Senior Buffet - Market Friday
Today is #MarketFriday initiated by @dswigle
I love Market Friday. People from all over the world are participating going to all kinds of stores. from the most obvious - groceries - to antique markets, tire stores, open-air markets and so much more. It is almost as fun to travel this way as to actually go in person - almost.
I am not a great shopper - I just don't buy much. So, most of my posts are from grocery stores. One of the markets I go to on a semi-regular basis is CostCo. They are a big company and usually, smaller markets are my first choice. But there aren't that many small markets around here. And CostCo is treating their employees very well. I know many and they all are happy to be working there.
Now, on to today's market experience. Almost.
At one point in my life, I owned a small grocery store. Every two weeks or so, I went to Costco to buy things like gum, tomato sauce, and many other items at Costco for resale. It was cheaper for me than to order from my suppliers. If you are a small business, everything is more expensive to buy but customers expect to pay less. Go figure. But that is the reality and that is why small stores are disappearing.
In my experience, people came to me if they wanted service and needed help - but they went to other stores like Walmart and Food for Less for the bulk of their grocery shopping. I know that because I made it a point to carry bags to people's cars if I didn't have another customer waiting to check out and would see the bags in their trunks - filled with produce and other items I carried as well.
People went as far as buying coffee somewhere else and bringing it to me to grind because my grinder is better or buy meat, like lamb shanks, and wanted me to cut them for them. I would do the coffee, but not the meat after a while. It took almost an hour to clean the meat saw. At least buy it from me if you want it cut!!
Oops. I think I am still a bit bitter about that.
One of my produce suppliers, Bassam, had become somewhat of a friend. He had a twisted sense of humor and so do I. When you work 12 hour days seven days a week, the customers and suppliers become your friends - and your only social life.
Bassam came to the store one day around lunch time and said that he wanted to take me out to lunch. since I had an employee there who could take over for me, I said okay.
To my surprise, we drove to Costco. With a big smile, he told me that he was taking me to the senior buffet.
Let me show you what he meant by that.
Any given day, around lunch time, there are friendly people like Carolyn, serving all kinds of goodies to the shoppers to entice them to buy the products offered.
Nutbars are actually a good choice to start with - especially if you are hungry. They fill one up just a bit - enough not to go crazy with shopping. Did you know that a hungry shopper sometimes buys double from what they intended to buy? A shopper who had a meal before going to the store goes home with maybe two impulse items. Big difference!!
Next, there was some Salmon to be had. This is for sure not on my shopping list since the price tag is a bit high for me. But it is delicious as a buffet item for my lunch.
Can you see this booth? Neither can I! They were serving Korean BBQ and the masses were forming tight circles around it. Pass on this one. I can't stand it when people are pushing and shoving to get a piece of something. do you remember a couple of years ago when people got into a fistfight over the Nutella samples? It was a big news item.
But have no fear, if beef is your thing, here are the burgers!!
If you don't eat red meat, no worries. We have a choice of
Turkey or
Chicken.
"What is with all the meat?" You say. "I am vegetarian!"
No problem, we got you covered. Here we go.
Have some delicious focaccia hot from the oven. Yummy!!!
And all of you who only eat organic. You are in luck!!! Organic dried apples. So good!
They make a delicious dessert to round out our buffet walk.
Why is it called senior buffet? Good question.
Some might say it is called this because many of the sample givers are seniors. But here is my friend's explanation and it makes a lot of sense to me.
Many seniors are on very limited incomes and can't afford to buy the food they need. I had senior neighbors before who were dumpster diving at the local grocery store on a regular basis to supplement their food and have known others who ate cat food because it was cheaper than tuna or canned meat.
As long as a person has a Costco card, they could come every lunch and dinner time to partake of the samples and go home well fed. Nobody checks if buy anything. Just take a cart and go from sample station to sample station.
You are welcome!! I just bought you lunch.
Here are the instructions on how to join the fun by our own @dswigle
I hope you will join us as we share the different markets from all over the world. I have always and forever loved traveling and I find it simply fascinating to go to the markets. Who doesn't love to see what they are selling? There is always a curiosity attached to foreign ingredients, different produce or any product sold.So, yes! I would love to see yours! So don't forget to take photos wherever you happen to be shopping - whether it be the grocery, art galleries, wherever money is exchanged for a service or for merchandise. Don't forget to use the hashtag #marketfriday and @dswigle.
