I went to the grocery store today

This wouldn't usually be something that important to talk about, but I went to the new Safeway that opened near me.  It seems like Safeway is very proud of this new store, as they've been sending me things in the mail for weeks:

This is a quick scattering of six of the things I had sitting next to the trash.

Wait, where is this new store located?

Ok, so it's between Pensacola and Piikoi, and between Young and Beretania.  Wait, no it isn't:

That's where the old store is located.  The new one is at the corner of Beretania and Piikoi, which makes it easier to get to than the old one, as I can just swing by on the way home.  Also, it's kind of funny that they built this new store right next door to Times (don't click that link if you don't want to hear a really annoying song).  Before you feel bad for the local store being driven out of business by the soulless national brand, that Times is the store where I refuse to buy produce because I've been attacked by swarms of bugs when I tried to get some tomatoes.  Gross.

Hey! An actual meat counter!  One thing that was unexpected was that they have half tenderloins for sale (five from the left in that picture).  They were the butt ends, though, so not really the best cut (yes, I'm being picky, but these aren't like chateaubriands, ready for Welllingtons).  Overall, the meat counter selection is definitely better than most other stores, but the majority is still in pre-wrapped packages.  They also didn't seem to have any local beef (or anything else), so I guess I'm still going to be getting my meat at WF.

Holy crap! Jumex! IN CARTONS!  I fully expect to have this finished by the end of the day.  Also, some blueberries are peeking in that picture.  I largely skipped the produce section, since I'm going to try for the farmer's market tomorrow.

You can tell we're in Hawaii by the large tiki umbrella (I have no clue why it was there, or what they planned to do with it.  Maybe that sample table needed some shade?).

I was clearly too late for the rush that hit the toilet paper/paper towel section.  I've kind of forced the perspective here, but there were lots of empty areas to the left side as well.  This wasn't an isolated event, either.  The salsa section had multiple empty areas, as did something else (that I've completely forgotten now).  I'm not sure if this is a transitional thing or not, but I really did think that they'd have the stock issues sorted out three weeks after opening.

Whoa, camera stability issues!

The store is actually on the second floor of the building, and so they have cart escalators to go up and down.  I grabbed a cart downstairs, and sent it up with me, only to find that there was a cart pile upstairs as well.  I guess I probably should have expected that, but I would have been unhappy to get upstairs, not have a cart, and then have to go back downstairs to get one.

I'm just going to claim that this isn't out of focus or wobbly. It's artistic.

Since the store is upstairs, you park downstairs. So...um...cars.

Yeah.

The trip to the store was largely to get something for dinner.  Chips and salsa (salsa is totally a vegetable today), plus a spicy chicken finger sandwich.  So I'm probably going to go eat an apple or some berries now, I guess.


Anyway, this Safeway is pretty much the same as any other grocery store, although it's definitely newer looking than the old one (or the one by work).  They have self checkout lanes as well, which I really like, because robots.  I assume the stock issues aren't permanent, but it's still a bit disheartening to see that that's still not sorted out.  Meat counters are better than pre-packaged meats, but locally grown meat is better still.  Also, local produce is great, and I didn't see any of that either.