The answer to your question depends to some degree on what type of quantity you want to buy. If you are looking for a small amount, then the local grocery store or Wal-Mart may be your best option. Keep in mind, however, that dry ice sublimates (turns into a gas) rather quickly and this keeps many retailers from wanting to carry large amounts of it. It also drives the price of the dry ice up since spoilage is very high.

If you are looking for a larger amount of dry ice or want to save money, you may want to go a more direct route and buy directly from the manufacturer. In the U.S., there are three primary manufacturers of dry ice: Continental Carbonic, Airgas, and Praxair. Each of these companies has a number of manufacturing facilities as well as distribution facilities that are typically located in or near major cities. The Dry Ice Directory website has information on all three. I work with Continental Carbonic and they have a page where you can type in your zip code to find their closest facility where they supply walk-ins. http://www.continentalcarbonic.com/dry-ice-locator.html.

You can buy dry ice at multiple places. Try your local grocery stores or ice cream shops first. Then you can try your party supply stores. Make sure you learn how to handle it correctly!

In addition to dry ice dealers that are in your area, you can actually buy dry ice at many major grocery stores. You can also find dry ice at most Wal-Mart Superstores. You can find more information here: http://dryicedirectory.com/

A much better page to find dry ice is this one: http://www.thegreenclean.com/business-directory/industry-white-pages/dry-ice-retailers. It's actually organized, searchable, and has a useful interactive map.

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