Dominick's vs. Edmar's, West Town hoodie vs. Ukrainian Village hoodie

I love West Town. It's treated me well since I moved there about 14 months ago. I haven't really explored my neighborhood yet, but last night I thought I'd spend some quality time with it by going grocery shopping at the brand spankin' new Dominick's.

What the hell was I thinking? It was like subjecting myself to a grand opening of a Disneyland-Applebee's-Super Walmart flagship store.

Now since I'm a West Town newbie, I missed the reign of Edmar's (replaced by Dominick's), which was said to be the coveted grocery store in the neighborhood since the 1960s. My neighbors have mentioned Edmar's in conversations as if they were reminiscing about a golden era in their life. They would even remember how cheap milk was.

Dominick's was a madhouse. I was circling like a hungry vulture for a parking spot. The elevator was broken so people were funneling through the emergency staircase. I vetoed the idea of a shopping cart and went for a basket, which cut my shopping list down to whatever I could get away with in the 15 items or less line. After ten minutes of squeezing past people lurking over the samples of bite sized sandwiches and mothers running me over for little cups of apple juice for their children, I've only made it past the baked goods. After 30 minutes, I'm in the check out lane and girl ringing me up asks me, "Do you know what this is?" Yeah. It's called a tomato. After 42 minutes I'm on my way out and I trip on one of the pumpkins that is holding the door to the staircase open and left a dent.

Take that, Dominick's. I'll be over at the Jewels on Ashland and Milwaukee until you get rid your Avril Lavigne attitude. - Lizelle

(Turns out Paul was there last night too. Stay tuned for his side of the story.)