Let's face it: an Indian family cannot live by shopping at Ralph's. It's just not going to happen. If you're going to feed a family of four daily, you're going to need to buy vegetables in bulk. At $2 a pound for tomatoes and maybe $1 PER onion, any Indian would go straight up broke. Let's not forget chicken tikka masala is all the rage now so that's going to cost you about $6 a bottle for some CTM sauce. So what do families do about this? They stay away from the chain stores when in need of vegetables and/or spices. Instead, they shop at a farmer's market or at a local "ethnic market." For my family, that local spot is the grocery store known as Valley Produce. I believe it started out primarily carrying Persian/Middle Eastern goods, but now they literally have everything from every country (they even carry Kinder Happy Hippo! +5 points for that shooooot). They have produce that's super cheap so you can happily purchase things in bulk without making your wallet cry, a wide assortment of products from all of the world, and an amazing Persian bakery with the best cakes and pastries. You might be thinking, "Wow this place sounds so awesome, what's the trade-off?" I'll tell you: MY SANITY.
The place is a freaking zoo. I won't complain about how crowded the parking lot always is because hey, they have low prices, but brace yourself because I have a hefty amount of other gripes. First of all, the people who shop here have zero patience. I can always count on people pushing me aside because I'm standing in front of something they need or someone ramming their cart into me and hitting my foot from behind because they're in a rush. That shizz hurts man! Do they ever apologize? No. At Valley Produce, apologizing is for the weak. What else grinds my gears? The employees. They're always hanging around in some aisle I need things from pretending to be "busy" restocking things on shelves. I usually see they're there, decide to go shop for other things, and plan to return to that specific aisle later with the assumption that they will be done restocking and I can purchase what I need to. Wishful thinking, right? You bet. They're always still there. If you say, "Excuse me" in hopes of them moving out of the way, dream on kid. These things I'm talking about didn't just happen once or twice, they are guaranteed to happen every time I set foot in the store. I can promise you this is the same experience every other person who shops here has as well.
This is getting long, let me just discuss the issue I had last week. My mom and I are in one of the aisles looking for atta and naturally one of the employees in right in front of what we need, refusing to move. We can't see the prices, so we don't even know which brand we wanted. My mom decides to ask the guy working there how much one of them was to which the employee responded, "All of the prices are written, see, (points to sticker), you have to read it and then you will know the price."
HOLD UP COWBOY.
I then told him, "We can't see the prices because you are in the way."
Employee: "Listen. I said read the stickers and then you will know the price. It's written. Look at it."
Me: "You need to move out of the way then so we can read the stickers on our own."
Did he move? No no moving is for the weak.
I think I get an ulcer every time I shop at this place.
Ok I could go on forever, and let's be real here, the store is a gold mine, the prices are incredible, and I could never stop shopping here. The main point is that my sanity is checked in at the door every time I walk into this place and I really wonder why it must be this way? Can't we all be happy at VP?
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