Just Another Neighborhood Grocery Store

The bad economy hit the Inland Empire, where we live, pretty hard. Our house was a bank foreclosure when we bought it, pretty common for this area at the time. Just down the street from our house there is a shopping center that was almost completely vacant when we moved in. The anchor store looked like it had been an Albertson's before it closed, and without an anchor store most of the smaller store spaces went vacant too.

While we were in Virginia a new supermarket moved into the space. I was so happy! Now I could just go down the block for grocery shopping.

And, even better, this supermarket is not a national chain, it's a Southern California chain that advertises itself as having "international food and super king prices" and I love it. I would much rather have one of these near my home than another Albertson's.

Some of the top reasons I love it are
1. They have fantastic deals on produce. 39 cents a pound on oranges, 20 limes for 99 cents, 4 lbs of carrots for 99 cents, those kind of deals. I no longer feel like I have to choose between fresh produce for my family or saving money. And they have a big produce section with lots of variety.

2. I love international selection of food. They have all the Mexican brands my mom uses, plus a good selection of Mediterranean and Indian food.

I share all that to let you know that I really do love my local grocery store for legitimate reasons. But I also love it because of the stuff I see there while I'm shopping. I always get a giggle out of...

Beef Feet Skin On

Lamb Brains (pretty expensive if you ask me.)

Their rice and dried grains aisle, the entire aisle (on one side.) The store has most all the American food we are used to, but the variety is all different from a regular American store. You would find like a fourth of an aisle devoted to this in a regular grocery store, but here you've got all sorts of variety of rices and brands. But the canned soup section in this store is tiny, where in other grocery stores it would be a full half aisle of soups.

All the selection of Bimbo bread. It just makes me smile because it is THE brand of bread in Mexico.

Baby Octopus, yum!

And, the kicker. Giant gun shaped flasks of alcohol right before you walk out the door. This one makes me smile all the time. I wonder how many of those they sell?