Even at the beginning, there would be long periods where common items would be out of stock for weeks or even months. No peanut butter. No rice. Why?
Just as infuriating, products that had become household favorites would be suddenly discontinued without notice or explanation. I have already forgotten most of them but I don't forget the feeling. Recently, our preferred bread vanished from the shelves, and my wife's favorite cereals have not been available two out of the last three weeks.
I still remember the surge of excitement I felt when I first found out that I was to be liberated from Safeway's corporate hegemony in my neighborhood. Trader Joe's was where the cool kids (and hot girls) shopped. I had been so envious of neighborhoods that had one. And now one was coming to me!
Ah, youth. Well, I wasn't actually young. Let's try again. Ah, naiveté! There, that's better.
Oh, we had some good years. In fact, I think I didn't set foot in Safeway for two or three years, maybe more. And when I did occasionally return, it was because I wanted a particular name-brand hot sauce or some tupperware.
Nowadays, I am back at Safeway at least once a week. Trader Joe's does not have even one acceptable kind of bread. How long before it becomes too much trouble to shop at two stores? Is there anything left at Trader Joe's that I really need from them?
Fold your Fearless Flyers, friends. FFS.
