A new Mariano’s
store opened this week about 4 blocks from my home and I’ve been hearing so
much about it that I decided to go take a look.
I went to the store at 7:45 on a Saturday evening because I didn’t want
to go when the place would be extremely crowded.
When I
arrived I discovered that the place was extremely crowded. (I’ve never been good at predicting how
people will spend their Saturday evenings.)
I will
admit it is a nice looking store and it smelled really good in the area where
they cook things.
There
were lots of free samples of food being offered. At one point, a young woman approached me with
a tray and said, “Would you like to try a sample of turkey, cranberry, walnut
salad?”
I said,
“Sure.” And took the little cup.
She
said, “It’s good, isn’t it?”
With a
little grin I said, “It’s hard to tell from that small sample. I may have to have another one.” Then I chuckled.
She
laughed and said, “No.” And walked
away. I’m pretty sure she was joking
around.
I wasn’t
actually doing any shopping, I was just there to see what all the buzz was
about. However, I did pick up a
container of oatmeal raisin cookies from the bakery. When I got to the cashier area I did a double-take. Every one of the lines were very, very long. At least five shopping carts long.
“Oh
no. I don’t think so.” I thought. “I’m not waiting in any of those lines just
to get some cookies.” So, I put the container back and left.
I have
a feeling Mariano’s is going to be just fine even though they missed out on the
vast profits to be gained from my $3.59 in cookie sales.
