Supermarket envy

In my neck of the woods, we have your Whole Foods, your Trader Joe's, your Wild Oats. All of which are fine and good if you're looking for that type of food. (And in the case of WF, if you also happen to be OK cutting back on other peripheral expenses, such as rent.)

While it's dandy to shop organic and all, sometimes your list includes stuff like Cheetos, Mountain Dew LiveWire and other festively colored foodstuffs. So that pretty much means you go to whatever (Safeway, Kroger, Albertsons, etc.) brand operates in your area. Blah.

Thus, I was somewhat heartened recently when I learned that Stew Leonard's is setting up shop a couple of towns over. I say somewhat heartened because I've never quite been sure what to make of the dairy farm/supermarket idea. (FULL DISCLOSURE: It's been about eight years since I've actually set foot in a Stew's. So for all I know, they've abandoned the whole dairy store concept, which, by the way, comes complete with petting zoo, costumed characters and creepy animatronics. But I doubt it.) There's also the maddening Stew Leonard's layout, a maze of narrow one-way aisles that forces you to visit every corner of the store even if all you want is a jar of peanut butter.

But hey, one tends to wander through Stew's with a goofy grin on one's face, so it can't be all bad. It ain't the Supermarket Holy Grail, but we'll settle while we wait and hope.