In greater NYC hard stuff and wine was only in package stores. Supermarkets had beer only. First time I came to Maine it was a huh? moment seeing wine on the supermarket shelves. Maine had State liquor stores & you had to buy thru them for your bar/restaurant. NH cleverly built their huge state store next to the Maine/NH border & ME Liquor inspectors would watch the parking lot.
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uhmmmm, in PA one still can only buy “distilled spirits” aka “hard stuff” in the State Stores.
meanwhile, beer and wine is available in supermarkets. and just to keep one hopping mad, supermarkets/et.al. have zero wine selection other than what the PA State Stores carry . . .
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Haha, it’ll give your skin the dewy glow once you get misted by the produce sprayers. There is one local store that must mist very often, because every time I’m picking up parsley or something from those shelves, it’s dripping wet. And then I have to go home and try to dry everything off on papertowels so they don’t start to go bad.
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Our Canadian grocery stores used to be closed from around 4 pm on the 24th until 8 am on the 27th.
There were some legal challenges about 30 years ago, and as a result, now grocery stores and other stores can open on the 26th. The vast majority of grocery stores are closed on Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and Canada Day.
Whole Foods in Toronto and Toronto Chinatown are the only places for groceries that I know of that are open on NYD.
Most indie grocery stores do not open on the 26th in Ontario.
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Is that because of Boxing Day?
Yep, to give the staff a break.
https://www.tvo.org/article/why-boxing-day-shopping-in-ontario-used-to-be-a-really-big-deal
Interestingly the article I linked to is written by a Chowhound who I met at my first Chowhound meetup in May 2006.
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When I was wee, most things were closed Sundays, save for: bakeries, bars and liquor stores (WI likes drinking, perhaps a tad much.) Nobody suffered. It was nice to slow down and spend time with loved ones for a day. I was always in a rush to get out of church quickly, as pro wrestling was on the tube when I got home. Dah CRUSHER!!!
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Wait 'til Costco buys an election (took 3 tries here in WA) and cracks open the state liquor system. Lots of ugly surprises hidden in their model, e.g., crazy taxes, no small liquor stores, etc.
Back to the original undrifted topic: A supermarket peeve in the form of a rant:
Coupons. Clip them. “Clip” them from the app. “No clip.” What the heck is the price? How to get that price?
Today Mrs. P and I went to the supermarket. A third of the sale items were out of stock, mainly 3 kinds of fresh fish, any one of which was supposed to be for supper tonight. Instead of having a week to access the sale, it was cut down to 4 days so that holiday shoppers got no discounts. I could get a rain check but there were 29 people in line for customer service. The blueberries were on sale, but purchase at the sale price was limited to one pack, required BOTH a paper coupon clipped from a flyer plus another coupon loaded onto our shopper card via the app. But they upgraded the app for the new year, which now required an in app log in with a password that they would send to my email address. But the email never came after multiple attempts and waiting not a few minutes but it didn’t even come after four hours. That was to save a big $1.25, so I gave up on that one. The tins of EVOO at a very good price from a brand I like were changed to the same brand in soft plastic bottles. The canned tomatoes required purchasing exactly 12 to get the sale price but no more than 4 of any variety. And a coupon, from the app only. Similar stuff for just about anything not a a jacked up holiday price even after the holiday. Checking out had sale prices not show up with the scan. Some sale prices showed up with the scan. Some showed up only when a final total was requested. One showed up only after I selected pay by credit card. Three items never had the sale price show up, so the clerk had to void the sales in order to manually enter the sale price. She had to wait for a supervisor to scan the void it card. Then since the sale was off a per pound price, she had to manually calculate the right price before she could enter it in to the scanning computer. Checking out, between waiting in line and doing all that stuff took a freaking half hour. We had been barred from the self check out due to having more than 20 items “strictly enforced.” Then it took my wife 5 minutes to verify all the prices on the receipt printout. My savings were a bit less than minimum wage.
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And this is why I now do the bulk of my shopping on-line and have it delivered. There’s still the “clip the digital” coupon hassle. but I can verify the prices before I push the “place order” button. Then they send the out-of-stock list and invoice the night before the delivery. There have been few mistakes–usually they’re in my favor (last Easter I ended up with three hams and they paid me to take them!) and when they are not a quick e-mail has always resulted in my card being refunded promptly. Fortunately my local meat market always posts the actual prices, never issues coupons and is on the same street as a good bakery. Actually going to a supermarket is one of those things I left behind with COVID.
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I usually check the “preview” sale circular the day before (on-line). I write down what I want and set my alarm clock for 5:00am. I get up, download the digital coupons (using my desktop computer), print it out, then head to the store right as they open at 6:00am.
This usually works and I’m able to obtain the sale items, but not always. If I oversleep (even one hour)… forget it, the sale items will be sold out. I (barely) got our Christmas Ham a few minutes after 6:00.
As far as pricing, I usually do an excel spreadsheet as I’m downloading the digital coupons, total it and print that out, as well. If the checker’s total is different than mine, I ask her to go over each item, as I whip out my excel spreadsheet. I have to admit 99% of the time, they are spot on with the prices and our totals agree.
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Wow! That’s a lot of work to go to but, if it’s worth it to you, it certainly gets the job done. I live two minutes from a large supermarket (so I shop frequently) and use their app to clip deals that then populate a list within the app so they’re summarized for me as I shop. I honestly don’t think I’d have the temerity to pull out a totaled list to compare to the checker’s work…… though that may cost me sometimes.
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I guess I have too much “time on my hands”…
I will admit that the grocery store’s web-site is very user friendly, and I can scroll and click the items I want very quickly… two clicks later and I have a print out. Dropping the prices into a spreadsheet is second nature (for me) and it keeps everything within the budget.
As for going over the prices with the checker, it is a very rare occurrence, as my total usually agrees with her computer/cash register.
My pet peeve. Keep the line moving . Have your check ready , coupons, whatever. There are people behind you .
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How is it my fault that the store didn’t put the sale prices into the computer?? If they offer a digital coupon and fail to load that price into the main computer, I want the checker to fix the error and charge me the correct price.
I’m not going to overpay for something on sale.
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Not a problem. I shop at the small local grocery.
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Who uses checks in 2024
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You’d be surprised. I still occasionally see them being used by (older than I at age 65) some people in my local Market Basket supermarkets.
And if their CC swipe machines are down and you don’t carry cash, how else to pay?
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It’s still kind of a thing in the US.
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I don’t see anyone, regardless of age, using them in the supermarket anymore. Everyone older (ahem) uses a CC. I use my iPhone and have since the feature became available. There is an ATM by the registers in case of screw-up, I guess. My students don’t even know how to write a check. Sadly, I have to still mail paper checks several times a year for entities who won’t accept any other method of payment - no electronic transfers, no CCs.
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