A Critical Critique of the Supermarket; Which isn’t all that Super Anymore.
I am currently on a quest to find the right grocery store for me; a recent college graduate and 23 year old living in Milwaukee. On this survey of sort, I am looking for the right place that fits most of my needs and wants. Now what does “right” look like? Here are some of my factors:
Proximity to where I live
- Is it close by and easy to get to
Cost
Can I get the basics?
- Fresh veggies
- Skippy peanut butter
- rotisserie Chicken
Can I get the not so basics?
- Whole bean free trade coffee
- Real Bread (specifically sourdough)
Locally grown products
- A farmers market type quality and feel
- Environmentally friendly
Cashier Check out
Aesthetic
- Does it feel good to spend time here
Alcohol
- Is there a good selection
- Can I buy it along with the rest of my groceries
Can I park my car easily?
This might seem like a lot of factors, even nitty gritty ones, and it is. But keep in mind, here, I am doing my due diligence and am looking for the very best so that you don’t have to (if you’re a 23 year old with a relatively small budget and a demand for good quality food). Let me start by explaining my current frustrations as I continue to bounce around to different grocery stores each week searching for one that might mercifully end my grief and fit most of my needs. I want a grocery store that’s close to where I live, that has good quality foods, the brands I like, service I can depend on, and that won’t kill me come time to pay off my credit card each month. It might not seem like a big deal, but it is. And if it wasn’t, I’m making it one. A really good grocery store is just like a good mate (as in friend). They’re dependable, accessible, not too far away, they know what you like, they’re clean, and relatively like-minded. Finding a good mate in the first place isn’t all that easy and sometimes you settle for one thats just okay and might have a few flaws; which you’ve lived with for some time, but there comes a point when you realize you can do better. That you need better. Switching isn’t really all that easy. What you had was comfort. You knew where everything was (even the stuff you didn’t like or want) and the quickest way ‘round. Testing out a new store just as getting to know a new person takes a leap of faith. You’re not sure if they’re gonna have what you want and you don’t even know where to look. It can be exhausting and frustrating. You could even find yourself getting stabbed, you never know. It takes time to get used to a new store, and the more time you spend looking for the items you can’t find, the more you think about the comfort and easiness of your old store. It can be hard to break away and learn the new routines. I was plenty used to my old grocery store when I was at university, Festival Foods. There were two of them about the same distance from my house and both had a great selection of veggies, meats, and organic sections. They had actual cashiers to check me out. They even lined up paper bags at checkout to make it more likely for people to be environmentally conscious. About the one thing they could have improved on was their deli section. And that’s mostly because I’m spoiled for deli meats and I preferred to go to the local coop instead since their meat was local from within 60 miles. Well anyway, let’s come back to the present.
I moved into the Brewer’s Hill area of Milwaukee and began going to Fresh Thyme (on Water and Pleasant) because it was literally down the street. I could walk to it from my apartment. It even has a nice ornate water tower thingy out front, which is inviting. I liked it in there. It felt cozy and the customer service is great. They smile at you and say hello when you walk in. The deli stays open as late as the store does. They actually check your items out as you leave and don’t force you to do it yourself. They offer great produce and have fresh local vegetables. They offer products that are sustainable and environmentally friendly like bar soaps, essential oils, and an assortment of bulk buying options where you can bring and fill up your own containers. They have the right kinds of coffee — bulk, whole beans that you can grind right in the store. Many if not most of their products are better for you since they are more natural, organic, and manufactured by their own brand. BUT, they lack a few things too: Good, real bread for example, a liquor section that actually sells liquor (or a decent selection of beer at least), Skippy peanut butter, oh, and a price point that won’t set me back more than $80 for a weeks worth of groceries. I mean seriously, it really is about an extra dollar for each item as compared to a more general grocery store. It took me half a summer and a relatively warm fall for me to realize that even a store that I love SO much wasn’t worth it because it was hurting me too much financially. I’ve had to regrettably move on and look elsewhere.
After pandering to my friends who also live in the city and look to spend about what I spend each week, I was ushered to try Metro Market on Van Buren. I thought this could be it. It isn’t too much further from my house (just about a mile), and its conveniently located on the same path as it take to get to and from my gym. And its a relatively good store. Its got two separate parking lots, one for quick in and out access and the other for old fashioned wheeled-cart shopping. I can get a greater selection of booze here and most of my ideal weekly groceries for a better price, albeit lower quality. It bodes a slightly higher aesthetic and quality than its nearby neighbor of Pick ’n Save. However it has, what is sadly becoming the usual, a dreadful amount of self checkout lanes, but still keeps about two to three actual checkout lanes open, which is more than some other places in the business. Yet this is a busy store where a lot of people shop, so don’t expect the cashier check out lines to be without customers already in them; you’ll have to wait or muster up the will to self check out. This store was looking on the up for me until one day when I was set on buying my friends-giving ingredients of yukon gold potatoes, onions, and garlic. Pretty basic ingredients if you ask me, but when I walked in there determined to make the best mashed potatoes any friends-giving could offer, they had none. NONE. (Mind you, a week before actual Thanksgiving. They should have been stocked). The Yukon golds were non existent, the selection of onions was dismal, and if you can’t keep real garlic stocked, then can you even be considered a grocery store? Time to move on.
