All Supermarkets Are Local

Erie, Pennsylvania has a section of town dedicated to the big-box stores -- places like Staples, Lowe's, Target, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Bob Evans Restaurant, TGI Fridays, and the Tinseltown multiplex movie house. All of them seem to be packed into one place, known locally as Upper Peach.

I'm not sure Erie is all that different in that regard from the other towns along I-80 that I used to pass when I was making regular runs across Pennsylvania while I was at Mercyhurst College on sabbatical for a couple of years. Each town has a clump of those familiar, national stores no matter where you go.

Not so with supermarkets in the United States. Every region I've lived in seems to have its own chain of grocery stores. They're pretty much the same, I guess, but you need a new member card and have to get the feel of the place. Where are the fruit juices? Where do they keep the Shake and Bake anyway? I shopped Quality Markets while in Erie. My brother-in-law lives near a Giant Eagle supermarket in Pittsburgh. Eons ago, my wife and I shopped at Alpha Beta in Monterey, California while I was in school there. Now I shop at Stop and Shop in Aberdeen, New Jersey. Some groceries go out of business, like the Foodtown in downtown Matawan, NJ, but most seem to eke by despite the big-box stores stealing their customers.

We stopped and chatted with the grocery clerk at A&P tonight. Named for the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, A&P is closer to home than the other stores in my neighborhood but its freshness pledge is more myth than practice. The clerk thought fondly about the Piggly Wiggly stores she remembered from her days in the South. My wife, who heard rumors of price gouging while volunteering during Gustav and Ike last summer, had less fond memories of that chain.

The local grocery stores still have an edge with customers, I believe. Ultimately, it's like they say of politics: All supermarkets are local. I'm not sure I ever saved any money at the club stores anyway. They offer plenty of savings through bulk sales, but they drain your wallet by luring you into buying a big screen tv or big ticket jewelry items when all you are trying to do is pick up some eggs and milk. "That'll be $800, please." Kah-ching!