Monday, February 3, 2014

Shopping in California

Its taken us a while to locate a supermarket we like to shop at.  We have shopped them all, the expensive ones, the 'cheap' ones, the dirty ones and the one that we like. While Im not going to mention the store names cause they aint paying me, Im just going to talk about things Ive noticed.

Being out here 6 months and shopping all over the place I figured Id mention this:

Stores: There are a TON of stores to choose from and depending on your style of shopping it will tell you which store may work better for you.  You got the national chain shopping stores, the local to the area stores, and the west coast chain store.

Brands:  Many brand names you are familiar with on the east coast dont exist here on the west coast and vice versa.

Same logo different name:  I thought this was funny, I recognize the logo but the name is different.  These brands actually have a little sentence on their product saying something like 'known as *** east of the rockies' so you know its the same product just different name. I dont get why but many companies do this.

Found items:  Items I was searching for 'FOREVER' in New York exist out here in California!  I had been searching for this cereal which happen to be sold out here in California, again I dont get it.

CRV: No not the car, CRV stands for California Redemption Value. Beverages you purchase they will charge you a CRV - its similar to bottle deposit in NY - it varies based on the ounces of the continuers either 5 or 10 cents per bottle. So your beverage cans, bottles and plastic drinks will be charged an additional 5 or 10 cents upon purchase.  You then have to locate a recycling center to return them to get your money back. Thing is your refunded by weight, do you get your money back? Dunno exactly a glass may be heavier then a plastic container but if you paid 5 cents for each you may get 10 cents back, you may get more or less. Its hard to calculate.

Recycling: Not sure if some places require it but where we live they dont but we opt to do it. Thing is it involved taking everything to the center, what a pain in the butt!  No you dont get paid for the 'other' items you recycle.

Prices:  Well this is a tough one as I do not remember prices of things in NY, we are not spending any more then we were while living in NY so I guess they are pretty much the same as they were in NY.

Disclaimer: My messages are not meant to replace any professional advice its just my experience with various events.