Open 24 Hours

The English version of 24-hour shopping.

Upper Edmonton
London
N18 3HF

Shopping for Clothes - Sainsbury's - Harringay

Shopping list:

green beans
milk
stretchy jersey top

Shopping for clothes at the grocery store, no matter how convenient, still feels a bit weird. I suppose it's the same as buying clothes at Costco, but I wouldn't do that either. Where do you try anything on?

4 Williamson Road
Green Lanes
HARRINGAY
London
N4 1UJ
Tel: 020 8809 6065

Waitrose - Canary Wharf

Any Waitrose is a nice grocery store, with good produce but the Canary Wharf shop is the best Waitrose I've been to, so far. It's even better than the company's new jewel in the crown below the flagship John Lewis on Oxford Street. Unlike the Oxford Street food hall under John Lewis, The Waitrose at Canary Wharf is nicely laid out with large aisles, and a huge selection of everything, from artisanal organic cheese, to Duncan Hines cake mixes, to long life milk. If you're hungry, you stop for a snack at the the deli or the sushi bar. Need to buy a new outfit, a mini John Lewis is upstairs.

Canada Place
Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London
E14 5EW

020 7719 0300

Brunswick Centre - Bloomsbury

On the surface, Brunswick Centre looks nice. Filled with upmarket chains including Waitrose, Oasis, Hobbs, Boots and Baby Gap, the shopping is certainly better than what is usually offered on housing estates.

It hasn't always been this way. Brunswick was one of those modernist experiments architects were fond of in the 1960s. Patrick Hodgkinson designed it as a private development, part shopping centre, part cosmopolitan housing, but no one would buy the flats. They were small, many considered the vast concrete structures ugly, and the money ran out before the buildings were painted. The developers kept the shopping centre and sold the residential part of the building to Camden Council to use as council housing. Under council management, the building mouldered. So did the shopping centre.

In 2002 renovation started. It took four years to renovate and fill the abandoned shops to current standard.



I have to wonder, though, is it just putting makeup on a pig?

The Brunswick
London
WC1N 1BS

Somerfield - Battersea

This giant housing estate at the back end of Battersea has two pubs and a huge Somerfield on the grounds. Somerfield is the only grocery store in London that I've noticed employees following customers around (myself included) to make sure they don't shoplift.

Teitel Brothers - Arthur Avenue

An authentic Italian-American market that's been run by the same family for the past 100 years. To relieve the cramped space in the always crowded shop, displays of hardy staples like olive oil, cheese, and canned tomatoes spill out onto the sidewalk.


2349 Arthur Avenue,
Bronx, New York

718.733.9400

Borough Market - Southwark

The Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market at Embarcadero used to be one of my favorite Saturday morning activities when I lived in San Francisco. I cried the last time I went there, knowing I'd be moving soon and despairing of ever being able to shop from such variety of fresh organic fruit and veg ever again.

So, naturally, when I heard Borough Market compared to the Embarcadero Farmers' Market, I jumped on the bus.

Started in 1276, Borough Market is London's oldest food market. It's known as London's Mecca for foodies. While it's unfair to compare the fruit and veg with local produce in California, it certainly lives up to it's reputation in shear variety and quality. The food isn't cheap, but everything is fresh, artisan-quality and delicious.


Free range and organic eggs of all types.


Cheese has it's own wing. Local British cheese makers sell their wares alongside their European counterparts.


For those who like Turkish Delight, there's plenty to choose from.


For those who eat meat, organic ostrich is one of the choices.


Speaking of meat, there's a whole section devoted to pig.


And meat pies.


And don't forget the fruit and veg.

Borough High Street
Stoney Street and Winchester Walk
London, SE1 1TL

Netto - Stamford Hill

Continuing with my series of weird budget grocery stores, I was drawn to Netto by the cute logo I've seen on bags all over town. Their motto is, "Why pay more when you can pay less?" It seems straightforward enough. Shoppers have to pay for their bags, but the prices on everything else are cheap, cheap, cheap.

The layout of the store is very strange, and doesn't seem to follow any logical order. Soap, next to canned fish, next to bread, next to lightbulbs, and so on.... This is fine for those of us who like to shop by going up and down each aisle, not so good, though, for those in a hurry who like to run straight to the item they came for, then leave.


and what's with the strange gate system at the entrance?

