Supersized Supermarkets

Imagine a store that feels like it's the size of a football field. It has everything , from all sorts of fresh and frozen foods to books, toys , soaps and detergents. That's what the Keyport, New Jersey Stop &Shop is. Now here's the question - do we need  super sized grocery stores?

As we all know I'm a big Stop & Shop fan.I will always choose my local one, on the Hackensack-Lodi border over my local Acme and Shop-Rite. Don't get me wrong. I like those two other stores. They each have something Stop & Shop doesn't have but for a large variety  especially for baking- Stop & Shop wins hands down. They do have the some of the best  tasting baked goods and a wide range of fresh fruits and veggies, perfect for my cooking needs.I like their in house brands such as Nature's Promise and Taste of Inspiration. Now imagine my delight when I walked through the double the size one down at the New Jersey shore. Mind you I just stopped in for a pit stop and a bottle of water. I walked out with much more. The Keyport Stop & Shop has the dimensions of what seems like a football field. The aisles are twice as long as the Hackensack-Lodi one. It was amazing to get almond milk and see that I had a large variety of choices to choose from. I would have spent an hour just on the natural food aisles alone. Honestly I even spent more than enough time browsing and restraining myself from buying other things like shampoo and paper plates. These last two, like everything else, offered a wide array to choose from.

The thing is with super sized stores is that they may give us way too many choices. I walked in to this Super Stop & Shop with just the idea of one bottle of water. I walked out with much more.I can only imagine what would happen if I lived near it. It's one thing to have a well stocked kitchen ; it's another to have a hoarder's paradise. I know I would buy items and foodstuff I may not need but felt like I would. Does this mean that smaller grocery stores like Foodtown are better to shop at? Yes and no. I've been to some of the Foodtowns, now mostly located at the Jersey shore. They're much smaller than the superstores, reminiscent of the A&P's that once dotted the landscape.They're  easier to move around in. It's not a hike to get from one end of the store to another and then make the trek  out to the parking lot. Then there's the whole concept of choice. A smaller store has less variety , hence less temptation and dithering about what to buy.It's also cheaper. You don't feel the need to try every flavor and every brand. You may not have the wide variety of fruits and vegetables but then again, you don't have to deal with picking over and rotting and moldy unsold produce.

Yes, the larger Stop & Shop store is a home chef's dream. It is dazzlingly huge. Yet it's also a bit too much. However it does pose the question  which is better- a larger store with endless choices and more temptation or a smaller one, with less variety and no temptation?