Neighborhood grocery store, Eastern European type--great deals!

[Senior citizen]

There's this little grocery story in San Diego, on 35th & El Cajon. The people there are Armenians, Russians, Kurds, etcs. The sign on the front door says, "closed" but it is really open, you just have to go around the back to get in. It has an amazing variety of stuff and some incredible bargains. Plus, I enjoy listening to the young check-out clerks talking in those incomprehensible languages to elderly customers.

Their whole-grain bread isn't cheap, but it seems a lot more substantial than what I've gotten elsewhere. Roasted chick peas are cheap and make a good snack. Every time I go there I discover something new that I just have to try. The place is not only good for my wallet, but it makes shopping seem less like a chore and more like fun.

[democracyindanger]

1. Why do they keep the "closed" sign up?

Just wondering. It's funny.

[Senior citizen]

4. I think it is because the front door doesn't work.

They probably put it up to keep people from trying to use the inoperable front door, without realizing that people who weren't familiar with the place would think the whole store was closed.

That's my guess, anyway. A friend told me about the place, I took the bus up there, saw the closed sign, and was just about to take the bus back home when I noticed people coming around the side with grocery bags.

[MrScorpio]

2. Sounds like my kind of place

I love Eastern Euro stuff

When I get back to Detroit, I'm goig to do a little shopping in Hamtramyk

[Senior citizen]

5. They have other stuff too.

I've been drooling at the Greek confections and fancy, gooey sweets, but I can't afford them. They've got a real butcher shop, and great prices on produce. E. Euro peeps are VERY price conscious, but they also seem to like their luxuries.

[LiberalEsto]

3. There's a small Indian grocery in our town

We just discovered this place. It has incredible and inexpensive frozen meals such as muttar paneer, saag panir, and all kinds of frozen breads that you heat up in a frying pan. Chutneys and teas and rice and snacks like spicy roasted mung beans. Plus fresh vegetables and refrigerated panir. And the prices are fabulous.

The variety and prices in these small ethnic shops fill a real need in our bland, white-bread society.

Take THAT, Walmart!

[Senior citizen]

6. Um, yummmm!

Guess that's my mantra for today.

Um yum, um yum, um yum, um yum.....

[LiberalEsto]

7. Did you ever read "Still Life with Woodpecker?"

It's by Tom Robbins.
One of his main characters says he has two mantras, yum and yuck.