Have you been to the Berkeley Bowl? I went once in seventh grade, and I have no urge to go back. It’s like….lest I insult it unnecessarily, well, I’ll let the article describe it for you:
When one shopper was told she couldn’t return a bag of granola, she showily dumped its contents on the floor. Culyon Garrison, who works at the customer-service desk, recently had a loaf of bread thrown at him.
The produce emporium — one of the nation’s most renowned retailers of exotic fruits and vegetables — creates its own bad behavior. Kamikaze shoppers crash down crowded aisles without eye contact or apology for fender-benders. So many customers weren’t waiting to pay before digging in that management imposed the ultimate deterrent: Those caught sampling without buying will be banned for life — no reprieves, no excuses. (Not even “I forgot to take my medication.”)
A full description of the Berkeley Bowl and its rules and rule-breakers is here. I can barely survive Trader Joe’s at rush hour. The Bowl requires a whole different mindset to survive.
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:24 am
I’m beginning to wonder if I would survive California, let alone grocery stores.
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:40 am
I find grocery shopping very taxing. No pun intended. But the Bowl was the worst.
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:42 am
The Berkeley Bowl sounds like… nothing I’ve seen in the rest of CA. And I’ve been in good (not up to the Bowl’s standards) grocery stores that sell nice produce and are full and have parking lots that are too small. It sounds like one description of Paris–a wonderful, wonderful place… were it not for the natives. Culture rules, and it sounds like the Bowl has it’s own problems on top of Berkeley’s cultural issues.
September 22nd, 2008 at 12:20 pm
I think it’s more about Berkeley than California. Though our local Trader Joe’s can be pretty nasty at times.
September 22nd, 2008 at 12:48 pm
As a Berkeley resident, I can share many a story of the Bowl and the rudeness there…and the complexities of Berkeley are many. But it’s interesting to consider that even in this relatively affluent suburb that the options for grocery shopping are mighty limited. Even with year round farmers markets, there are no options like the Bowl in Berkeley (or Oakland) for affordable, fresh produce within a reasonable drive, never mind walk….but let me count the liquor stores…
September 22nd, 2008 at 7:12 pm
F***ing hippies ruin everything.
I’ve never found TJ’s to be nasty per se… but man, people sure leave their brains at the door. They’re like zombies in there, struck senseless by the plethora of simmer sauces and flavored fizzy water.
September 22nd, 2008 at 7:39 pm
I think at both the Bowl and TJ’s people seem to behave as if there is a. a scarcity of resources, so that they must be grabby, and b. a sense that they are the only people in the store. Weird and contradictory.
September 23rd, 2008 at 7:22 am
I also have made but a single stop to Berkeley Bowl despite several years of seminary in Berkeley and a few years of living locally. It just wasn’t worth the trouble. Sometimes I found Monterrey Market a reasonable alternative, and sometimes I would just go out to the Alemany Farmers Market in SF. I don’t know why the Alameda County Trader Joes are so bad. When I lived in the East Bay I went over the hill to the Concord store. San Rafael is not so bad either. Even the new Albany(or is it El Cerrito) TJs is better.
September 24th, 2008 at 9:48 am
The story quotes the owner: “Before you buy anything,” he says, “you have to smell it, taste it.” Apparently HE gets to taste before buying, even though his customers do not.