158 Clapton Common
Stamford Hill
London, E5 9AG

Calandra Cheese - Arthur Avenue

In my constant search for authenticity, this cheese shop is a little gem. Started in 1952 by late patriarch Salvatore Calandra, the family still uses some of the original techniques to make their cheese. Yes, they actually make some of the cheese on the premises. Other hot sellers are imports from Italy, Spain and Greece, and local cheese, fresh from a farm in Pennsylvania. It's still run by the Calandra family.

2314 Arthur Ave.
Bronx, NY
718.365.7572

Gourmet Garage -- West Village

I admit that the first time I went into Gourmet Garage it was because Ted from Queer Eye took one of the hapless straight-guy victims there. That was before Queer Eye for the Straight Guy became boring, but that's another blog.

Gourmet Garage is not the super giant warehouse that its name implies. It's better. While some grocery stores have more variety, quality is emphasized here with gourmet pre-made meals, fresh bread, organic veggies, domestic and international cheeses, and they deliver.

117 7th Ave S
New York, NY 10014
212.414.5910

Val 16 market -- The Mission

Right on the corner of 16th and Valencia, this is one of the last places that sells authentic Dulce De Leche, not Smuckers sauces or those weird hard candies with Dulce De Leche flavorings but the real thing, the kind you can buy on the streets of Mexico, only there it's called Cajeta.

There's also a good range of South & Central American groceries, fresh produce and some things that reflect the changing area, like Bawls soda. If you're a Gavacha expect pleasant service. The clerks are a little cooler to Gavachos, but not rude.

3100 16th Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
415.863.8790

Will Tesco Take Over the World?

As long as I have other choices, I will never shift all of my grocery shopping to a supermarket. I love shopping at the open air markets too much, and I like to have small, local grocers all around me.

Even the butcher two doors down is not too offensive. He sells eggs for 99p a dozen, and he's got a lovely butchers' block in his shop that must be generations old. It's hollowed out in the centre from years of chopping and cleaning.

I would be really sad to see the Turkish grocer down the street close. He's less than a block away from me, and it's not only convenience that draws me there. His selection of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cheese is the best I've seen, so far, in London and his fresh fruit is better than Tesco, ripe and ready to eat, instead of hard and half formed. He seems to supply half the neighborhood with groceries, beer, etc, on credit, with nothing more than a slip of paper kept in the cash register. He's also been very kind to me. I'm an easy mark. Anyone who shows kindness has a customer for life.

Even though I wouldn't shop there exclusively, I was happy to discover a 24-hour Tesco within walking distance of my home. As grocery chains stand, Tesco is not my favorite, I prefer Sainsburys, but Tesco is close to me. It's cheaper than many stores. It has its place. There are times when it's nice to be able to drop by, straight off the train, late in the evening, when everything else is closed. Some things, like family-sized laundry detergent can't be bought in small shops.

When I got a Tesco club card, I didn't really pay too much attention to the points I accumulated until one of my cousins told me she paid for a weekend in Paris, Eurostar and hotel, with her Tesco points. She has two sons and probably spends thousands of pounds a year feeding them, but it made me think perhaps I should shop there more. I actually have increased my Tesco shopping a little. It would be nice to have a weekend break, paid for by Tesco. But is it really paid for by Tesco? What is the higher price?

I wounder how many people do this? Is Tesco going to do a WalMart and drive all the little businesses out of town, then raise their prices? Are we enabling these big organisations to create monopolies? I'm certainly not going to stop shopping at Tesco, but I'll try to think about my purchases their a little more closely. Am I buying something because I need it, or because it's a good price and it's double points week?

Arthur Avenue Retail Market - Arthur Avenue

rolling cigars
Italian delicacies

If you crave authenticity in a world of Pottery Barns and mall pastiche, go to Arthur avenue in the Bronx. One of the great gems is the Arthur Avenue Retail Market. Fresh cheese, fresh bread, fresh veg, fresh meat (including rabbit) and fresh cigars can be bought at a good price. Apparently, Mayor LaGuardia opened the retail market in the 40's to get the pushcart vendors of the street, out of the elements. It's still going strong.

2344 Arthur Ave
New York, NY

Bûche de Noël at a Stop & Shop near you

The Bûche de Noël has now gone mainstream. When I saw Entenmann's "Yule Log" at the grocery store a couple of days ago, I felt a twinge of sadness. Does this mean Bûche de Noël will no longer be special? Will people be able to tell the difference between one you've slaved over for hours and one you've grabbed from the grocery store shelf?

