Grocery Stores

I love our grocery stores.  To me, they are like museums displaying a tribute to conspicuous consumption in America.  I have been to QFC, Safeway, Fred Meyer, Whole Foods, Walmart,  Grocery Outlet, Cash-n-Carry and Costco in the last two months.  The first five stores work well for shoppers with any size household.  Cash-n-Carry and Costco sell bulk-sized items that require considerable storage space such as a bale of toilet paper or a 15 pound rib roast.

These stores each have somewhere between 1000 and 10,000 different products on their shelves for sale.  I like some variety in my food and household products.  A SWAG estimate is that I buy 100 different products in the course of a year (counting various sizes of milk or different kinds of sliced wheat breads as one item).

Earlier this month, my friend Greg pointed out a different grocery store, Pacific Foods International, (PFI) located just south of Chinatown in Seattle.  I gave it a drive-by last week.  It was not so accessible with stairs at the primary entrance.  I could have gone in through the loading dock but the parking lot was at a steeper slant on a hill than I wanted to deal with when transferring to and from my wheelchair to the car.  PFI looked interesting.  They are a bulk seller for restaurants and smaller markets.  I am sure there was something there I needed!

Yesterday’s trip to Costco for five items resulted in a trunk full of food and paper products.  We also got tubs of fresh grapes and strawberries along with a bag of avocadoes.  I won’t be back for awhile!

I am grateful for my choices of grocery stores and the amazing fresh produce contained within them.