Making Grocery Shopping More Enjoyable

Do you like going to the grocery? When I was younger I hated it. It wasn’t anything exciting and the grocery had the same stuff every week. It was time I could be doing something else.

Now? I don’t mind going. I never truly appreciated shopping for groceries until I became a parent and was forced to put more thought into food choices and nutrition. Although grocery shopping is really more of a love/hate relationship, to be honest, depending on if the kids are with me or not.

Going to the grocery without the kids is a chance to get out of the house and enjoy time in public alone for an hour or so. Yes, it’s for buying mundane food supplies for the home, but without the kids it can feel like a mini-vacation. I’ll take the time to examine new foods, check out the fresh meats, and stroll through the aisles, blissfully silent with my thoughts to myself.

Of course, going to the grocery with kids can feel like a punishment. I’m guaranteed to get out of the store having missed an important item on my list, and there will be multiple attempts to put additional things in the cart, with promises that it’s not because the box is brightly colored, or because there’s a friendly penguin on the box, and they’ll really eat it this time. They’ll also try to wear me down to buy junk food for them. Their strategy is perfect: start by asking for foods of little redeeming nutritional value (candy bars, donuts, cookies, potato chips), so that by the time we get to ice cream I’m thinking well, there’s calcium, right? and toss a pint in the cart.

Last week I was invited to check out the new Market District Dublin for their grand opening. (Disclosure: I received a small gift bag of products and gift card as a thank you.) Yes, I get invited to ribbon cutting ceremonies for grocery stores now. Such is the glamorous life of mom blogger. But hey, if it’s a good grocery and has more of what I want, you’d better believe I’d be excited about it.

My 20-year old self is shaking her head in shame right now.

They had Buddy Valastro (Cake Boss) at the event, too, signing autographs and handing out cake to everyone. Which, I was happy to meet him, but I was actually more excited about all the new food sections to explore.

This store was originally a Giant Eagle and recently was remodeled into their new Market District super grocery. If you’ve been to a Whole Foods, you’ll see it’s a lot like that in many ways, only not as expensive. When I first walked in, I saw the new restaurant area, with counters to serve freshly cooked food of all types. There was a sub shop, a fresh salad bar, a prepared foods counter (potato salad, kale salad, bean salad, etc.), a sushi bar, soup bar, and even a create-your-own stir-fry station. With seating available in this area, it’s possible to come for a meal before doing your grocery shopping, or just take a prepared meal home to your family along with the groceries.

The produce section is huge. Hand-drawn signs advertise the different foods, and there’s a much wider variety than can be found in many grocery stores. (I never knew there was purple asparagus, but I’m intrigued.) Local displays feature foods that are grown nearby, with signs describing which farms the produce came from.

The hand-painted signs are really cute.

There’s also a huge cheese section with cheeses from around the world. Now that’s my kind of grocery store – so much cheese! We were told that they encourage you to try before you buy, so if you see something you’re not sure about, you can ask for a sample to determine if you’d like it. Next to the cheese counter was (naturally) the wine and beer display. They have a counter with chairs set up and offer wine and beer tastings each week. Next to that is a display kitchen where cooking demonstrations are held each day.

I also really liked their bulk foods area. There have been many times I wanted to try a new grain or needed just a little of an item for something I was baking. It’s nice to have the ability to only buy the amount I need and not a pre-packaged amount. This section also has more unusual items like different types of salts and mushrooms.

Not seen in the photo: the grind-your-own nut butter station. Yum.

Perhaps the best surprise for me was learning that their bakery is now making some cakes with all natural dyes in their icing. We’ve always loved their cakes but had to avoid any colors in the icing, but now I’m excited that Cordy can have her favorite cake with an all-natural blue icing on it for her birthday!

Market District Dublin is just about everything you could ask for in a grocery. They have a wide selection of products, including organic, and they’ve staffed each area with specialists who really know their food. In the health and beauty section of the store, they have a nutritionist and esthetician in the store daily to answer questions about health and beauty and help find the right products for you.

Of course, they’ve got the kids covered, too. You can sign your kids into the Eagle’s Nest, a secure and staffed play area at the front of the store, and then go shop while the kids play, color, and don’t beg for cookies. Problem solved.

Overall I’m really pleased with the way they’ve designed this store. The displays are more organic in nature, bringing together foods that naturally go well together, displayed in a customer-friendly, please-touch manner that makes everything feel more accessible. New foods seem less foreign when there are staff who can tell you all about it and even offer you a sample. It has the feel of an open-air market, only contained within the walls of a grocery store.

I also like that so much emphasis is placed on the fresh foods along the outer edges of the store. Yes, you can still get your favorite boxed foods in the center of the store, which looks more like traditional grocery shelves. Placing so much emphasis on the fresh foods gets me excited to try more of them, which is really a win for my family’s health.

The new Market District Dublin is impressive and I hope to see more groceries like this in the future. Locals, this is worth checking out. This level of detail and planning makes going to the grocery feel less like a chore, which we could all do with a few less of those, right?

Disclosure (again): I was invited to the store with a group of bloggers for a tour and received a small bag of Market District products and a gift card as a thank you. All opinions here are entirely my own, your grocery store experience may vary. But for your sake, I’m hoping you have a cool grocery like this nearby.