Please leave the link to your post on her post so it can easily be found by others. They will all be in one place!! Thank you! ❤
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This was so enjoyable to read, I even read all the comments. I do the senior tour and ours does the salmon, turkey, bbq, meatballs etc. Sometimes we even get lobster.
Oh, be still my heart.
While I prefer smaller stores, I have fallen to the likes of Costco when I don't get over to the Commissary. They never blink an eye over the hordes of people that make their way to the free food.
I find myself so torn over the homeless dilemma and many of the stores here will not allow them in. So what is the right answer besides taking care of our homeless with a big emphasis on the seniors.
I thank you, as always for putting out such a great product and I love that you participate in #MarketFriday!
Upped and Steemed tip!
thank you so much!! You are always the best and I love to participate in Market Friday - I do feel bad when I miss it!
XOXO
Oh wow awesome supermarket i would just go there to eat all the little treats they give out...yummy :)
hahaha - that is exactly what we are doing lol
How funny well you would of not be able to resistant it i'm sure :)
Did you check out my @marketfriday that would make your mouth water.
Hi .. Interesting story! Greetings from me :)
And greetings back to you :)
What a great post for #marketfriday, my dear! I myself am not a great shopper too, but I loved to know about your experience. All the goods look yummy! Xoxo!
Thank you, Isabel. I am trying to get all angles out of the few stores I go to for Market Friday. lol
Ahah, me too! Luckily I have the local markets in Asia spread everywhere that can always grant me material for the posts!
When I visited my sister in California, every Saturday I went with her family to Costco, and oh my, they have so many sample stations throughout the store. I can see why your friend called it a Senior Lunch :-)
I can't go to Costco, no membership! Our Kroger used to do this too, but it attracted to many homeless people into the store that people were complaining. Now, we have none!
Oh, that is sad - but understandable at the same time. Such a dilemma. You want everyone to have food including the homeless, but some are not quite up to cleanliness standards and it is hard to have them in a store.
You need to make a friend with a Costco card lol
I am more of small store shopper! I know where everything is and I don't have to hunt for them! Living by myself now so Costco is just another expense that I don't need :-)
For sure!! I share a membership with my daughter in law. Here, they carry a lot of organic items. But for one person - Costco is not worth it!! I like small stores better too. A dying thing...
When you operate a business you meet all kinds of folks. Some really have moxy! We used to do this every once a while too! It was fun and you got a free lunch!
never a truer word was spoken!!!
And yay for free lunch!! lol
It is really nice to have a friendly shopping mall, we have a similar thing here. It si always a great experience to take a stroll and lose an hour or so just meeting people.
That is fun for sure!! Maybe you post pictures from your next trip?
Oh, the snacks look really tempting, I have yet had the chance to visit a Costco. Hopefully soon
If you go, I hope that they have wonderful snacks for you. Don't go too early in the morning. They are not serving breakfast lol
Haha, great post! I miss snacking on samples while shopping. I don't have any interesting markets near me, unfortunately. Especially this time of year when we're buried under snow and ice. I'll have to try to remember about Market Friday when the weather warms in a few months, though!
You can go to the wood stove shop and show those pictures lo.l Or the snow shovel shop :)
Good afternoon, Marianne !!!! we were very sad to read about your store. alas, people are everywhere the same.
I know!! After I closed it, due to many circumstances, I had so many people say how much they loved the store and how much they miss it and me - all I could think was "Where were you when I was open?"
I had some customers who made it a point to come to me first and only buy somewhere else if I didn't have it. And I have just about everything. From produce to cheese, meat, and international groceries... No alcohol and cigarettes (that makes a lot of money, but I didn't want to deal with that)
Oh well, the store almost killed me and I am glad I don't have it anymore.
I think that you did the right thing to close the store. Of course, it's a pity you invested so much in it: both the means and the strength and time. but health and peace of mind is much more important. especially since in this world there is nothing permanent.
100% agreed!!