There are seven Saar’s Marketplace Grocery Stores in Washington State and two of them are in Tacoma. This Saar’s location is at 6414 South Yakima Ave. The store does a good job of low prices, friendly employees and ethnic foods (mostly Hispanic and Asian), but doesn’t have a huge selection or some of the niceties like a coffee shop or bakery.
On Thursday I made a quick stop at Bartell’s Drugs at 2700 Bridgeport Way West for sundry items. Bartell’s Drug Company was created in 1890 in Seattle. There are 58 stores, all in Western Washington. It is the oldest family owned drug store chain in the nation.
Actually there were two types of sweet corn ice cream bars at the H Mart, which recently opened at 8720 South Tacoma Way in Lakewood. Dear daughter and I visited and found many delightful food items including udon (which she loves), mochi, fresh turmeric, those long vegetable things (I knew I should have written down what they were!), an entire aisle of dried seaweed, all sorts of pickled foods (see the yellow pickled radishes) and fresh seafood. There is a large produce section and all the day to day household items one would need. The employees were super friendly.
The H in H Mart stands for “Han Ah Reum,” a Korean phrase meaning “arm full of groceries.” The chain’s website shows two other locations in Washington State (Federal Way and Lyonwood. There are also locations in 12 other states and Canada, mostly on the east and west coasts. They recently opened a location in London.
Sears is located at the Tacoma Mall at 4502 S Steele St #100, Tacoma. Information about Sears is here. Tacoma Public Library’s Northwest Room says that the mall’s original four anchors were J.C. Penney, the Bon Marche, Nordstrom and Rhodes Department Store. I was a little surprised that Sears wasn’t on the list. The Bon was Tacoma Mall’s first tenant.
Tacoma Public Library has a wonderful photo of Tacoma’s original Sears at the corner of South 13th Street and Broadway circa 1950. It can be seen here.
The Vitamin Shoppe at 3801 South Steele Street, Tacoma is occupying 1/2 of the space that had previously been Petco. I stopped in the store today because I had some time to waste before I picked up dear daughter. I walked out with a bar of citrus soap, some gummy vitamins, gum healthy gum and a power bar. There are over 500 Vitamin Shoppes across America.
I was sent to Rite Aid at1850 South Mildred Street (James Center),Tacoma, WA 98465 for index cards today. While there I admired there selection of Valentine’s Cards. I then played with the image using http://pixenate.com/ for the heart shape and http://www.befunky.com/ for the tones.
Rite Aid’s website is here http://www.riteaid.com/
Dear daughter needed some professional clothing and I searched my brain on where to go. Finally I remembered how pleased I was that JC Penney made Ellen DeGeneres their spokes person and then stood by her when the One Million Moms group started complaining about her being gay. So, good job, JC Penney, you have our teeny tiny bit of disposable income. We went to the JC Penney at the Tacoma Mall. They had a good selection, a righteous after the holiday sale and pleasant and efficient sale people.
Dear daughter say that their mannequins are too tiny and don’t reflect real women. But I think they are a pretty standard size for clothing stores in the US.
I needed some things for a Secret Santa gift exchange and Trader Joe’s in Green Firs Village, University Place was the place to go. They do, after all, have the world’s greatest frozen food. I have often been to this Trader Joe’s and have never had a bad experience. I love their policy of providing a full refund if you don’t like a product.
Per Wikipedia, Trader Joe’s originated in 1958 as Pronto Market and in 1967 the name changed in Trader Joe’s and became more of a specialty grocery store with unusual products from around the world.
http://www.greenamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper/industry/supermarkets.cfm
Dear husband told me on Wednesday that folks were starting to line up at Best Buy at 2214 S 48th St, Tacoma, WA 98409. So today I took a breather from Thanksgiving preparations to drive past and check it out. There were seven tents, one truck with a generator and about 25 people. It was kind of difficult to tell since some of them were in their tents. I was expecting a party atmosphere, but those in line were pretty much just sitting or playing on their cell phones. I have to say that afterwards I was glad to go home and have a nice meal with the family. And I hope the people in line get the treasures that they are seeking.
And here is a bonus photo that more reflects the holiday to me. 