SuperSal / Shopping

Yup - the supermarket. The same as in the States, only different.

First of all, you have to pay for a cart. The 5 shekalim that you insert into the slot allows you to unchain it and use it for your shopping - per usual. When you return it to the row of carts and pop it in place, the 5 shekalim are returned to you. That means that for about $1.25 you are encouraged to put the cart back where it belongs rather than leave it all over the parking - whoops - what parking lot?

Might you be under the assumption that there is parking near the Supersal? No, it's as if there were a supermarket on Taunton Green. People come and go because they live in the neighborhood. Probably they got off the bus and stop by on their way home.

Most walk home with groceries. None of this stocking up the SUV with weeks' worth and freezer's full of food. There is more immediate purchasing because the refrigerators are smaller and there is less cabinet space.

It's not that there might not be a CostCo or Wal-Mart somewhere - I haven't seen them yet. At the mall, two of the anchor stores are the SuperSal and the SuperPharm. Plus, of course, the Ace Hardware store where I bought my fan, extra pillows, towels, etc. when I moved into the dorm.

It takes more thinking to manage your shopping when what you're buying has to be carried several blocks home rather than just from the mall to the car or from the shopping cart to the car and then into a spacious house.

Oh - and bagging purchases yourself is standard at most places I've been. And, they do have the cards - i.e. CVS cards, Shaw's cards, etc. that let you in on the discounts and, of course, allow the store to keep track of who's buying what.

Different. Not better. Not worse. Different. . . Part of the challenge of being new anywhere.

Rabbi Heath