Watch out Billy's Bakery. Red Velvet cupcakes are next.

Union Busting at Bristol Farms - Westfield San Francisco Center

My parents used to live in Southern California, in a part of Orange County that is far from gourmet grocery stores. It was very difficult to find any decent organic markets. Our closest option was Bristol Farms, about half an hour down the freeway, in Long Beach. It seemed like a shop for housewives who wanted to buy organic chicken at the same place they could pick up naff kitchen decorations. It was a good place to buy Amish-made cheese, but it was nothing like Rainbow Grocery, or Andronicos in San Francisco. The prices were double those at the local Stater Bros, so I simply assumed the workers had good grocery union jobs.

When Bristol Farms opened a new Northern California flagship in the basement of the newly remodeled San Francisco Center, I went to check it out. On opening day of the new mall, a few picketers held signs warning potential shoppers that Bristol Farms was a non-union shop. I stayed away from Bristol Farms that day, but many others simply ignored the picketers and crowded in, grabbing the ready made meals at the deli counter, eating freshly made crepes and gobbling up the nuts and chocolates. The irony did not escape me that while I was "virtuously" staying away from the evil union-buster, the stores I visited probably paid their employees the same, or less than Bristol Farms. Perhaps we expect that from retail, but not from grocery stores?

I went back a week later and went in the grocery store. I didn't buy anything, but I have to admit that the store was much nicer the Bristol Farms in Long Beach that we used to call the "posh Albertsons."

Well stocked shelves held a nice selection of grocery shelf staples, from Bob's Big Boy dressing to organic brownie mixes. Variety takes priority over quantity of any given item.

Pretty freezer cases stored high-end frozen goods.

The large candy section featured locally made chocolates and a nut counter: Think Sears in the 70s at many times the price.

Toiletries included designer and organic beauty products and baby staples galore.

The baked goods looked lush. I'm, at the moment, still taking the high ground and didn't taste any, but they looked marvelous.

While they don't sell locally raised, cruelty-free eggs, they do sell the New Zealand equivalent with the no beak clipping symbol on the side.

The picketers are still there, but not too many people are paying attention. Perhaps the union should recruit that shrill voiced lass who stood outside the Grand Hyatt during the hotel strike screaming, "Shame on you to cross that picket line. Shame on you!" People would pay attention then.


845 Market St - Suite 010
San Francisco, CA 94103
Westfield San Francisco Centre
Bart Level
415.979.0106

Roxie Market -- Inner Sunset

From the outside, Roxie Market looks like any other unassuming corner market with a deli counter. Step inside, though, and you will be surrounded by British sweets galore. In addition to lots of candy, tea, scones, Irish soda bread and baking supplies fill the shelves. The fridge is full of British cheeses and what look like homemade sausage rolls, black pudding, English rasher and other meaty bits. The prices have been hard hit by the terrible exchange rate of the dollar -- thank you Mr. Bush -- but ocassionally bargains can be had. I recently bought two 40 bag packets of PG Tips for $3.99. The original price was emblazened across the front of the box: 89p.

Of course Roxie sells other groceries too, and the sandwiches must be good, because any time I go to shop in the middle of the day, the deli counter is swamped by local workmen grabbing a bite.

500 Kirkham Street
San Francisco, CA 94122
415.731.0982

Rainbow Grocery –- South of Market

I desperately want to believe the television ads showing happy cows, frolicking in the fields on a diet of clover and apples, producing fresh, delicious milk. Alas, I know it’s all a big marketing sham, but at Rainbow Grocery, I can rest assured that all the food sold here is produced as humanely as possible. Among the many free-range eggs sold, at least three brands guarantee that their chickens are field raised in small flocks, with their beaks intact.

It’s not all hippy dippy granola and wheat grass, either. The food is gourmet quality good. The cheese selection is one of the best in the city. Locally grown organic foods abound. The baked goods, alone, are worth a trip. It's not just groceries; natural, organic beauty products rival Sephora.

You can shop guilt free with the knowledge that Rainbow provides a good selection of groceries produced by non-exploited workers and animals. Don’t ask for organic chicken though; no meat products are sold.

1745 Folsom Street at 13th Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
415.863.0620