Where Things Go?
This last week I had a lot of shopping to do, and specific things I was looking for. I pretty well know where to look for what I am seeking now, in spite of the fact that the grocery stores here have a different logic than the logic I am used to.
It’s not a right or wrong thing; it is a different cultures thing. I had the same issues when I would be looking for things in the German supermarkets, or the French supermarkets, or even shopping in Florida supermarkets as opposed to West Coast supermarkets.
I was looking for chopped pimentos, (AdventureMan has a yearning for a Southern staple called Pimento Cheese) which I sort of found and sort of didn’t. What I eventually found, in the condiment section, with the pickles, was canned roasted peppers, which I then chopped into tiny pieces.
Most of the time, I don’t have any trouble finding pimentos, but for some reason, the last month or two, I haven’t been able to find them until today. Usually, if I am going to find pimentos, I find them in the same section with tomato paste, hot pepper paste, and spicy Indian pickles. Condiments like mustards, mayonnaises, steak sauces, ketchups and baby foods are all up on top of the frozen foods. (See! I don’t KNOW why!) Today, I actually found them in the American pickle section. I don’t know why.
In the dairy department, there isn’t a yoghurt section, or a milk section, there is a KDD Dairy section and an Al Marai Dairy section, and (there are more) today none of the sections had sour cream, and in fact, they didn’t think they had ever had sour cream although I buy it there all the time.
At this point, I have bought so much “just in case I never see it again, ” that I can’t get a single thing more in my freezer.
There is a deli section, where they sell fresh soft cheese, a huge variety of olives, and big flats of eggs, 30 at a time. In the bread section, they also sell potato chips and taco chips. Soda crackers are sold mixed in with what we think of as cookies, sweet biscuits. Cat food is sold next to the baby food and bottled water. Go figure!
After a while, you just kind of know, you kind of get used to it.
The market we used to go to in France was about 1/3 wine, 1/3 fresh vegetables, cheeses, meats and terrines, and the remaining 1/3 was regular groceries!
(Not my photo. I found it at about.com GoFrance)
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I think it even differs from one grocery to another. Somehow I’ve never thought about where things might be, I developed an instinct where I subconsciously find myself facing the needed shelf.
We need some major national categorizing campaign 🙂 What’s the logic of placing Tuna cans beside coffee packs?
lol at cat food next to baby food, you raise both and you feed both 🙂
I think you are right, Touche, and even from Co-op to Co-op and from Sultan Center to Sultan Center!
Some of the combinations are truly comical! But I mis-spoke about the cat food next to the baby food – the baby food was with the condiments, next to steak sauce, etc. and the cat food was next to diapers! and bottled water!
And not that it makes any more sense the way we do things in the US, it is just different things make more sense next to each other in different cultures. Or maybe not!
ahh but i can’t even find kdd anymore! i have a love/hate thing with kdd. i once bought a carton of kdd apple juice years ago, and well i feel ill just recalling this, but it was some fermented old pieces of aples left in…gawd i can’t believe i just typed that..i’m almost in tears and about to vomit over the memory. needles to say i’ve never bought apple juice from a carton again…only clear plastic containers…fresh! anyway, apple juice usually gives my babies the runs so i prefer grape juice for them…orange juice gives them rashes. kdd is the only grape juice i can find…however i haven’t seen any in ages.
how’s the cost of living over there. my grocery bill has almost doubled here! even cheap stuff like bread, rice, and pasta are costing an arm and leg!
I know exactly what your talking about. I can’t go to different grocery stores to shop, I find one (Sultan Center) and stick to it, I’m not ready yet to shop at Carrefour, my mind is used to the way Sultan center is spread out.
In the US there were only 2 grocery stores I could shop at, the one next 2 my house and the one next 2 my brothers. Put me anywhere else I’d be lost.
When I was in college we studied something like this in one of my advertising or marketing classes. People get so used to seeing the same thing in the same place for years that if u replace it with something else they probably won’t notice. From what I remember, they did a study where in the middle of the cereal aisle, they put beer cans, and no one seemed to notice.
Beer cans in the middle of the breakfast cereal! (whooping with laughter) Chirp! I bet I would have noticed! Holy smokes!
Yeh, in the US you can almost read the manipulation of the product placement. Consumer guides tell us to be very careful about buying things displayed on the ends of the aisle, as they may not be so “special”. Also, in the US and I think in most of the European super-chain style stores, vendors pay for a certain amount of shelf space, so you only get items from those relatively large vendors who are willing to invest. Maybe some smaller items are waaaayyyyy up on top or at the very bottom. Does that track with what you studied?
I remember first few times shopping at Carrefoure when I first moved to the UAE. It was so puzzling I actually developed a headache 😛 being used to the Salmiya Sultan Center for most of my life.
Then I got used to it, and then I moved back to Kuwait and I went through the same puzzlement re-getting used to Sultan Center once again.
It can be confusing. Good thing with Carrefoure though is that no matter which one you go to (in any given country) it’s always the same layout. Which I think is very cool of an idea 🙂
There is a wonderful Carrefour in Tunis, and it has a huge wine section! 🙂 Some times the Carrefours are better stocked than other times.