Since moving to our house, a little more than two years ago, I have been going to the same grocery store. In fact I have been going to the same grocery store before that even. It was the closest to our apartment and since I liked it, I just kept going there even after we moved to the house. It wasn't the closest, but it familiar. Then once I had Addison, we got into a routine. We went to the same store every Monday for our grocery store trip for the week. The store was always getting restocked so it was already fresh foods. The store was basically empty but I guess grocery shopping on Monday morning isn't high on people's priority list. The same employees always worked that Monday morning and they knew us, or at least knew the blue-eyed girl I always brought with me. I liked my routine. It worked. I even started to enjoy my grocery trip because it was a guaranteed outing every week.
But at the end of June, things changed for me. I was told that they would be closing for a remodel through the rest of the summer. Oh great! I would have to find somewhere else to shop, which would most likely to the closer grocery store to us that I didn't like as much. But I figured I could live with it because it was temporary.
Little did I know that everything was about to change.
They didn't just "remodel." They changed stores. No longer were they the store that I loved. The store that also saved me money at QuikTrip when I got gas. They had some stupid name that was wordy and I never remembered the order of. The store itself was basically the same. It was still the same employees, but things were shifted slightly. There was no longer a deli counter, which meant the fresh ball of mozzarella cheese I always get for our homemade pizza would have to be gotten somewhere else. I would have to learn a new route through the store because let's be honest when you are shopping with a 22 month old, you want the process to be as quick and painless as possible. But that was fixed easily enough. But there were other things, such as they no longer accept credit cards. They wanted to keep their prices lower without the shopper cards and whatnot and not having to pay the credit card companies when someone uses the card is a way to help. I get it, but a little annoying. It is now only debit, cash, or check. A "money-saving" method was also to have the customer bag their own groceries. This one confused me. I'm not exactly sure how this one saves money. Every time I have ever gone into the store, the cashier has always bagged the groceries so there is hardly ever a "bag boy." Maybe it has something to do with the cashiers not handling food....but they would have to in order to check you out. See, I just don't get it.
Turns out that it wasn't as bad as I thought. I do find it slightly annoying to bag my own groceries. I like to watch as they ring up my items to make sure it's all going in the way I expect. But I have to be bagging and at the same time entertaining my kid who's just sitting in the cart ready to go home. So not the biggest deal, although they bought really really cheap bags and every single one had a hole in them by the time I got home (so we'll be using other bags for diapers and cat litter - last thing I need is either of those items falling over and going everywhere in the house!). I just find it lacking in customer service.
The truth is that I don't have a lot of other options. The grocery store that I didn't like but temporarily shopped at closed pretty much over-night with no warning, probably doing the same thing as the first. There is another grocery store not too far from here where I can still get my gas discount at but we checked it out and I wasn't thrilled. There is another grocery store company in the area but I think their prices are too high and I can never find anything. Target is out unless I go with Rob because Addie wants to push the cart and "help" and I would never get the shopping trip done.
So my options are limited. The truth is that I'll probably continue to shop at the store with a new name who accepts no credit cards and makes you bag your own groceries because I am a creature of habit. I like the employees. I'll give it to them that they are very friendly. They all remembered us because when we walked in as we normally do on Monday, they greeted us, asked me if it was my first time back, and talked about how Addison was so much bigger than the last time they saw us. They definitely remember the blue-eye girl who smiles at everyone.
I really am a creature of habit but I guess in this case my habits are just going to have to change.
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