Ivy Food Store is sort of the chain equivalent to Times Grocery. There are many stores across Nanjing, with some of the most prominent ones being on Zhongshan Road, just south of Guangzhou Road; on Hunan Road near Hubei Road; and on East Beijing Road, close to Taiping Gate and Xuanwu Lake. So what exactly sets Ivy and Times apart? The answer is simple: the selection.
Times and Ivy stock some similar things, such as spirits and beers. The larger Ivy stores usually have a fine selection of wines and even some liqueurs, which can eclipse the small but admittedly impressive selection at Times. Times, however, beats Ivy hands down by supplying the little things that can make an expat’s kitchen complete, like spices and seasonings. Don’t go to Ivy expecting to find that one ingredient your favorite dish was missing. Ivy, however, does have a good range of other goods, like cake mixes, candies, chocolates, dried pastas, and canned and bottled sauces.
Like Ivy, one shouldn’t expect to walk out having saved a lot of money, but when buying imported food stuffs, one should not expect to.
