We just returned from Martin’s, our favorite supermarket around here. It’s almost a daily ritual to pick up a few things that fit in our cloth grocery sack. In fact, the sack has the Martin’s logo on it and gets us a nickel off each time we use it.
There are five other supermarkets between Martin’s and our home, but we usually bypass every one of them; and I got to wondering why. Two are certainly larger; one has a better selection of produce; and still another has great chicken dinner specials. But each of these has certain drawbacks as well. The only drawback to Martin’s is that it is the farthest away.
Once there, however, we are always pleased with the friendly and helpful personnel. The grocery carts work without wobbly, off-kilter wheels. And the cashier empties your cart for you as she scans the price, saving at least one handling of each item. There is a great floral department and an equally great wine selection too. About the only thing Martin’s doesn’t offer is film development; but then who uses old-fashioned film any more?
I don’t know what the other supermarkets could do to attract our business. We are not particularly cost-conscious shoppers, so coupons don’t draw us in. We don’t like a store to be so big that we need cell phones to track each other down. And we’d have to go through the learning curve of finding what aisle has the detergent and which one has the cooking oil.
Maybe that’s the real reason we like Martin’s so much. We’ve already got a mental map to work from.
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