There’s good news and bad in Andrew Martin’s most-emailed business NYT article: Miles of Aisles of Milk? Not Here. Heralding a new age of smaller-scale shopping (good news), the article features the efforts of the much-despised Pittsburgh food chain Giant Eagle, which has recently opened up “Express” stores selling mostly prepared foods (bad news). Though the stores also have deli, dairy and produce areas, product placement is driven by consumer data (which they collect from the Advantage Card program). For those whose buying habits align with the norm, this could be good news. How could this concept be anything but Trouble for perimeter-shopping foodies? (Hint for my sister: the capital T rhymes with P, and Pittsburgh’s a River City.)
When I lived in Pittsburgh, Giant Eagle was the only supermarket choice available, and its stores filled with processed and prepared foods weren’t even worth entering. I mean it: the ONLY choice. A monopoly like all others, fixing prices higher in lower-income city neighborhoods and fixing them lower in more affluent suburbs where competition existed. Like many of my overeducated urban peers, I would go out of my way to patronize independent and ethnic grocers in the Strip District, Bloomfield and Squirrel Hill. This lifestyle was manageable in ‘da ‘Burgh because you could get just about anywhere in the city within a 15 minute drive. Plus you got to know the people working in the local independently-owned stores. Eight years after leaving Pittsburgh, on the rare occasions she sees my smiling face at Penn Mac, Carol Pascuzzi, aka “DearHeart“, encourages me to order zamorrano online. 
In Philly, it can take me 15 minutes just to get out of University City! While I still prefer the small-store experience in places like Carlino’s, Trader Joe’s and Talluto’s, high quality large stores like Wegman’s and Whole Foods pack the thrills, engaging my creativity and inspiring me to try new ingredients. The data-driven concept put forth by Giant Eagle Express holds absolutely no appeal whatsoever given where I live, but then again, I rarely find any enjoyment from most shopping experiences….unless I have my camera. I took both of these Pittsburgh pics in March, when my sister and my mom forced me to accompany them to WalMart, where I was both disgusted and intrigued.
Does the news from Pittsburgh signal the end of progress for foodies who prefer good ingredients and choice over mediocre prepared foods? or could some super smart (but not greedy) Wharton grad come up with a data-driven small store concept for the city that includes only the perimeters: fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy, dried legumes, pasta, flour and oil … and New Tree lavender chocolate and Capogiro gelato, of course? Ha ha. One of these days I will totally give up on the idea that a perfect store exists…or will I? Maybe I could convince Penn Mac to open up a Philly franchise? I’d love to see competition blow the wind from Di Bruno Bros.’ sails.
Anyway, while typing away on this post, my unconscious brain keeps connecting the present to a historical context. While New Yorkers love Henry Frick for his art collection on the Upper East Side, longtime Pittsburghers instead brand him as a ruthless union-buster whose callous decisions to send in the Pinkerton Guard in the Homestead Strike signalled the end of ‘progress’ for the working man. This was back in 1892, way before any of us were even born, but my Pittsburgher soul “remembers” as if I too were a lockout, hurling words at an approaching barge from the riverbank ’round midnight.
