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When I first moved to Pennsylvania from New York City, the local grocery shopping scene was fairly uninspiring. Mega supermarkets full of walls of prepackaged goods and an overwhelming variety of boxed cereal. “Fresh” produce that had been shipped across many miles and sat for weeks before it went on sale. Coming from an area where I could find charming stores full of great looking products, real butchers and Italian specialty stores, and a stellar weekly Saturday green market, all within walking distance, well it was a bit of a culture shock.
Of course I was still pretty lucky here in southeastern PA. Traveling out a few miles radius I could find a great farmers' market that ran a few days a week, Amish country where one can find truly farm fresh eggs and dairy products, and the holy trinity of Northeast foodie grocery shopping: Trader Joe’s, Wegmans and Whole Foods.
But more locally, I was stuck with those sterile, brightly fluorescent-lit dinosaurs of grocery stores past. Quick trips to pick up some staple items were met with more of a grim resignation on my part. And I realized that the prices at some of the more old fashioned stores are actually higher on many staple items. So I resorted to traveling a bit farther for my weekly shopping trip to get to some of the better available options.
Over the last couple of years, though, there has been a fortuitous turn of events. A Wegmans opened ten minutes away, in walking distance is a new weekly farmer’s market, and just last week, a brand new Whole Foods, complete with a honey bar and a local mushroom display. Food shopping is fun again!
If you live in an area with one of these stores, then you have probably seen all the hype surrounding their opening. People are enamored of the clean, fresh, and new shopping experience, full of beautiful produce and items for which they previously might have had to search far and wide. The designers of these stores play to their audience with amenities like on-site specialty pubs and child play areas. It makes the extra dollars (or paycheck) you might spend in there and the parking hassles seem so worth it.
The media has come up with a term for these store openings: the Whole Foods or Wegmans effect. Scrambling to keep up, other stores in the area remodel, change their offerings, and strive to improve their customer service. Real estate and job prospects improve as other new businesses open in the surrounding area. But for me, I’m just happy that now I can put together an impromptu cheese plate in minimal time!
All across the country, some bigger stores are moving toward a more upscale smaller store concepts, with organic and natural “shop within shops”, and fancier services. The grocery shopping experience in general seems to have improved all around the country as more people have become interested in different types of food and how it is produced. And now, whenever you find a recipe here on CDKitchen that includes some more exotic ingredients, you will be more likely to find them!
So are any of these stores the end all and be all of foodie shopping? While I realize that a great deal of marketing goes into the seductive nature of these places, some combination of the three mentioned above (they are all my favorite for different reasons), along with a weekly trip to the farmers market does it for me.
What is your favorite food shopping experience?
Cheese Plate
3-4 types of cheese with differing flavors and textures (such as herbed goat cheese, creamy blue cheese, and sliced aged cheddar)
1 small bunch of red or green grapes
Crackers, flatbreads, or sliced fresh bread
Condiments: your choice of honey, olives, dried fruit or nuts
Bring all cheese to room temperature. Cut any hard cheese into pre cut slices.
Place grapes in center of cheese board or tray and arrange the different types of cheese around it.
Place condiments in ramekins on cheese board, add crackers or bread, and serve.
©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/pamela-chester/1250-food-shopping/
The Fun In Shopping For Food
When I first moved to Pennsylvania from New York City, the local grocery shopping scene was fairly uninspiring. Mega supermarkets full of walls of prepackaged goods and an overwhelming variety of boxed cereal. “Fresh” produce that had been shipped across many miles and sat for weeks before it went on sale. Coming from an area where I could find charming stores full of great looking products, real butchers and Italian specialty stores, and a stellar weekly Saturday green market, all within walking distance, well it was a bit of a culture shock.
Of course I was still pretty lucky here in southeastern PA. Traveling out a few miles radius I could find a great farmers' market that ran a few days a week, Amish country where one can find truly farm fresh eggs and dairy products, and the holy trinity of Northeast foodie grocery shopping: Trader Joe’s, Wegmans and Whole Foods.
But more locally, I was stuck with those sterile, brightly fluorescent-lit dinosaurs of grocery stores past. Quick trips to pick up some staple items were met with more of a grim resignation on my part. And I realized that the prices at some of the more old fashioned stores are actually higher on many staple items. So I resorted to traveling a bit farther for my weekly shopping trip to get to some of the better available options.
Over the last couple of years, though, there has been a fortuitous turn of events. A Wegmans opened ten minutes away, in walking distance is a new weekly farmer’s market, and just last week, a brand new Whole Foods, complete with a honey bar and a local mushroom display. Food shopping is fun again!
If you live in an area with one of these stores, then you have probably seen all the hype surrounding their opening. People are enamored of the clean, fresh, and new shopping experience, full of beautiful produce and items for which they previously might have had to search far and wide. The designers of these stores play to their audience with amenities like on-site specialty pubs and child play areas. It makes the extra dollars (or paycheck) you might spend in there and the parking hassles seem so worth it.
The media has come up with a term for these store openings: the Whole Foods or Wegmans effect. Scrambling to keep up, other stores in the area remodel, change their offerings, and strive to improve their customer service. Real estate and job prospects improve as other new businesses open in the surrounding area. But for me, I’m just happy that now I can put together an impromptu cheese plate in minimal time!
All across the country, some bigger stores are moving toward a more upscale smaller store concepts, with organic and natural “shop within shops”, and fancier services. The grocery shopping experience in general seems to have improved all around the country as more people have become interested in different types of food and how it is produced. And now, whenever you find a recipe here on CDKitchen that includes some more exotic ingredients, you will be more likely to find them!
So are any of these stores the end all and be all of foodie shopping? While I realize that a great deal of marketing goes into the seductive nature of these places, some combination of the three mentioned above (they are all my favorite for different reasons), along with a weekly trip to the farmers market does it for me.
What is your favorite food shopping experience?
Cheese Plate
3-4 types of cheese with differing flavors and textures (such as herbed goat cheese, creamy blue cheese, and sliced aged cheddar)
1 small bunch of red or green grapes
Crackers, flatbreads, or sliced fresh bread
Condiments: your choice of honey, olives, dried fruit or nuts
Bring all cheese to room temperature. Cut any hard cheese into pre cut slices.
Place grapes in center of cheese board or tray and arrange the different types of cheese around it.
Place condiments in ramekins on cheese board, add crackers or bread, and serve.
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©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/pamela-chester/1250-food-shopping/