On Tuesday when I blogged about cooking, I mentioned that I'd do a post about my shopping adventures. It was not what I expected when I started out.
To preface the whole story, I had to make a run up to the airport early in the morning to drop someone off on Saturday. On my way home, I decided to do my grocery shopping and get it out of the way. It was nearly 7am when I pulled into Kroger, but they're open 24 hours, so I didn't think much of it. I used to go grocery shopping in Minnesota at 6am on Saturdays all the time to avoid the craziness that started later in the day and the experience was no different than shopping at 2pm.
I expected the same thing in Georgia. That's not what I got.
I parked my car in the nearly deserted parking lot and didn't think anything of it. Mornings seem to start later in Atlanta than they did in Minneapolis. I walked up to the doors, but they didn't open. I tried the other set next to them. Nope. I checked the sign on the door. Open 24 hours, it said.
There are two entrances to this store, so I walked the length of the store and those automatic doors worked. I don't like using this set of doors because I like to shop produce first and it's on the other side of the store, but hey, whatever. I grabbed a cart and entered the store. I hesitated. It was sort of dark because not all the lights were on. Huh?
Still, no one told me they weren't open, so I headed down to produce and discovered that the section for the apples I wanted to buy was almost completely empty. There were two sad, scarred apples there, but there was no way I was buying them. And there was no asparagus for my fish either.
I decided to do the rest of my shopping and come back to produce. Maybe things would be out by then. As I was in the whole foods section, the lights came on. It was 7am. After I finished picking up what I had on the list, I headed back to produce, but no, the vegetables and fruits had no magically appeared. When I was ready to leave, I had to use the self-service checkout because not one register was open. WTF? This isn't open 24 hours to me.
My next stop was Publix. They open at 7am and by now it was 7:45 or so. Here, I found the apples I wanted (yea!), but they didn't have the chunks of cantaloupe I wanted to get, at least not in the small container. They had some big ones out, but those are too big for me.
But everything else seemed to be out and ready for purchase. This was much better, I decided.
My happiness deflated when I went to buy fish and saw that it was closed up. There wasn't a single piece in the case. Empty and the case was dark. No fresh tilapia for me. I ended up picking up a bag of the frozen fish they sell. Much disappointment, but I wasn't leaving without the ingredients I needed for my recipe.
The lesson here? Don't go grocery shopping in Atlanta too early in the morning. They're not prepared for it the way they are in Minnesota.
