Or slightly itchy. This is in MPSIMS because, honestly, it’s a flipping grocery store. And also because there can be no rational disagreement, because Jewel is the spawn of Satan.
It wasn’t like this at the beginning. When I was but a wee little Angel, Jewel was the Mecca of all things grocery. They were some of the first ones to come out with generic brands–and nothing brings back the nostalgia like going through the utility room and finding a olive-accented-white box with “BLEACH” stenciled across it in flat black. Later, when they had mostly retired the austere 80s look (ha! Bet that’s the first time anyone’s ever said that), they had the President’s Choice brand.
Now, the President’s Choice brand was an example of everything that was right with Canada (except for Cherry Blossoms, but, again, I digress) that was imported to the US and sold as a local innovation right here in Chicago. They had awesome cookies, and awesome macaroni and cheese. I mean, seriously; the macaroni and cheese was good enough that my sister and I preferred it to Kraft as children. And Kraft Macaroni & Cheese is kidnip.
Right around the time that I left for college, though, I noticed that things had changed. They stopped carrying President’s Choice Macaroni & Cheese. And the really good cookies. The aisles seemed to get narrower. The stores got more crowded. That’s not really Jewel’s fault, except that they apparently pump something in the air that makes people not look where they’re going.
But I still went there sometimes. Not all the time, 'cause, really, their prices are insane, and not in the Crazy Eddie I’m-gonna-get-admitted-to-the-asylum-'cause-it’s-so-cheap way. No–they’re crazy in the you-want-how-much-for-that way. Pretty much every grocery store here that’s not Dominick’s is cheaper. But that didn’t matter to me, as long as they had Chef’s Kitchen Frozen Pizza in cheese & sausage.
For me, this was how frozen pizza was supposed to be. Granted, that might be because I grew up on 'em, but a lot of people here on the SDMB liked it, too. And whenever they went on sale, those suckers sold out.
Of course, that won’t happen now, because the Jewels here have stopped carrying them. When I asked, they said that they’d been discontinued in favor of the take and bake, which are sold at the Chef’s Kitchen station. Explanations of the fact that Chef’s Kitchen the brand is kind of different were to no avail, and the take and bakes are both more expensive ($8.99! I’ll just order Pizza Slut, thanks) and way too big for my needs. Plus the sausage looks different and weird and creepy and not frozen.
So. . .Jewel. I hates it. And, I swear, now that they’re out of Moro oranges (whistles innocently), I won’t be there for at least four or five months. Until peaches are back in season. Because I love me some on-the-way-home peaches.
Stupid pizza-killing bastards.