Albertson's

I live in Kensington. That means the nearest Albertson's is in City Heights. I love my Albertson's because it is probably an experience of the greatest diversity that one can have in San Diego. There are white people, African-Americans, Latinos, Eritreans, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more, who all converge in the same place to get groceries. The store is huge and accomodates the mixed demographics with cultural and ethnic foods. There are aisles with Asian and Mexican foods, Soul food, etc. This diversity in San Diego is always fascinating to me, even when I'm getting annoyed by the person in front of me redeeming 20 WIC certificates. (There really has to be a better way)

What a contrast my Albertson's is from the new Albertson's downtown. Located in the "East Village" on 14th, between G and Market streets, the new Albertson's is an experience unto itself. It is huge, probably the same size as my City Heights Albertsons, but it couldn't be more different. There is a huge "customer service" center which I've never even seen in a store before. There is a wide area with various to go food items such as the soup bar that lead you to the butcher counter in the back and the deli on the side. The aisles throughout the store are wide and the store definitely carries more specialty items. The liquor aisle isn't all locked up and there is a huge selection of wines.

I originally entered the store with the intention of just getting a fresh steak from the counter, but I realized there were some sale items I needed, too. I got my stuff and then just kinda browsed around. This was definitely not my Albertsons. I guess if you bought into the whole "East Village" thing and bought, you are paying in more ways than one. The markup on regular items is huge. You know Easy Cheese, right? The aerosol stuff in a can? $5.09!!! Holy shit.

Anyway, the store is nice. As it is on my way home, when I need stuff, I will stop there in the future (they actually observe the "3s a Crowd" rule), but my coupon cutting dad would seriously kick my ass if I were to ever buy a regular priced item in that store.