I used to like gentrification...

...until it ruined my favorite grocery store. The Dominick's grocery store I go to about once a month to do my major shopping is having its grand re-opening after some renovation and refurbishing. At first I was really liking it; the produce section was great. And with my Fresh Values card, I got 1 lb. containers of strawberries for 99 cents. Granted, you had to pick through them pretty carefully, but you always do with strawberries. The bulk foods (granola, nuts, etc.), deli meat and cheese, and bakery sections had basically the same selection but with a better presentation. Great. But then I got to the rest of the store.

I don't care if they're slapping up condos left and right in the South Loop and you're flooded with yuppies, that doesn't mean the grocery store can stop selling groceries! While I could get most everything on my list, there were a few basic items missing. And the brand and flavor selections were severely diminished. I don't need to buy Williams-Sonoma cookbooks or Fiestaware at the grocery store. That's what Amazon is for. I would however like to get things like hashbrowns or chicken bouillon there. You know, groceries.

The baking aisle is down to 1/2 an aisle. And roughly 1/2 of that is organic baking mixes and "gourmet" seasonings. Seriously people, I don't need "Chef Paul Prudhomme's Magic Seasoning Blends." I actually know how to cook and can flavor things myself, thanks. Isn't it ironic that the same people who are obsessing over their free-range eggs and organic hydroponic tomatoes will buy overpriced crap like that rather than just using real spices? But if it has Emeril's name on it, it must be good. All that, but no bouillon - cubes or granules, chicken or beef. How could I be so foolish as to want to make my own soup when, for the same price, I could buy 1/8 as much of the Gold Label brand? There I go, trying to be healthy and frugal again!

In all fairness, I should disclose that could have bought the hashbrowns there - if I had been willing to get "O"rganic Simply Potatoes hashbrowns at $6 for 1/2 pound. Even the Hyde Park Co-Op doesn't charge that much. That's where I'll be going for my Ore-Idas tomorrow.