I have been saying for a year that I want to start grocery shopping at Superstore. Lots of my friends do, and they say it's cheaper. So why haven't I?
I guess you get used to your supermarket. You know where everything is. When Colin and I go to Save-On, we break without saying a word. He gets the buggy while I scan my card to get coupons. He picks up fruit and deli meat while I mentally plan the weeks meals and choose veggies accordingly (and sometimes a complimentary cup of coffee). We meet by the bread and go from there. We're in and out in 20 minutes.
We don't ever want to take the time to get to know a new store, even if it's cheaper. But today, I bit the bullet and did it. Nathan and I headed for an evening outing.
And I hated it.
Whoever designed the aisles should be fired. How come half of them go north-south, and half go east-west? I thought, "maybe it's so that I go in all the aisles" but that's not it. I didn't even go in half of them because of that very reason.
The placement of products made no sense to me either. I wanted to find minced garlic in a jar because I am sick of my crummy garlic press. I tried "ethnic foods" first. I found a jar of "pureed garlic cloves". But no minced. I pressed on. I found "pickled garlic cloves" in the condiment aisle. I even found some jar of garlic paste somewhere near the cheese (?!?).
Then I got frustrated and called a friend who told me she bought this product at Superstore recently. Unfortunately she wasn't home. So I gave up. ONLY THEN did I find it. "Where", you ask? Right between the spinach and the yogurt. DUHH!!!!!
I think I chose the wrong day to try shopping there. I think Monday is "crabby rude shoppers" day. I got blocked in the aisles SO many times, and people would not move, even when asked. I was seriously annoyed. One guy even looked at me and said "just a minute" and proceeded to put 20 cans in his buggy, change his mind, put them back, and choose 20 different ones. I just stood there with a blank look on my face. Can you not hear my fussy baby? Have some politeness!!
I think I know why everyone was crabby though, because by the end of the shopping trip I too was "one of them".
But the most annoying thing about the store? DOES EVERYTHING HAVE TO BE YELLOW??? I thought maybe that was the reason everyone was in a foul mood. So when I got home I looked up the "meaning" of the colour yellow. I've pasted it below. Pay extra attention to the bolded sections:
Yellow produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, and generates muscle energy. Yellow is often associated with food. Bright, pure yellow is an attention getter, which is the reason taxicabs are painted this color. When overused, yellow may have a disturbing effect; it is known that babies cry more in yellow rooms. Yellow is seen before other colors when placed against black; this combination is often used to issue a warning (aka "don't buy this product", sorry I couldn't resist).
Men usually perceive yellow as a very lighthearted, 'childish' color, so it is not recommended to use yellow when selling prestigious, expensive products to men. Yellow is an unstable and spontaneous color, so avoid using yellow if you want to suggest stability and safety. Shades of yellow are visually unappealing because they loose cheerfulness and become dingy.
Dull (dingy) yellow represents caution, decay, and sickness.
Interesting.
All that being said, I may go back. I'm cheap. I like saving money.
I just won't go back on "crabby rude shoppers" day.
8 Comments:
Oh I HEAR you on this one! I have tried and tried to shop at the Superstore because I know it is cheaper, but I get soooooo frustrated! Kevin and I now go to Thrifty Foods. I have found that as long as I plan out the meals for the week and know just what we want, we usually do okay pricewise...to me the calming, pleasant atmosphere is still worth the tiny extra price. Plus we also buy a lot of stuff at Costco, which cuts back on the prices at Thrifty. I can't stand the produce at Superstore...it's always so yucky! I can't wait for summer when I'm getting free produce from my father-in-law, but until then Thrifty-or the Farmer's Market-is a good second.
Let me know if it ever gets easier, and if it does, what your trick is!
Hmmm, my office is yellow. Wonder what kind of effect that's having on my string of sanity?
Funny post you have there - I could totally sympathize as you described the agonizing stop and go flow of that place. How often have I wondered how I ended up in chips when I could swear I started in cheese?!
I also hate Superstore. It always feels dirty to me. I was there once while one of the employees was unpacking some vegetables and he accidentally dropped one on the floor. Guess what he did? That's right... he picked it up and placed it with the rest of the veggies on display!
Jenn and I prefer Safeway. I know, everyone says Safeway is so expensive, but that's not entirely true. Safeway always has a lot of things on sale, and they tend to follow a pattern. We find that if we buy the majority of our items when they're on sale, they'll usually be on sale around the time we need to re-stock. So each week we're buying whatever's on sale, and then then just buy a different bunch of on sale stuff the next week. We also save money by buying our produce at Kim's Farm Market instead of Safeway.
The "on sale" strategy can have drawbacks, however. We find we often end up spending more than we normally would because we stock up so much when there's good sales. And every now and then we run out of something outside of the sale pattern.
Oh... the other thing I hate about Superstore? The olive section. How hard is it to create lids for the olives? It smells like baby diapers for a two aisle radius around the olive section.
Forrest and I tried to shop there once and failed horribly...we ended up back at safeway (I know safeway isn't the greatest but we tend to buy the stuff on sale). I can't stand it in Superstore, I totally agree with you on the layout and the yellow thing. I also can't stand that you must get your buggy from the parking lot and it only takes loonies!
The layout is the dumbest thing I've ever seen, the yellow just makes me angry it has no calming affect on me whatsoever and I can't believe they make you pay for your plastic bags either!
I like how they charge for the bags. It encourages people to re-use their bags. I feel silly going to Save-On and handing the cashier a fist full of bags. Sometimes they look at me like "you know we DO provide bags, right?"
Superstore finally did figure out that the yellow was too much. They used to paint the ceilings in their stores yellow, but they have been re-painted white. Many Presidents Choice products now have labels other than yellow.
I agree with you on the store layout. It is totally confusing. The store in Mission even has diagonal aisles! I probably wouldn't shop their either if I hadn't worked there for a year and a half. That helped me to figure out some of the quirks: like tomato paste and tomato sauce are NOT in the same aisle! Tomato paste is with the canned veggies; tomato sauce is with the pasta.
And they have TWO different ethic aisles, not even located beside each other. So confusing.
But definately cheaper.
Dont shop on Mondays. The shelves are bare since the weekend, and the newly ordered items have not be re-stocked yet.
I like that they charge for bags. It encourages recycling.
The store layout is very confusing. They put the cheese in three or four different places. And the tomato sauce is not in the same aisle as the tomato paste
For years I resisted the store but finally gave in about 3 years ago. I too am cheap and just cant justify the extra $2 on the same product that save on will charge you. Although I never ever shop there on a weekend, when tax checks are mailed or generally not a monday (bad choice for first time). I like to go first thing morning or late evening when i find it tolerable. And yes the produce sucks-but i buy mine at the local farm market so thats not an issue for us.
The only thing that gets you now is the Joe Line (especially for kids). the clothes are just too cute and really inexpensive. Not super quality but not bad either. I've only had issues with three items ever and I've bought dozens(okay hundreds). Any money you save on groceries gets thrown right into the other junk-smart they are.
But for lovely shopping experiences I too recommend thrifty's-its bliss.
Yup, I'm with you. I'm a Save-on fan for the layout and easiness of it. Superstore is a lot cheaper I've noticed, but it does make me grumpy, impatient, feel head-achey and overwhelmed.
On the cheap side of things though, I compared the price of one of the dish soaps of the same brand to another grocery store and it was half the price at Superstore. Sigh.
-laura's sister
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