On Sep 10, 6:01*pm, Pennyaline > wrote:
> Gregory Morrow wrote:
> >http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/bu...10grocery.html
> > The opening of smaller stores upends a long-running trend in the grocery
> > business: building ever-larger stores in the belief that consumers want
> > choice above all.
>
> Good!! Some of these stores are soooo big it's too much of a chore to
> get around in them. And "choice above all"? What a joke! What choice?
> You get what they stock, and they stock what THEY choose, period.

Well, that's all fine and good up to a point. I like having choices -
and if the supermarkets are downsizing, it means more trips to more
stores just to get what I want.

I make a special once-a-month trip to a superstore (15 mile roundtrip,
which isn't very far for big-city dwellers, but it's ludicrous here)
for my International Delight creamer, because it's the only store that
stocks it. I also get my "Fresh and Natural" daily fresh fruit cups
there because they are 25 cents cheaper (each) than a store closer to
me. OTOH, they don't carry any Keebler crackers at all - I have to
have my morning snack with Sesame ones, so get those elsewhere.

We have Fareway stores which aren't as big as my regular, ordinary,
supermarket (not the supercenter chain), and when I go there, I can't
find half the items I want, by brand. It's very annoying and time
consuming, but I'm too stubborn to change what I like ;-)

N.