Queue Pick ’n Save. A good two blocks north of Metro Market still on Van Buren, even closer to my house! I know what you’re thinking… very similar to Metro Market and wait, they’re even owned by the same company, Kroger. Although I have found the vegetables in this store to be in stock, there are some significant flaws here too. First off, and the most concerning, is the check out which pretty much can only be done by none other than YOURSELF. Thats right. A modern anomaly. You are damn near forced to check yourself out as there is only one cashier lane open (*sometimes) and has a line thats longer and more packed than a tin of sardines. So why are self-checkout lanes so bad? Call me old fashioned, but I just don’t like the idea of having to do a job myself when someone who should be properly trained to do it simply stands there and watches me do it when they could be all along. It takes me longer which is frustrating; there’s very little room or space for all my groceries, which is frustrating; they only offer plastic bags, which is frustrating; something always goes wrong, prompting the automated lady on the computer screen to yell at me, which is frustrating and annoying, and which then requires a “worker” to come solve the problem. And inevitably I have to go fetch the worker to come help me since they can’t be bothered since they are usually just kids on their phones with no supervision. Listen, I’m here to by my weeks worth of groceries and its going to be more than $30. I’m not just there for a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and a bag of chips. If I’m forced into the self checkout, it incentivizes me to steal, which I will, because I’m already so fed up with having to use them in the first place that I need something to level the playing field. I need retribution. Among other things, this Pick ’n Save closes its deli and meat sections by about four in the afternoon, has no semblance of propriety, and if I want to be efficient and buy my beer along with all my other groceries, I have to make two separate transactions and then carry my beer receipt around the store with me. Then there’s the parking lot, which has so many curb shoulders and tight turns that it makes my Jeep Wrangler feel like it has the turning radius of a limousine. This store is wack and it’s work staff are comical at best. Yet, it is the cheapest.
So much frustration only prompted me to set my sights a little higher, and so I decided to try out Gloriosos on Brady. A staple. This is how grocery stores should be. I’m talking the atmosphere, the quality ingredients, the quality of choice, and the ever present, glorious, and wafting aroma of great Italian cuisine. Although I knew it was pricy, I guess I didn’t know just how much weight the prices I had heard from friends carried. I had intentions of making a meal for myself and a little lady friend I was getting to know, so I set off for some mushroom ravioli, alfredo sauce, broccoli, some fresh bread, pecorino romano, and a spot of wine. Six items totaling a gargantuas $60. Ouch. Okay, maybe I can afford to go here once a year on a whim… maybe.
Allow me to jump in here and give a bit of background. You see, I grew up in the North Shore, with a North Shore sense of arrogance to anything involving class and wealth. I thought most grocery stores were the same. I thought most people had access to the same quality of stores. I learned soon enough. But what I was used to was Sendiks, because its what I grew up on. Apart of Gloriosos, their deli section is unmatched, their coffee selection is amazing, and when you walk into them, you know you’re being taken care of. Quality both in produce and in customer experience is top notch. The stores (mostly I’m talking about the one in White Fish Bay on Silver Spring) usually tend to be busy and even though they are quite small they make good use of the space. But their clientele is of the most uppity and snotty that come. Old, dreary, bitter. I like the store don’t get me wrong, but I just don’t like the other people in the store. No personality at all, just a frenzy of Canada Goose coats walking around bumping into you and expecting an apology to them. In summary, I like a Sendiks, but they are still too expensive for me. I do like to buy my bread and deli meant here. Fresh sourdough loaves and ever-roast chicken breast sliced thin to order.
Whole Foods on North Ave. I’m not sure if this is a grocery store, or a bar, or a place to hang out with your friends, but whatever it is, you’ll surely walk out of there with an empty wallet. I mean seriously, even If I were a millionaire and could pay someone to do my grocery shopping for me, I still wouldn’t go there because it is just that expensive. If I were to actually shop here for a month I’d end up flat broke. Westby, a local producer of things like butter (and I’ve actually been through this small town a few times), usually has butter on the shelf for about three dollars. Here, in this store, it was on for close to eight!. Eight dollars for some butter… in Wisconsin! Now, it is a lovely store and it looks nice and it has great food blah blah blah. But its just illogical and I won’t be spending anymore time on it or in it. Moving on.
Trader Joe’s. Great store, but I’m not gonna do my weekly shopping there. Pretty much I’ll only get something from there if someone else says they are making a run. Which I will then get the frozen edamame fried rice, and thats it. I mean they don’t even have Cholula…
Pick ’n Save on North and Humboldt. I have gone here a few times. I think this is it. Although I don’t like the route I have to take to get to this store nor do I like where its located, it is still very close. About one mile. Plainly, it just looks unfriendly and it seems every time I’m there, there’s a homeless person sitting out front. Lets be honest, thats not the most appealing. Yet the store gets somethings right, in a big way. Its properly big, its got a real deli and meat counter, and it even has a pharmacy. Like most Wisconsin markets is got a regular cheese and dairy section and a fancy specialty cheese section. I can walk in an buy a rotisserie chicken at most hours of the day and they even have specialty bread. I can find pretty much everything I need and want here. It has a beer section thats connected to the store. AND, it has actual counters for checkout where they actually have a few staff members working. Its still inexpensive and I can get in and out without having to have people breath on me (unlike Sendiks). So functionality wise it works and its much better than its rival brother or cousin down the street. I still don’t like going there or looking at it, but it works, and for now its where I’m going to go.
This has been my journey so far. And each of these stores has its good and bad points. But in the end, none of them really fit my exact ideals of a store, none of them are all that super. But thats to be expected. At least I’m not burdened by lack of choice. For the most part I am very lucky to live where I do and to have the availability I do. I’ve never had to experience a food desert. And I’m happy that I live in a city that offers so much and I haven’t even mentioned the farmers markets or the coops. So, if you’re a 23 year old with a mediocre budget and live in roughly the same area of Milwaukee that I do, and you’re very picky about the grocery store you shop at, then I hope this information was useful to you.
Enjoy this chart:
