skilletlicker
Head Chef
I have gotten out of the habit of shopping at Mediterranean Grocery even though it is only one mile from home. I ran out of Buckwheat groats though and Kroger doesn't sell them at all. Amazon gets $10.49 for 1500 grams, $3.31/lb. Bought 900 grams at Mediterranean Grocery for $2.49 which is $1.26/lb. While I was there I also got some fresh Bulgarian feta cheese for $4.69/lb. This creamy and delicious sheeps milk cheese comes in a vat about 30" x 18" and you cut off a hunk the size you want. If I don't buy it from them I get a vastly inferior product from Kroger for roughly $1 more per pound. This little store has been in business at that location 20 years or more and I used to buy my olive oil, rice and lots of other things there. Since it was a weekday shortly after opening when I was there last week, there weren't any other customers and I had the chance to shoot the breeze with the owner for a little while. He says business is off quite a bit because people are more reluctant to buy from ethnic stores than he has seen ever before. We didn't discuss the cause of the change in attitude.
This business is locally owned by an American citizen. I'm resolving to buy as much as practical from him and from La Fiesta Supermarket, a locally owned Mexican grocery. I'll still shop at Kroger, the dominant multinational corporate grocery chain in this region, but I'll be spending less there in favor of these neighborhood businesses. Where it's close, the preference will be the locally owned store. There are several excellent Asian groceries in this little city as well and although they are not as close to my home, I'll start working one or two of them into the rotation.
Penseys Spices isn't locally owned but it is a family-run chain headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconson with a brick and mortar store 2.4 miles away. I'll be darkening their door on a regular basis too.
This business is locally owned by an American citizen. I'm resolving to buy as much as practical from him and from La Fiesta Supermarket, a locally owned Mexican grocery. I'll still shop at Kroger, the dominant multinational corporate grocery chain in this region, but I'll be spending less there in favor of these neighborhood businesses. Where it's close, the preference will be the locally owned store. There are several excellent Asian groceries in this little city as well and although they are not as close to my home, I'll start working one or two of them into the rotation.
Penseys Spices isn't locally owned but it is a family-run chain headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconson with a brick and mortar store 2.4 miles away. I'll be darkening their door on a regular basis too.
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