Dominating the corner of University Avenue and Lake Street, Fresh Madison Market is a grocery titan on campus. Its central location and late hours attract a huge number of student shoppers who seem to be the overwhelming majority of Fresh customers. Day in and day out, hundreds of student shoppers stream through the automatic doors of Fresh, their hands carrying paper bags emblazoned with the recognizable green logo.

Because of its visibility and popularity, Fresh might seem like the only grocery option available to students. While its convenience is certainly enticing, Fresh is hardly the only accessible grocery store for students. The following are available alternatives offering greater variety, exotic foods and more affordable prices.

Capitol Centre Market

Just a few blocks away from Fresh near the corner of Broom and Johnson lies Capitol Centre Market, a full-service grocery store open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The store layout is overall denser, fitting a wider variety of foods and brands into a notably smaller space. The prices of the same brands are almost always cheaper than Fresh. The absence of a butcher counter is a downside — the packaged meat options tend to be slightly more expensive than the wholesale options at Fresh. Capitol Center Market also boasts a larger selection of home goods like cleaning supplies and paper products. If you’re looking to reduce your grocery bill, Capitol Center Market is a reliable option with consistently lower prices.

Fraboni’s Italian Specialties

Located just off Park Street, Fraboni’s is Madison’s Mecca of Italian foodstuffs. The classic swing music playing over the store speakers and sleepy atmosphere inside give the place a distinctly old-school feel, as if it were a set for “Goodfellas.” Fraboni’s selection is almost stereotypically Italian — about a third of the store is dedicated only to pastas and tomato sauces, with the butcher counter full of Italian deli meats occupying another large portion. Produce and dairy are absent at Fraboni’s, and the beverage section consists of a cooler full of exotic and delicious artisan sodas. While it might not be sufficient for a standard diet, Fraboni’s is a must-visit in preparation for pasta nights.

Asian Midway Foods

Students who dare to venture nearly a mile off-campus down Park Street will enjoy the rich reward of Asian Midway Foods, home of the 100-pound bags of rice (for $35) and many other similarly remarkable deals. Bags of dried shredded squid neighbor packets of Nacho Doritos in an exciting blend of domestic and exotic goods, just one of many selling points for this establishment.

I’d be surprised to find a more impressive seafood selection in Madison — fresh fish, clams and live lobsters are all available for ludicrously low prices. Prices are universally low throughout the store, with many meats and produce items selling for less than half the price at Fresh. A small problem is that prices are inconsistently listed — they’re attached with stickers to individual products, and a fair number of items seemed to have no price listed whatsoever. Regardless, Asian Midway Foods is well worth the journey. While obviously a great source of Asian specialty items, their ethnic food selection (specifically Mexican) is also impressive, with wonderfully low prices being a major selling point.

Kwik Trip

Situated on Monroe Street in the shadow of Camp Randall, Kwik Trip is a curious hybrid between a full grocery store and a gas station. In addition to standard gas station comestibles, Kwik Trip offers a limited but respectable selection of produce, dairy and meats. Canadian expatriates will enjoy their selection of bagged milk, offered at 99 cents per half gallon. While the overall variety of goods available is rather limited, Kwik Trip provides the essentials at bargain prices.

Trader Joe’s

Only a few blocks down from Kwik Trip on Monroe Street, Trader Joe’s is one of the most competitive rivals to Fresh Market. Shoppers will rejoice at the vast selection in every department, and terrible cooks will appreciate Trader Joe’s colossal array of frozen foods, many of them specialty items and all of them easy to prepare, not to mention delicious. Prices are lower than those at Fresh, but not by much. It’s worth mentioning that Trader Joe’s is the only store on this list which sells hard liquor, most notably their in-house brand of vodka. At $12 for 1.75 liters, you can leave this store with your wallet happy and your liver mortified. Happy shopping!