As mentioned in Tuesday’s blog, since chain stores rule the supermarket business, it takes some creativity to maintain a little local neighborhood identity.

There are three Safeways within walking distance from where I live, and all of them have something in common that may surprise suburbanites: Zero parking....and yes, they’re full of customers.  I guess having three nearby is also somewhat surprising (wait until tomorrow’s blog!), and the neat thing about living in a community-oriented neighborhood is that they each have nicknames (albeit politically-incorrect) - the townhouse, the Spanish safeway (where a large % of the shoppers speak Spanish and the Russian Safeway (long lines).

So how in the world do people bring their groceries home without a car?  You’ll see one of these everywhere, and people enjoy making more spontaneous trips, as mentioned on Tuesday.  The prices are quite competitive too.