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January 10, 2006

Taking on Your Grocery Store

It happened again a few days ago.

A perfectly innocent outing to my local grocery store turned into a war of the words: mine vs. the store manager.

I simply wanted to know why the store, Giant Foods, still doesn’t carry any tissue, toweling, napkins, plates or other household items made out of recycled paper. After all, Whole Foods, one of Giant’s major competitors in our neighborhood, stocks its shelves with nothing but paper products whose recycled content is so high you can practically read yesterday’s news on today’s paper plates.

“Hmmm,” the store manager stammered when I asked him if he could look into adding a recycled products line to the shelves brimming with about a hundred other items made from virgin paper (i.e., trees). “We don’t make the decisions here,” he finally explained. “We just stock the items we get from our warehouse.”

“Well, can you call your regional manager and tell him your customers want to see more recycled products on the shelves?” I asked as politely but firmly as possible.

I couldn’t help adding, “After all, Whole Foods ONLY carries recycled paper products.”

“I’ll talk to the distributor,” he finally conceded, looking sideways at the other customers who were eavesdropping on our conversation and starting to read the labels on the paper products they’d picked up.

“Thanks,” I said, conspicuously taking out of my cart the jumbo pack of 24 rolls of toilet tissue I’d previously selected. I put the pack back on the shelf. “Want my number so you can let me know what he says?”

“Uh, no…why not just check back in with me next time you’re in the store?”

“I’d be happy to,” I smiled. “See you day after tomorrow.”

I pushed my cart over to the produce section. There, at least, Giant is doing a better job. A quarter of the bins offered locally grown produce, some of it organic. Ironically, that’s a much higher proportion than what’s available at Whole Foods. I guess there’s a reason why that company’s slogan is “The World’s Leading Natural and Organic Foods Supermarket,” not “The Community’s.” 

I loaded up my cart with fresh apples and pears, squash, greens and other delicious looking fruits and vegetables. Then I headed for the meat and poultry department. My family doesn’t eat a lot of beef, but we do eat chicken and turkey. We prefer to buy poultry that hasn’t been fed antibiotics and that’s been allowed to graze freely as opposed to remaining cooped up in overstuffed and inhumane cages. “Free range” poultry is easily available at upscale stores like Whole Foods. It’s much harder to come by at Giant. I buzzed for the butcher.

“Excuse me,” I said, starting to feel very practiced in my approach. “Do you carry any free range chicken?”

“Lady, we get it in once in a while,” the butcher replied. “I guess we don’t have any today.”

I sighed.  “Whole Foods has it,” I said.

“Well, try us later in the week,” the butcher said.

My point made, I moved on to the dairy department. There, my options increased substantially. Giant carries Nature’s Promise, its own brand of organic milk. They carry Horizon Organic, a national brand that has a local production facility in Maryland. They  also carry Stonyfield Farm organic yogurts. I picked up a gallon of Nature’s Promise, which is cheaper than the Horizon brand. In addition to saving some money, I figured it was worth reinforcing the company’s decision to support organic with its own product line.

Dropping by the bakery, I noted that not a single loaf of bread was made from organic flour. The sales staff didn’t think organic baguettes or buns were imminent, either, regardless of what Whole Foods was selling. The canned goods shelves by and large offered mostly standard processed food fare, though a small section of “specialty foods” included a smattering of organic canned beans, cereals, and other packaged products. Not enough to make a meal out of, but perhaps a sign that consumer demand is having some impact on the all-powerful “distributor” who determines what makes it onto the supermarket.

While I waited at the check out, I realized that currently, in order to spend most of my shopping dollars on organic, locally grown and recycled products, I have to visit at least three locales: the Giant (for some locally grown produce and milk and dairy); Whole Foods (for chicken, recycled paper products, breads); and my farmers market (for locally grown produce, much of it organic). It would be so much simpler if both Whole Foods and the Giant carried more organic, locally grown, and recycled options.

I think they will – if more people start requesting those products when they shop. On my next foray to Whole Foods, I was appalled at how few of the fruit or vegetable bins offered locally grown or organic options. Buttonholing the store manager, I asked for an explanation. He gave me the same party line as his counterpart at the Giant.

“We just display what we get from our distributors,” he said.

“Well, tell your distributors your customers want a change,” I said as I put my non-organic, New Zealand grown apples back in their bin. Then I headed back over to the Giant to check in on the paper towel situation.

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