Grocery Shopping


I went to my regular grocery store and up on the front doors where the notices about “Kids Day”, that they need night stock help and the reminders not to tip the bag boys are normally located was a sign that said “This Winn Dixie will be closing permanently on May 4, 2005".

While I was in line at the Winn Dixie I got to talking to the woman running the register. We talked about how sad it is the store closing and what a drag that was going to be, of course, a much bigger drag for her than for me but still. We talked about the other groceries in the area. We both felt that the Food Lion was trashy - she because she doesn’t like the Jamaicans that work there because she feels they are too slow and rude and the fact she waited for 25 minutes in an express lane just to buy bread - I told her I didn’t like the Food Lion because of the packs of young men hanging around outside waiting to prey on the next wounded gazelle that crossed their paths. She agreed that was a big minus. Long story short, we both think that the Food Lion is too ghetto and we won’t be shopping there, I guess she won’t be looking for a job there either.

That leaves the Kroger. The new Kroger. The really, really, nice Kroger. The Kroger that the city rolled over for when it came in. Raleigh was so grateful that Kroger put such a nice store in our crappy neighborhood! Thank you Kroger for letting poor people into to spend money at your store! I looked at all the flyers I got as it was opening and thought “Hmm. It’s a grocery store. How nice for it, my Winn Dixie is closer.”

Everything in my Winn Dixie looks old, the lighting is bad. There is a thin covering of dust on everything and almost everything in the store is store brand. Most of the stuff I see on TV or find coupons for aren't carried there - all of which I am okay with, I don't need that stuff any way and besudes, shopping at Winn Dixie is cheap... They didn’t have the bacon bits I wanted but they do carry canning supplies year round plus every eatable part of the pig (almost all of it). The only pig parts I ever wanted to think about don’t look like pig anymore much less have the eyes still in them and I never wanted to see pig intestines displayed. I have learned to avoid the meat counter.

I had to go check out the Kroger. I don’t want to find myself suddenly grocery less, like I was left with out a pharmacy when the drug store directly next door to the Winn Dixie shut its doors with out as much as a fare thee well not long after I moved in. One day? Bang, closed. No note, no notice, no nothing until I got a letter from another pharmacy further away, alerting me that they were now my pharmacy. The store front where the drug store was is still empty as I suspect the Won Dixie store front will be too. The drug store, like the Won Dixie was substandard but it was right there and I liked that about both of them..

I went to the new Kroger, to check it out, see if I was going to like it. See how far away it is ( less than a quarter mile difference).

It’s nice, it has stock on the shelves, the isles are wide, the floors are clean, its very well lit. The merchandise is attractively arranged, easy to find and in good condition and not dusty. They have a real sea food section, a deli, a good meat department - despite the presence of chitterlings. They also have fresh flowers and all the stuff you see advertised on TV.

Sigh.