Macey's, oh Macey's, where art thou? Oh yeah. I left you in UT. As I was grocery shopping last night I came to the conclusion that I truly miss shopping at Macey's grocery store. Good prices, clean store, easy set up, and it generally had what I wanted. Sure it wasn't a gourmet grocery store, but it was a great to buy the staples for a kid on a budget.
I've had a really hard time finding a grocery center I deem worthy of weekly shopping. With a Kroger, Albertsons, Target, and Walmart within 3 miles of me, you'd think I'd be trouble free. I have to admit, the Walmart here is the absolute nicest Walmart I've ever been in, but the produce is lacking and they rarely have a good brand variety. I love shopping there for other items, it's just not so great for groceries. Why not shop at the Target that's practically sitting on top of the Walmart? Well, first off, this Target is not a Super Target. It is old, run-down, and is one of the worst Targets I've been in. It's not horrible, just not good. Our neighbor calls it "El Targhetto." The Kroger and Albertsons near us both operate along the same run-down lines, unfortunately. Not one of those locations carries good produce.
I was quite surprised by this. When we came here to find a house we shopped at a Kroger in Frisco and it was nice, big and had its own tortillaria! The stores by us, however, don't even carry one good brand of tortillas, let alone make them fresh.
I've started driving about 15 min. to a different part of McKinney to shop at Tom Thumb and a newer Kroger. And that is what got me thinking about names we trust. For you west coasters who've never heard of Tom Thumb or Kroger, neither had I. Though, if you were more observant than I, you'd have realized that Kroger is the "store brand" carried in Smiths because Smiths, is in fact, Kroger in disguise. Mormon version? Maybe.
Upon walking into Tom Thumb we discovered that it is the eastern alias for "Safeway." I never really shopped at Safeway growing up, but that was the main grocer in Matt's young life. Our first few years of marriage he'd make wistful references to Safeway's sourdough bread and birthday cakes. We just thought the bread was impossible to replicate outside of the Bay Area, but upon arrival here, we were happily proved wrong thanks to Tom Thumb. Maybe it's sourdough just doesn't work in a desert a good humid climate? Possibly. As for the birthday cake, we will see on Monday if it lives up to expectations. It's Matt's birthday coming up and he's requested a "Safeway/Tom Thumb" white cake with raspberry filling and butter cream frosting. Hopefully this will be as delectable as in his childhood memories.
Anyway, I've noticed here that those two grocery names are not the only things with aliases. Did you know that "Best Foods" is "Hellmanns"? What about "Famous Dave's BBQ sauce" being labeled "Corkeys" here? (Matt thinks these are not the same, however, they have the same little icon and the same exact taste, so I have my suspicions.)
I know it's a matter of competition and bigger companies buying out struggling stores and products, but it is odd to see things labeled differently at first.
4 comments:
Yeah, I agree...grocery shopping in the east is just so different than in the west. I, too, miss Macey's. It was wonderful to be able to go to one store for just about everything I needed. But alas, no more. Now my grocery shopping time is divided between Aldi, Lobill, and the thrift bread store, with the occasional trip to Marsh, Walmart, and Meijer. Whew! To get the good deals and the right products, I'm running all over town! So, a part of me totally empathizes with your expeditions to shop on the other side of town. Do they have an HEB in your town? My in-laws had on in Austin, and I think still have one in San Antonio...I was impressed when I went in one. HEBs are huge.
By the way, here are some other grocery shopping differences I've noticed the west and the east: sticks of butter in the east are longer and narrower, and Dreyer's ice cream in the east is known as Edy's. I find it funny when the native Indianans I try to explain these differences to don't believe me. :)
Yeah, I've noticed the butter thing too. he. I mean, in UT I saw both, but they were short and fat for the most part.
I don't think we have a HEBs. At least I've not yet discovered it if we do.
That is funny about the HEB. When I was in San Antonio I shopped at the H-EH-BEH that is how they said it ( I think it stood for Hennry E Butts...hum wonder why they named it HEB) I have noticed the same differences here in the east...I love Aldi...did I ever take you there when you were in VA? It was about 30 min away but I would go there for my year supply things (now there is one about 10 min away) Although now I only go there every few months. I loved shopping at Maceys too. I wasn't too into the whole Food for less thing. good luck, J
They have an aldi's here in TN, too. I add myself to the group of Macey's missers. I got a macey's add forwarded to our new address and it was torture to look at all the good deals I was missing!
I'm so glad to read your blog again, Celia! We finally got internet up at our house. Its going to take me a while to catch up!
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