Social Giant

I first heard of grocery shopping as a way to meet people back in the 1990's with upper Georgetown's "Social Safeway". Attracting young singles, the Social Safeway was a hot spot for romantic grocery runs. 

Cut to Giant Food in Olney, 2015: another time, another place, but also a hot spot or hub of mingling. The main differences now are 1) tired moms, dads and other family members instead of young singles cruise the aisles and 2) the encounters are platonic reminiscences, not romantic pick-ups. 

My weekly grocery runs are on early Sunday mornings, when I spy the regulars: a neighbor, an administrator from my kids' preschool ... and other people whose faces I recognize but whose names I can't readily recall. If I go later on Sunday, I often see more familiar faces: parents from my kids' preschool and elementary schools (my kids are now teenagers), parents from kids' long-abandoned activities, former fellow MOMS Club members, and others -- most of whom I would never see unless we happened to shop in the same place at the same time. Our paths rarely cross anymore, except at the Social Giant. 

Before our town's Safeway underwent renovations, I even saw a Safeway cashier shopping at Giant! "What are you doing here?" I asked to which he merely smiled silently and put his finger to his lips,  gesturing "shhhh". I spotted the always upbeat Olney post office worker at Giant on another visit.  

My grocery runs often turn into hour-long mixers -- here's to Olney's own Social Giant (and Social Safeway, Social Harris Teeter, Social Shopper's, and Social Roots. I always bump into someone familiar there too)!

Out-of-County Experiences

Taking advantage of Maryland's tax-free week, my kids and I went shoe shopping yesterday. Although Olney boasts multiple grocery stores, banks, fast food restaurants, salons and yoga studios, a person needs to leave town in order to find shoes. So up to Columbia Mall in Howard County we trekked.

After perusing small shoe stores in the mall, we finally found what the kids needed at Nordstrom. After ringing up our sale, the clerk was about to put the new shoebox in a paper shopping bag when I quickly offered her my reusable shopping bag. The clerk smiled knowingly and asked, "Are you from Montgomery County?" I guess our county's bag tax and my desire to be environmentally friendly have conditioned me to bring cloth bags (almost) everywhere.

Shoe mission accomplished, we contemplated stopping at JCPenney when we heard loud (even louder than me, my kids claim) exclamations of two thirty-something women gawking over a clothing purchase from ...  JCPenney: "This fabulous find was marked down and I had a great surprise at the register!" "Oh -- let me see!" Squeals of delight echoed through the mall as one woman pulled out a red striped shirt out of a plastic bag (remember, no bag tax here).

My kids and I whirled around to see what all the excitement was about. "Are they commercial people?!" my 10-year-old exclaimed. I expected to find myself either on Candid Camera or on the set of advertising shoot. Commercial or not, we then decided not to go to JCPenney, but to return home to Olney. Enough out-of-county experiences for one day.

How Hard Is It to Remember Your Reusable Bags?

Apparently, very hard. Several times a week I go to the supermarket (any one of the dozen in Olney). I tuck my resusable bags nicely in their place in the car. I look over at them lovingly while I'm driving. I park my car. I walk in. I shop. I walk out. I open my trunk to install my groceries, and what do I find? My beautiful reusable bags sitting helplessly in their place!!! This is ridiculous! I'm smart. I'm educated. I can juggle work and family. Surely I can remember to bring in my reusable bags!!! I even get a cost savings for using my bags! Alas, I have failed miserably at this. I don't know what it's going to take for me to remember. Perhaps I can suggest to the new Harris Teeter that they put up a really big sign above their door, "REMEMBER YOUR REUSABLE BAGS."