People, the Meijer is OPEN

A couple of years ago, a Wal-Mart Supercenter opened about 5 minutes from our house. A small, locally owned IGA store with a natural/organic/allergy-free section around the corner from us closed almost immediately. For several months I was so mad that the small store carrying many of John's special foods shut down. I am not anti-"big box" for the most part, although the thing that bothers me most about Wal-Mart Supercenters is the way so many people in the community become Wal-Mart employees, rather than business owners on their own or employees of smaller or locally-owned companies. I don't like how mechanics, optometrists, hair stylists, etc. all end up working for Wal-Mart because smaller operations can't stay in business. So for these two reasons, I didn't go into the Wal-Mart for probably six months. Over time, though, I was swayed by the low low prices and the convenience of getting so many things accomplished at once. Over time the thing that bothered me most about the Wal-Mart became the best feature - everything in one place. I think moms in particular benefit from not having to drag their children all over town to stop at 5 different stores and get all the errands done. I still go back and forth about this, because I know the big box stores are (in some ways) not very good for the community, but in terms of price and convenience they are very good for me. Isn't this the unending struggle in a capitalist society? The people or the almighty dollar?

So, I guess the almighty dollar won in this case because I've shopped at the Wal-Mart for the past 18 months or so. It was OK for a while, but since the beginning of the year, shopping at our Wal-Mart has become truly awful. All philosophical debates aside, very time I go in there, it gets worse. They never have enough employees and the employees they do have are, shall we say, not invested in providing excellent customer service. They will have 25 people in line to pay and two check-outs open. I've waited by the deli sometimes 20 minutes or more while the employees stand around and chat with each other. You never know what they will have on the shelves because their restocking is so inconsistent. Sometimes John's rice milk will be out for weeks - so I end up going to multiple stores anyway. The store is getting progressively dirtier and dirtier, and the produce is so sad, there are fruit flies everywhere, and sometimes they don't even have apples. I mean, come on! Apples?
Since Isaac was born Kevin or I have often done some grocery shopping later at night, 9 or 10 PM, and this summer at the Wal-Mart I sometimes felt unsafe. There have been groups of young men just roaming the aisles doing nothing but making noise and using profanity for everyone to hear. This is not high schoolers bumming around, I mean like guys in their 20's who shouldn't be there. Even worse is the wierd men by themselves with no cart and nothing in their hands just wandering around the store. Even late at night, 10 PM or later, there are young kids there who should be asleep and just about every time I go, there are parents mistreating their kids unnecessarily. Not necessary discipline which we all need to do from time to time, I mean, out of line stuff when the kids did nothing wrong. At least once every time I am at this Wal-Mart I hear someone yell my least favorite thing at their kid: shut up. Maybe I am too sensitive or old fashioned or whatever, but I don't think anyone should ever say "shut up" to anyone.
So the Wal-Mart experience, which I was never settled about anyway, has gone steadily downhill. The saving grace has been watching a Meijer slowly being built at the corner of Philo and Windsor roads, which Kevin and I have determined is 4 minutes and 58 seconds from our house. We drive by this every day on the way to UPS and have been desperately waiting for it to open, so we never have to set foot in the Wal Mart again. My next door neighbor has joked that she and her husband go up to the door and just press their noses up against the glass to see the progress they are making.
As of Wednesday, THE MEIJER IS OPEN! I went there three times this weekend. I know that's pathetic but I don't care! On Friday night I told Kevin, after the kids go to bed I am going over to the Meijer. Like, that was my fun Friday night event. (We did actually need some groceries but still.)
So, Meijer is a big box store and there are still the issues of local business and keeping more money in our community and all of those things. In the end, will I still be happy, or feel the same way I eventually did about the Wal-Mart? We also have a County Market store very close to our house, and I am interested to see what will happen with that. Each time I went over to Meijer this weekend it was completely jammed packed, the parking lot was so full I had to drive around looking for a spot. I wonder if the County Market will be able to stay open, or if the Wal-Mart will have any problems staying open for that matter. Or if my social conscious will get the better of me and I'll start forking over the cash at Strawberry Fields and Common Ground Co-Op.
There are a couple of things I love about the Meijer. Number one is they carry many of the special foods that I buy for John. Almost the entire Enjoy Life line, his special butter, cereals, rice milk, cake and cookie mixes, etc. They really do have an extensive selection of natural/organic/allergen-free products and have good prices on them. Their produce is excellent. They have honeycrisp apples. Everything looks so good and so fresh. There were employees everywhere. They had 4 people working at the deli counter - which, by the way, had a separate slicer for turkey, ham, beef, and cheese. No dairy products ever touch the meat slicers. Someone asked me if I wanted help to my car. They have self-checkouts for less than 12 items AND more than 12 items, and there are like 15 self check stations. You can't get your oil changed there, or bank there, or get a haircut, or get help with your taxes, so although it is a big box store it is smaller in scope but still adds convenience for us moms.

The point of this story is: I love the Meijer. For now.