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I found UK grocery prices to be the same as here but the quality was better. If I wanted food like I could buy in the UK I would have to go to one of those expensive grocery stores like Whole Foods. We call it Whole Wallet.
I sometimes go into Whole Foods in the US when I visit and my jaw drops at some of the prices!
I LOVE CENTRAL MARKET. I think Fresh is probably modeled after that store. Prior to Fresh opening up in Tyler (mid size town nearby), I was driving two hours to Dallas to shop at Central Market several times a year. I hate going to Dallas, so it was a real chore - but worth it at the time!
I LOVE CENTRAL MARKET. I think Fresh is probably modeled after that store. Prior to Fresh opening up in Tyler (mid size town nearby), I was driving two hours to Dallas to shop at Central Market several times a year. I hate going to Dallas, so it was a real chore - but worth it at the time!
I wish we had grocery stores like that here. Summer is fine with all the farmers markets and anyway you can grow your own food. Winter is frozen veggies and canned goods. Well, there are potatoes, squash, turnip, cabbage, carrots, onions. You can buy the out of season foods but they're not fresh.
There is ONE incredible grocery store--about two hours away. I went there once and spent all day. Everyone wishes one of these would come near them. It's almost too much--cafes, wine, aisle after aisle of things you never heard of, endless, over the top. They are very reluctant to spread out to other cities and if you live in a rural area like I do, you'll always be driving for hours.
I wish we had grocery stores like that here. Summer is fine with all the farmers markets and anyway you can grow your own food. Winter is frozen veggies and canned goods. Well, there are potatoes, squash, turnip, cabbage, carrots, onions. You can buy the out of season foods but they're not fresh.
There is ONE incredible grocery store--about two hours away. I went there once and spent all day. Everyone wishes one of these would come near them. It's almost too much--cafes, wine, aisle after aisle of things you never heard of, endless, over the top. They are very reluctant to spread out to other cities and if you live in a rural area like I do, you'll always be driving for hours.
Fresh is an offshoot of local residents clamoring for a Whole Foods/Central Market type store. It services basically all of northeast Texas outside the Dallas area.
I have to admit, Texas and other southern states do benefit immensely from NAFTA and produce grown in Mexico - as well as Cali, Florida, and of course Texas itself. This really is a huge plus when it comes to the availability of fresh produce. In the wintertime I would bet that half our fresh produce comes from south of the border.
Fresh is one of those stores like you describe - exotic wines, cheeses, food in bulk, fresh spices, gourmet everything - in addition to just "regular stuff." And I've price checked - the "regular stuff" isn't any more expensive there than in other local stores. Of course, you expect to pay more for exotic stuff.
But this leads me back to the whole globalization thing. Growing up in the US, with such diversity at our fingertips, and being lucky enough to have lived and traveled in many parts of the world, I am just spoiled I guess to the availability of "foreign" foods and goods. Amazon, World Market, Central Market, Fresh, Whole Foods, Acorn, the internet in general brings anything I really have a hankering for right to my front door. We don't have the PRODUCE the best of everything - we just have to be able to get it.
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