Store Wars

Someone asked me today why I don't go to Whole Foods and I really didn't have a good answer save the fact that I'm a Wild Oats girl. No Whole Paycheck for me. I'm sure it's great and earthy and, well, wholesome, but I just love those Wild Oats folks. Everyone there is so sweet and "hi how are you" that just going there is a pleasure. Today, while waiting for my smoothie and wheatgrass shot, I milled up and down the aisles and each Wild Oater I encountered said a sincere hello or smiled kindly. No hippie haughtiness here! No sir! And when the wheatgrasser broke, the juice lady offered to come and bring me my shot so I wouldn't have to traipse back to the counter. Now that's service. And that's why I'm an Oatie.

I am also a Dierbergs girl. I know they don't build in the city and I know that's a bad thing, but I can't leave Dorothy the Deli Lady. Now, the Hill Schnucks is a close second because they seem to have the highest concentration of oldster employees and I think we all know how I feel about the oldsters. But, when it comes down to it, I go out of my way to the Brentwood Dierbergs where there's a nice balance of Deli Dorothy and Bill the oldster bagger man.

Targets are a problem. In a few days our new Target with underground parking opens and that will be a red letter day, to be sure. But, until then, it's catch as catch can and no one wants to catch what they've got at the Brentwood Target. All the closed Target clientele spilled over into that Target's range and now it's packed, understocked, and they've got the skinnest aisles ever. I hate it passionately and have been known to drive way the hell out to Chesterfield to go to their wide lane Target where there's never any waiting for anything. It's worth the drive to get things done in a reasonably comfortable environment. And if this new Target doesn't live up to the hype, I'll keep heading 30 miles out just to hit the comfy Tarzhay.