Oft times I feel as if my world is fairly small. 494 to the south, Highway 100 to the west, 35W to the east and Franklin to the north. Obviously I do travel outside of my “zone” but overwhelmingly, my life and errands are within. So it isn’t odd to me that my mother also had a fairly constricted range. It was brought home to me last week when YA and I were in St. Louis that Grasso Plaza is basically a catch-all for just about everything.
Grasso Plaza is about 5 minutes from my mom’s house, up on Gravois Road, which is a major thoroughfare in the southwestern suburbs. It’s basically just two strip malls across Gravois from each other with five lanes of traffic in between. (One of these lanes is what St. Louisans call the “suicide lane”, in which you can basically go either direction – insanity.) The parking lots on both sides were clearly designed by an idiot who had been drinking heavily. I can’t believe that the insurance companies haven’t banded together to force the Plaza to have them both re-done; I’ve witnessed two accidents myself in my visits to Nonny.
Anyway, here are all the places in Grasso Plaza that we went to in our three full days:
- Schnucks. This is one of the grocery store chains in St. Louis; I am not making this up. We got a few snacks and some beverages to keep in the condo while we were there.
- St. Louis Bread Company. SLBC was bought by AuBon Pain in 1993 and everywhere else except St. Louis, the name was changed to Panera. I assume some lawsuit or contractual thing was involved. On the outside the sign says St. Louis Bread Company, on the inside, everything says Panera, including how your receipt prints out. We had two meals there.
- Walgreens. Of all the things that Nonny didn’t have in her condo was lotion!
- Southern Bank. Nonny’s bank – we had to deposit a check of hers.
- Post Office. We had to send the equipment back to MobileHelp (Nonny’s “help I’ve fallen and can’t get up” service). Very very friendly and chatty clerks – good thing no one was waiting behind me.
- Cotton’s Ace Hardware. I’ve been here many times over the years but this trip it was to drop off the last of Nonny’s canned goods/cereals. Cotton’s has a collection barrel for the Affton Christian Food Pantry.
- Dollar Tree. Just a quick stop for some plastic drinking cups for the condo since there were so many folks working on the cleaning out.
- H&R Block. Stopped by to ask one tax question concerning Nonny’s taxes. They weren’t helpful. I should have just texted Linda. Ended up getting better info from AARP.
These weren’t the only errands we ran, but it was most of them and I was happy to put Grasso Plaza behind us. Even though it was handy, I don’t want to mess with those parking lots and that suicide lane ever again!
Do you have any favorite/usual shopping spots?
Trail Baboon 
I find that more and more, I prefer the smaller venues. Midtown Foods (8 blocks from here) over HyVee. We have the usual big box stores in small towns… I choose Walgreens over Target or Walmart because of their politics whenever I can. Menard’s over Fleet Farm.
There is no Mall here anymore, really – the former one still has a few businesses and a couple of restaurants. The rest has been transformed into a Special Education facility by the Hiawatha Valley Education District, which is a good use for this space.
I don’t shop much except for food – there are three thrift stores.. And there’s always LaCrosse, a half hour away, for anything that isn’t found in town.
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I always loved to shop in Northfield – beginning in the mid-70s when I went to St. Olaf. There is always an interesting shop here, and the downtown area is truly vibrant. They do so much to entice people to come shop here that it’s often really crowded downtown, especially on Riverwalk Market Fair Saturdays beginning in May through October (I think). It’s part farmers’ market and part artisan fair. There is always music, art, food, and friends. The shops in the downtown area are always busy on weekends due to the Market Fair. I love that about Northfield.
My favorite place to shop these days is just at the Co-op. I get all my cool fashions at the Clothes Closet (thrift store) that is right behind the Co-op, so no expensive clothes for me! I love poking around in the antique stores downtown on a quiet weekday. We have a Mercado Local here too – I’ve never visited it but I’ve heard good things. I need to check that out.
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I mostly stick close to “the Golden triangle” near my house. A big stock up on basic groceries every month or so, as well as “sundries” (tp, toothpaste and such).
I once had to shop for work. Buying the shoes for all the Cratchitt children a couple of months before Christmas tends to give you more shopping experience than you could ever want.
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What is the Golden triangle?
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Missing from the list is a nail salon and 24 hour laundry.
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We do have a nail salon walking distance but I’ve never been there. Between housework, gardening and dishes I can’t keep my nails long enough to warrant visiting the establishment!
I’m not sure if there are any 24-hour laundries near me. I go twice a year to Giant Express Laundromat (when I do my semi-annual allergy bedding laundry). It’s over two blocks from the George Floyd memorial but alas is not open 24/7.
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When I was working at the flower shop a guy once sent flowers to his girlfriend at her workplace, which was called Waxing the City. I asked him more than once to repeat the name of the business. A couple of hurdles there – first, that there is a business that specializes in waxing, and second, that they aspire to waxing a city. How would one go about that?
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The first time we visited Phoenix, rented a car, and going through some 6 lane intersection and I thought for sure we were gonna die. Had no idea what we were doing.
Maybe it was designed by the same drinking idiot…
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And in Phoenix they all drive like drinking idiots at top speed. We saw really strange and frightening accidents there. If it rained they were going way too fast then slammed on the brakes, spinning out.
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Rise and Shine, Baboons,
My shopping is confined to “How can I get this over with quickly” so it is all defined by that. So mostly in the town where I live is where I shop.
That said, and regarding groceries, I really fall apart when the grocery store re-arranges things. I like it when I can just get my stuff and leave. When the store is re-arranged and I have to re-learn it all, I really hate it. I wish I could be satisfied with online grocery shopping. The problem there is that I am a picky shopper. I want what I want. This is especially true of produce, so I want it fresh and high quality. You do not get that when the store shops for you. Sigh.
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Same here, and shopping online does not allow for seeing something on sale that would be useful/a treat. Maybe it does and I just don’t see it, but to me it’s like not browsing the stacks at the library.
You can’t do that at the library of Congress either, and I was sure I was missing out.
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Yes, Aldi did that a while back and I still go to the former spot for things… why can’t they just leave well enough alone?
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I still haven’t gotten used to the updated Aldi’s near my house. It’s been nearly a year since they re-did it. I had to search for applesauce this morning.
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There was a clothing store in Dickinson named The Fad. It eventually closed. There also was a shop in Medora, the Badlands town, called the Nut Shack. The owner was notoriously mentally unstable.
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Snort!
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There is a store in St. Paul called We Are Nuts. They sell artisan nuts. But they are also called St. Paul Discount Grocery. In their space they have a curious mix of their own nut products and other stuff they were able to purchase at bargain basement prices.
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Most of the shopping areas near me are populated with businesses that I never go to. The businesses I frequent are all over the metro area, none of them very close to any others. I am always kind of amazed at how many storefronts are occupied by nail salons, mobile phone stores, tattoo shops, spray tan places, chiropractors, insurance agencies, and the like. I am a little wisftful for the days when retail stores catered to people like me, instead of people 40 years younger than me.
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