My Neighborhood Market

 

Have you heard of a WalMart neighborhood market?  The first one in MO just went in right down the street from me.  I know there are a lot of anti-walmarters out there, if you are one of them, stop reading.  

I am so giddy over this store!  Ever since I heard they were putting it in I've been on the edge of my seat.  And then impatiently I waited after they announced the opening day, May 16th!

So guess what I did on May 16th?  Yep.  So here is what I thought of it....

First and foremost the CONVENIENCE!!!  I grew up in a place where there were highways and subdivisions, not neighborhoods.  So the closest thing to us was a small gas station nicknamed the "sleaze pit" and even still that was a couple miles down the highway.  And now I have a grocery store exactly 1 mile away from my home.  I timed it, 3 minutes from my parking spot to my garage.  That in itself is the most exciting thing for me.  If we are in the middle of cooking dinner and we are missing something, we can drive there and back in no time.  Or if we are changing Raeleigh's diaper before she goes to bed and we realize there aren't any diapers in sight, we can run right up there.  

  Before you even walk into the store you will notice that the shopping carts are kept outside the store.  I don't quite understand the logic there and I wonder how they will do sitting out in all the elements.  They are however covered, but still exposed.  See the half wall in the pic?  They are behind that.  The reason I believe they did that was so that they could utilize every square inch of the store with items for purchase.  When you first walk in the door you are immediately in the produce department.  It's not a huge department but they still have all of your basic fruits and veggies.  I should note too that the prices are the exact same as the superstores.

Right off the bat I start noticing things they have that I buy on a regular basis.  Fresh salsa, shredded cheeses, juice, pudding, pasta, etc... Then I get further into the store and I see they have pretty much everything.  I don't know how they fit it in all in there, and it didn't even feel crowded.  On the other end of the store are things like toiletries, greeting cards, a pharmacy, they even sold charcoal. 

Obviously it's massively scaled down so things they didn't have were.... toy department (though they did have a small section of summer and pool play items) paint department, clothing, electronics, tires, bikes, outdoor and so on.  I plan to make my next big grocery trip there and then I'll know better what it is they don't have that I might be looking for.  But bottom line is... I'm thrilled they're in the neighborhood and I know I'll be shopping there quite often.