Nothing in Life is Free

"I Like to be in America
OK by me in America
Everything free in America
For a small fee in America!

("America" Sondheim and Bernstein "West Side Story")

We have been observing and thus enduring the long awaited and slowly unfolding remodeling of our local Sun Fresh supermarket. The place was getting a bit dowdy, or as my Grandmother would say "a bit tatty", so the re-do was welcome. So far we have a new salad bar, an expanded sushi bar, a new dining area, new pharmacy, a refurbished deli, a bigger seafood counter and fresh meat counter, redesigned bakery section, new shelves, new signs, new freezer units, new checkout counters, new tile and soon a new floral department and bank. We are uptown.

But I may not be able to enjoy all the new ammenities... they are pricing me out! I have noticed the steady creeping upwards of the prices on things I buy regluarly. I was first alerted to this by my dear friend Mary Ruth who at 80 years old relies on her Social Security and retirement to live. "I am going to have to go shop somewhere else" she moaned, "I can't afford to pay for all this luxury". I have noticed the potato bread I buy is now 2.49 instead of 2.29 like it was before. My green leaf lettuce I enjoy on my pastrami sandwich is now 10cents a pound higher than a few weeks ago. Thankfully they have not raised the pastrami yet. Mary Ruth bemoaned that the cookies she buys for church had gone up a few cents as well.

I guess someone has to pay for all the nice new things. Nothing is free anymore for sure. I guess I could shop elsewhere, but around here the choices are few. The Thriftymart on Main is nasty ("KC's Home of Brown Vegetables and Green Meat") the Apple Mart on Broadway is just plain scary, befitting its legacy as the legendary "The Night of the Living Safeway", the Price Chopper is just a bit too far and the Hen House is too upscale for me.

So I guess I'll just have to buckle down and perhaps have to do without leaf lettuce on my pastrami. But it will be be satisfying to know my pastrami came from a nice fancy new store.