Big Stores & Little Stores

I shop at Hank's Thriftway, which is probably the smallest and most expensive grocery store in Hillsboro, other than 7-11 and some Mexican stores. I like Hank's because it is small, and because I have been going there for as long as I have lived in Hillsboro, which is like twelve years. I am sure their prices are higher than most of the other stores, except for their meat, which generally seems to be cheaper. I recognize most of the people who work there. I cannot remember their names, but I know them by sight. I think the service may be better. There are seldom long lines for anything and oftentimes if I am waiting in line, a cashier will come up to me and offer to check me out at an adjacent register. I really do not know whether their prices are higher than other stores or not. I figure if I am buying food at the grocery store, it is cheaper than buying meals at a restaurant.

I have a parking place I use consistently. It is at the very end of the sidewalk fronting the video store adjacent to Hank's. This works well for me because I visit the video store most every time I go to the grocery store. There are often other spots that are closer, but I like it because I do not have to cross the parking lot, which means I do not have to keep an eye out for cars trying to run me down.

I go to the other grocery stores occasionally, usually only because I am on a mission to get some brand of something that only the other grocery store carries. I do not like the other stores. I don't know why that is. A little bit of everything I suppose. No people I recognize, which isn't surprising since I may only go there once a year. The stores are bigger and I have to walk farther to find what I am looking for, often much farther, because I am not familiar with the layout. And there is never a parking spot at the sidewalk in front of the store.

A year or so ago we were in Sherwood looking for a place to eat dinner. We came upon a shopping center that looked it had just been plopped down. Brand new and nothing around it except empty fields. Sometime while we were there I fell into a conversation with a guy who apparently really liked this brand new shopping center. He was glad to see the big chains coming in and opening stores and forcing all the little mom and pop businesses out. I was appalled at this. I believe I concealed my disgust, but I did not continue the conversation.

I have no use for such shopping malls. They do not sell anything I want or need. I hate going to Target, it is like the worst of them all.