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Out with the bad. In with the good.
Hmm. Maybe.
Although my Food Lion up the street was kinda
dark, kinda dirty, and thoroughly trailer trashy, I was fond of the old
place. It was where I did all of my grocery shopping. And I liked it, in
a sort of perverse way. Easy to get in and out of. Never crowded. And a
hell of a lot cheaper than Giant. But over the winter they started
remodeling and--violá--by February, my crappy little Food Lion had
magically become...Bloom.
So what exactly is a Bloom? Well, it's kind of
like a Harris Teeter except a little bit jazzier. Or, more precisely, a
poor man's Wegman's. I suppose Bloom is built in the new mold of grocery
stores: fresher foods, a wider selection, more organic foods, faster
checkout, more in-store services, and, of course, higher prices.
Bloom is nice and all, but it may be a little too upscale for me. Sure,
they have clean, wide aisles, a spiffy new deli and meat counter, an
olive bar, and a pre-made dinner section, but I'm not sure that I really
need all of those bells and whistles. I prefer a much simpler grocery
store. I could definitely do without half of the new shit at Bloom.
For example, all of their seafood is on ice in
a glass showcase. I'd much rather just grab a package of salmon off the
aisle and be on my way than have to ask someone for a pound of it while
I wait aimlessly next to the lobster tank (yeah, a real live lobster
tank in an old Food Lion. Go figure.). Plus, it worries me a little bit
that the seafood case has a couple of high-powered spotlights shining on
it.
They also have what they call Taste
Ambassadors. According to their
website, "Taste Ambassadors offer sampling of ready made items as
well as preparing recipes within the store. Live cooking demonstrations
makes grocery shopping fun!" I haven't actually seen one of these
so-called Taste Ambassadors as of yet (all I saw the last time I was
there was a guy hawking samples of Dos Equis, which could definitely
make "grocery shopping fun."), but I'm sure I'll have some minimum-wager
shoving leg of lamb with a lemon-herb rub in my face soon enough.
And the one thing that really gets to me is
what's going on in their produce section (that would be the fruits and
vegetable aisle for you non-grocery shoppers). Most grocery stores pipe
in some non-threatening elevator music, but Bloom bucks this trend.
Instead of music, they pipe in the sound of running water throughout the
produce section. It's like a babbling brook. Let me tell you, it's kind
of difficult to pick out a good head of lettuce when all you want to do
is go take a pee.
But despite all of these unneeded extras, I'll
still shop there. They still have the same staff (who give the place a
much-needed yet slightly odd dose of redneck-ishness) and Bloom is only
three minutes from my house, so they've got that going for them. Plus,
they expanded their wine section from a little 12' rack to three whole
aisles.
That alone is enough to keep me shopping there. |
2000-2007