what does your supermarket say about you?

have you noticed how snobby people (cough, queen anne) are about their grocery stores? roommate told me a story about how she babysat two girls who lived on QA. she decided to surprise them and bring them a treat from safeway. girl#1 said "uh where is this from?" roommate: "oh, i think i got it from safeway." girl#1 "uhh, my mom shops at whole foods." girl#2 "thats funny because my mom only shops at pcc."

i dont know if you're familiar with pcc, but they charge $2 for an apple. i first thought it was funny but then i realized how telling these little 6yr olds' proclamations were. i've decided to compile a list of the various grocery stores and what (i believe) that supermarket choice says about the shopper.

1. safeway: the economical shopper. SW is generous about their sale bins and "member" specials. this is typically including (but not limited t0) college students, families with many teenage boys (i.e.: my family), holiday customers (think bulk over quality) and BIG shopping sprees on a tight budget.

2. trader joes: the creative shopper. TJ is known for it's creative prepared food and cheap wine ($2 chuck? get OUT). shoppers include: newly married couples who want to cook together, twenty-somethings who want to impress a date with "their" prepared creation, hipsters, business-people on lunch breaks and me with 6 bottles of charles shaw (guess what my preferred grocery store is).

3. pcc: the dot com families. PCC is the most expensive of these listed and has the fewest preservatives of any grocery store. frequenters include: "hippies" (see: people who pay to be hippies), moms who have things like THIS, rich people, stupid people who are confused by pcc's loose term of "grocery store" and mistakingly think they can buy thanksgiving rolls for under $8 (and yes, this did just happen to me).

4. whole foods: the preservative-conscious money bags. WF is known for their lack of discounts, independent brands and lack of preservatives. shoppers include: folks who wouldn't want anyone to see them pay discount on hummus, people who prefer to scoop their own granola, anti-preservative nazis and nannies (ALWAYS see nannies pushing 3 kids in a cart with a long shopping list).

5. thrift-way: TW is safeway but worse. i really can't even begin to describe TW because i am too offended by it. they appear to be a care-free, pro- "the little people" company but their prices rival whole foods. no thanks.

6. 7-11: convenience. perfect for people who: 1. don't have time to do a proper grocery shop, 2. can live off of hot dogs, enjoy small talk with an angry, overworked cashier.

which do you fall into?