Thursday, June 02, 2005

The Land that is The Wal-Mart

Big excitement in my house...our Wal-Mart has recently become a Supercenter. My dad, for whom grocery shopping is an event (groceries are to him what shoes and purses are to me) looked forward to this occurrence for quite a while. Once the sign went up letting us know this would be happening, we all started to keep our eye on the Retail Watch (a weekly column in the business section of The Morning Call) for info on the opening.

The Supercenter has been open for several weeks now, but I had not had occasion to go in there...until today. I was dropping off The Man's mortgage check (Alright, I am just going to start calling him by his name, which is Bill. Apparently, I was confusing people with his incognito name, so he can just be Bill...which is just as generic. And I know it isn't my job to drop off his mortgage check anymore, but I was near the bank anyway, and I am a nice girl. I'm just saying.), and I was going to go to Redner's, when lo and behold...a sight my eyes did see. Supercenter. I was reeled in.

The grocery store section is kind of warehouse-ish. That's not bad...but it's not as nice as the Wegman's (the mother of all grocery stores). However, I found my favorite granola for at least a dollar less than I pay at Wegman's. And at the Supercenter, you can buy a swingset, a television, corn on the cob, a whole roasting chicken, and new towels for your bathroom, all in one trip. I didn't buy all those things, but if I had wanted to, I know where I would have looked.

I picked up some corn on the cob, some Goldfish crackers (which I will NOT eat all in one sitting), some 100 calorie packs of Pringles (can I just say that I love that everyone is getting on the 100 calorie pack bandwagon?), and the lovely granola. Someday, when I have more time, I am going to explore every inch of the Supercenter. I am sure I can find plenty of things there that I don't even know I need yet.

8 comments:

hazel said...

bethlehem is JUST CLOSE ENOUGH that I may go to your supercenter...I have been waiting, too. and I've never been to wegman's, so maybe it'll be a 2 store kind of day. as long as I don't get anything frozen, I guess.

but what I really need to know - THERE ARE 100 CALORIE PACKS OF PRINGLES???? I've seen oreos (my favorite) and wheat thins and chips ahoy and cheezit, but pringles???? so totally and excellently radical.

MC said...

Yes...I just saw them for the first time at the Supercenter. I also have come across little 100 calorie bags of microwave kettle corn by Pop Secret. And since I suck at portion control, kudos to the companies who handle that for me.

NME said...

I love the 100 cal packs of Chips Ahoy. I had one for breakfast.

The innovation I am looking for is cheap wine at the grocery store. I hate that PA is like the bible belt in that regard.

MC said...

Yeah, I buy all my alcohol in New Jersey (But I don't carry it over state lines! No, sir! Not me! Right...) because (A) it is cheaper and (B) you don't have to buy an entire case of the beer you have been dying to try just to find out that you don't like it. I hate it when that happens.

Missuz J said...

The supercenter just wears me out. I know i could save a ton if i would shop at ours, but i always feel like i'm running laps whenever i try to shop there. i suppose i should jump on the 100 calorie bandwagon, but my problem, is that i'd just eat 4 or 6 packs.

Froggylady said...

Please don't hate me, but I HATE the supercenter. We have one that is super close to my house and is really convenient but I despise going there. Nothing is where it should be. You can't just run in and grab a few things because there isn't any rhyme or reason to where the non-grocery stuff that you can find in a grocery store is placed.

I loved that in CA I could buy store brand liquor at the grocery store and it was super cheap and sometimes they even ran it on BOGO.

MC said...

I do have to agree that the layout was a little weird. Like in the grocery part, there didn't seem to be an aisle with crackers. Or if there was, I couldn't find it. And the candy was all over in the regular Wal-Mart section. So yeah, not a lot of rhyme or reason to the layout...but it was a nice, new adventure for me.

Susan said...

I love that darn wal-mart supercenter. Unfortunately the only one that's the closest to me is about 45 minutes away and by that time the ice cream would have melted all over the swingset and towels.

I love little bags of snacks! Kudos to the manufacturers!