A brief swing through the new supermarket

I have never seen a supermarket so full of people as was the new Fresh Market today.

I honestly didn't even know it was open until I went to the plaza it's in to get my haircut and couldn't find a single parking spot. The old grocery store that used to anchor this plaza had been closed for a couple of years, so generally the parking lot is 90% empty. As it was I had to park a good quarter mile away by the video rental place. The hair place had a line out the door, so I walked back and swung through the Fresh Market on my way.

Wow. There were people everywhere. You couldn't walk more than a step or two without having to wait for some one to get out of your way (or, if you're less polite than me, I suppose you could just walk into people and hope they move for you). It was a bit much for me and I needed to get a haircut, but I took a quick spin through the fruit and was pleased to see it looked like really nice quality and much better variety than the other supermarkets around here. I was pleased to note, for example, that they had 'Honeycrisp' and 'Twenty Ounce' apples. ('Twenty Ounce' must be making a comeback or something...I hadn't seen it in a decade or so, and it seems like I've seen a dozen references in the past few months). They also had an impressive range of citrus, and some really nice looking berries. Lots of organic produce, for those who care (I don't...I figure I'll probably absorb enough agricultural chemicals in my line of work that the amount from produce is pretty minimal by comparison).

Anyway, that was all that I could stomach of the seething mass of shopping humanity, so I slunk off and got my haircut (I might actually pass for a competent professional now, which is what I'm shooting for, given I have a job interview next week), but I'll definitely be back for a closer look.

Update: I swung by and bought a 'Twenty Ounce' tonight, and I've got to say I was really disappointed. Flavor was pretty decent, and it looked beautiful, but the texture was incredibly mealy. Granted, some people think of it as more of a pie apple, but I suspect even then this texture would have been a bit lacking. I remember it being much better. Lady Evil Fruit (who has more post-harvest experience than I) suggested it might have been stored improperly, probably spending a long while at room temperature.

Also I'm disappointed that my 'Twenty Ounce' apple wasn't even quite a pound. That's false advertising!