trips are being spread more thinly," Bishop said.

Director of Research Sarah Hinman contributed to this report. tobrien@timesunion.com • 518-454-5092 • @timobrientu