The Save-A-Lot Experience
I gotta tell ya, I’m a cheap bastard. So you better believe I was one happy little fucker when I found out that a Save-A-Lot was going in at the end of my street. I’ve seen their ads in my junk mail and the newspapers at work for years. It was usually the jaw dropping meat prices that got my attention. They also seemed to have pretty good deals on produce as well.
So after months of waiting for them to renovate a vacant building, they finally opened their new store. When I made the time to take a look, I was dismayed that the rest of the old shopping plaza was still a run down dump, but the new store front looked very fresh and modern from the outside.
When I got inside, things seemed pretty normal at first. They had the endcap items and then you’d see that same items a little further down the aisle, then you’d see it again a few aisles over, and pretty soon you start to wonder if the person who did the store layout also does video game design.
Of course there weren’t any of those earth shattering sales going on this week, but I did pick up a can of Vienna sausages for 45¢. I found out later that they leave out the middle sausage so they can pass the savings on to you! They also had a loaf of bread for 89¢. I didn’t notice it at the time but the slices were childishly small and could make Donald Trump’s hands look huge. Of course the off-brand names were kind of entertaining as well. It was pure genius to name a carbonated beverage “Dr. Pop”.
But the one telltale sign that let me know exactly the kind of place I was in, was the smell of the clientele. Stale cigarettes and beer filled the air as the country music played quietly over the store’s PA. These weren’t Costco shoppers; these were purgatorians.
But still, it’s another grocery option on my way home from work, and their prices are generally decent. Just remember to bring your own shopping bags.
Pax,
-f2x
