Safeway, Giant, Whole Foods and Co.
Grocery shopping is always fun when you are in a different place. The same was true here in DC. At least at the beginning, when things were new. Now I sometimes crave for a strall through the lavish produce section of a Coop or a Migros back home or having the chance to buy really good quality for an affordable price. Here things are a bit different. The choice is bigger, that's for sure. But quantity is not necessarily quality. Shall we go to Safeway, Giant, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's or Harris Teeter? That's the question. Well, each has some special characteristics which makes the choice somewhat easier. Let's start with the first one.
Safeway: The chain with the most branches in the District and thus the closest to where we live. There are so many, that the Washingtonians created names for many of the branches. For example there is the Unsafeway, the branch located in a former shady neighborhood. Another one is called the Soviet Safeway as it frequently runs out of products. In response, staff distributes the remaining packages on the shelves giving them the look of shops in former socialistic countries: a small selection distributed on a maximum of space.
Then there is the Spanish Safeway and many others. In general, Safeway has three characteristics: the selection is huge, the quality is often not so good (in particular when it comes to fresh produce) and the cashiers are incredibly slow.
Both Seba and I were walking incredulously through the store the first time, counting the aisles with frozen food products of which most can be thrown into the microwave. Those aisles are the center piece of any Safeway. In our home safeway, there are five rows of endless meals. We usually follow the rule of thumb #1: walk along the shelves along the walls of the store to buy the healthier food. Rule of thumb #2: never, but really never, should you go to a Safeway when you are in a hurry. Even though you might be able to collect your desired food items fairly quickly, you will be waiting your time at the cashier. I think Coop or Migros would be confronted with a customer revolution when they would allow staff that works sooooo slooow. Since produce is weighed at the check out (requiring the cashiers to identify the PLU number and typing that into the computer, hoping that there was no typo) and because they have to bag all your items (making sure that the weight is more of less evenly distributed over the bags, sometimes requiring repacking bags to balance the weight...) the ritual of checking out a Safeway seems to take an eternity. I have found a very successful technique to further prolong this ordeal by regularly buying produce which usually leads to the ultimate time killing question: what is that? Since many staff have no clue what their employer sells, it can be quite tricky for them to find the item in their lists (which do not have pictures...). Since not all produce is labeled with the appropriate PLU number, they have to walk around the store to find a colleague that might recognize the weird vegetable (e.g. leek) or fruit (e.g. rhubarb) I put on the conveyor belt. Since they are paid by the hour and not by the number of items scanned, there is usually enough time to chat with some people on the quest for the right PLU. Oh well, it's part of the deal and you get used to it. After all, this is America!
Safeway: The chain with the most branches in the District and thus the closest to where we live. There are so many, that the Washingtonians created names for many of the branches. For example there is the Unsafeway, the branch located in a former shady neighborhood. Another one is called the Soviet Safeway as it frequently runs out of products. In response, staff distributes the remaining packages on the shelves giving them the look of shops in former socialistic countries: a small selection distributed on a maximum of space.
Then there is the Spanish Safeway and many others. In general, Safeway has three characteristics: the selection is huge, the quality is often not so good (in particular when it comes to fresh produce) and the cashiers are incredibly slow.
Both Seba and I were walking incredulously through the store the first time, counting the aisles with frozen food products of which most can be thrown into the microwave. Those aisles are the center piece of any Safeway. In our home safeway, there are five rows of endless meals. We usually follow the rule of thumb #1: walk along the shelves along the walls of the store to buy the healthier food. Rule of thumb #2: never, but really never, should you go to a Safeway when you are in a hurry. Even though you might be able to collect your desired food items fairly quickly, you will be waiting your time at the cashier. I think Coop or Migros would be confronted with a customer revolution when they would allow staff that works sooooo slooow. Since produce is weighed at the check out (requiring the cashiers to identify the PLU number and typing that into the computer, hoping that there was no typo) and because they have to bag all your items (making sure that the weight is more of less evenly distributed over the bags, sometimes requiring repacking bags to balance the weight...) the ritual of checking out a Safeway seems to take an eternity. I have found a very successful technique to further prolong this ordeal by regularly buying produce which usually leads to the ultimate time killing question: what is that? Since many staff have no clue what their employer sells, it can be quite tricky for them to find the item in their lists (which do not have pictures...). Since not all produce is labeled with the appropriate PLU number, they have to walk around the store to find a colleague that might recognize the weird vegetable (e.g. leek) or fruit (e.g. rhubarb) I put on the conveyor belt. Since they are paid by the hour and not by the number of items scanned, there is usually enough time to chat with some people on the quest for the right PLU. Oh well, it's part of the deal and you get used to it. After all, this is America!
Klodynis - 2007-10-04 06:31
