Going to the grocery store is one of my favorite things to do. I’m a very list and task-oriented person so the entire grocery getting experience almost always satisfies my personality. I start with trying to find new recipes that I want to make (double checking that my husband will eat them), list out ingredients I’ll need for the recipes and then make sure I add on the list anything else we’re out of or that we want. Good chances are that if something is not on the list, I will not remember to get it.
One of the things I appreciate about where I live is that I have a number of grocery options within a very small radius. There’s the Super Fresh, aka Sucky Fresh to all who’ve ever shopped there, that is about 2 miles away but that I really only go to if I’m desperate for a basic ingredient. We also have a brand new Safeway with a coffee shop in it, underground parking, and two different size carts about 4 miles away. While this Safeway was being built I got more and more excited to shop there as the days drew nearer to its grand opening. First chance I had, I gave the store a shot. And then another. And then one more last chance. I really wanted to be a Safeway shopper. The store does have a lot of “new store” pluses to it, but for me, the aisles are too narrow; the Asian aisle was quite limited; customer service was weak at best; and I personally had two less than impressive deli counter experiences.
Fortunately, only another few miles away is the recently renovated Giant, my safe haven of a grocery store. The store itself is awesome in my mind—it’s big, has lots of brand selections, plenty of self-checkout as well as staffed checkout lanes, good two-fer sales (that’s two for one in my grocery slang)—yep, the store works for me. Sometimes though, it’s my fellow Giant shoppers who I question.
Grocery shopping requires a certain level of situational awareness. Even in aisles that are wide enough for two carts and a few humans to pass by comfortably, one must at least attempt to pay attention to what’s going on around them while staring at the 15 different types of spaghetti sauce. Parking your cart caddy whompass in the middle of an aisle while you walk to the other end to see if you missed something is not exactly considerate of anyone else who might have to get by. If you’re being helped at the deli counter and new folks arrive, now is the time to step away from the case; other people would like to see the meats and cheeses on sale. Also, when you pull your ticket at the deli counter, please do not wander back to produce and hold up the rest of the folks waiting at the deli because you can’t hear your number being called. And while in produce, please do not park your cart in front of the produce bag dispensers because then it looks like I’m trying to steal something out of your cart when I reach across it, over it, around it to get to a bag. All I want is to bag a cucumber.
I can understand going into a mental zone while grocery shopping. Stores typically have on good music that could interfere with someone’s grocery aisle etiquette, any sort of new product or packaging is instantly distracting, and I have to imagine that non-list shoppers have a different method all together of navigating the store, but there are very few times when the grocery store is not crowded and you will never have it to yourself. So please, use your peripheral vision to notice that you are blocking someone from reaching the can of artichokes they need. I promise, we can all enjoy the Giant together.
My shopping peeves aside, checking grocery items off the list and crossing the act of shopping off the “to do” list is a productive and satisfying experience. Just don’t get me started on grocery store parking lot etiquette!
