Supermarket Sweep

I guess I rarely do critical reviews here at the ole' YIBYAB Corral, pretty much because I may not be the most qualified in writing reviews. Movies would be Topic Numero Uno on the list, and I feel that I'm qualified as a movie critic, just not a movie reviewer. I have no idea how to write a movie review that won't make people angry at me at point of completion. For one, as I'm sure you have read, my writing style is not afraid of shacking up with the Tangent Family (ooh, shiny!), and secondly, I have no idea how much to give away in my retelling of the film's plot. How do you get someone interested in seeing a flick without giving away the killer plot twist, nor even mentioning that there will be a twist in the first place. If I did that, you'd sit there on the edge of your seat wondering if every little action is the twist. See, I'm confused, and I haven't even written a movie review yet. So yeah, we'll steer clear of film. Let's go somewhere I can't screw up.

Food shopping. There shouldn't be any killer plot twists when it comes to groceries.

As I trumpeted a few days ago, the next best thing to having a Wawa just showed up in the heart of Fairfax, Virginia. Wegman's is here, and it's here to stay. I've been food shopping for years. And due to those stellar (eh, marginal) qualifications, I now present to the readers of YAB my Supermarket Review.

(But before I do that, it's tangent time. Does anyone else miss Supermarket Sweep? There was so much more strategy in that game that most of today's reality shows. I would pay money on eBay for one of those light blue sweatshirts they made you wear for the final sweep. Eh, just a thought.)

Accompanied by the Prodigal Roommate and J-Vo, we made our maiden voyage to the Supermarket of Dreams two nights ago at about 7:45 in the evening. Living in Falls Church is no obstacle, we decided, and were more than happy to make the 15 minute drive to food shop. The Fairfax Corner area is clean, well-kept, and a gracious host for our new Wegman's. (That sounded like we're having the Olympics, not a new store. Eh, whatever, I hope McLean gets to host in 2008.) The first thing that strikes us (no, not an oncoming car) is the parking facilities. It appears that they left the premise of a "parking lot" in upstate New York and have instead opted for "parking extravaganza." A two-story parking garage awaited us, and upon further analysis, both have their perks. Parking up top will put you at the store-level, and you can load your car just like anywhere else. Parking down below prevents you from loading your car in the rain, but it does mean you have enter through the wine cellar. Yes, I said wine cellar. Not rack. Cellar. Yikes.

If you choose to bypass the cellar, (which we did this time around), you walk up a winding staircase to ground level. Ground level presents you with a marketplace-type area and dining room (which also spans another story.) (This has wedding rehearsal dinner written all over it, btw) This first thing we noticed is that people weren’t really purchasing any food. Not out of disinterest, mind you. Old and young alike were just wandering around this new-found eatery with their mouths open, the heads tilted up, and their legs bruised from running blindly into shopping carts. We resisted the temptation to gape and got dinner prior to the actual food shopping. My sub and potato salad were both excellent. Yum.

Once our dinner was finished up on the terrace (I’m not kidding here, really.), it was time to actual do what I had come to do. Let’s break this down…

Layout – The aisles are nice and wide. Had I thought of it, I would have brought my rollerblades and stick and played a pick-up game of tuna hockey. In addition, the far end wall of the place is entirely paper towels, some 10 and 12 rolls deep. I swear, if I won a $500 dollar gift certificate to this place, I’d pay them $100 of it back just to be allowed to run full-speed and Lambeau leap into these towels. Awesome.

Selection – As I try my best to get the full new grocery store experience, I purchased my share of store brands. Only time will tell on the quality of Wegman’s brand bread, waffles, peanut butter, apple juice, cheese food, circular saw – scratch that last one. But the parking garage did have a Home Depot feel to it.

Cost – As far as I know, I bought about the same amount of food that I normally buy on my monthly visit, and I came in considerably lower than usual. I even bought some things that aren’t in the normal assortment (English muffins, popcorn.) The Preferred Shopper card didn’t play much of a role in this, as the initial prices were already lower. Heck, they even had 10 dollar DVDs – and not even the usual crappy supermarket assortment.

Staff – Which has more people – Fairfax Wegman’s or the Army of Cyprus? We’ll call it a draw. Everyone is friendly, and everyone had a specific job, even the guy who stacks apples for a living.

Two Thumbs Up. Indeed.