Freeze-dried food for days: Costco, your official apocalypse store. The warehouse retailer has certainly done enough to get out in front of the end-of-the-world craze (if there is one?). It has offered small survival kits in the past, and now it has come out with the mega death knell — an assortment that can keep you and your family fed while you bunker down and wait out the nuclear winter for weeks. This survival war chest (for $79.99) comes with 150 freeze-dried and dehydrated meal servings. There are 80 entrees and sides, 30 breakfast servings, and 40 drink servings that all just need good ole’ H2O to activate into digestive goodness. One day you can serve up teriyaki rice and another day pasta Alfredo can be on the menu…all by candlelight of course, because there won’t be a lick of power. The bucket is good for 25 years, so maybe a couple of short-term apocalypses? Some out there on the internet believe Costco is onto something, that the retailer might perhaps have an inside scoop on the impending doom. Or it might just be trying to make a buck off public panic. —Bill Wilson
IT outage down under: We’ve been reading all day about the IT outage allegedly caused by a Microsoft security update that has led to global retail pandemonium, according to countless news stories on Friday. But Supermarket News has yet to find any major incidents of grocery stores being hit by the tech snafu that has hampered the operations airports, hospitals, and – gasp – even Starbucks! We reached out to a number of U.S. grocers and H-E-B was the first to respond with a negative on the IT blunder. Woolworths in Australia had a few stores impacted, and a USA Today story reported that a Key Foods grocery store in Brooklyn, N.Y., closed for the day, but that appears to be it, so far. With the greater reliance on artificial intelligence moving forward, we’re certain these kinds of hiccups will be less likely in the future. Ahem. —Tim Inklebarger
All aboard the mini mart: Move to the right, Oscar Meyer Weinermobile. The Giant Eagle Mobile Market wants to make a pass. The grocery trailer is a mini version of a Giant Eagle supermarket stocked with more than 750 grocery items, including fresh vegetables. It recently made a stop in Glassport, Pa., and will be there every Thursday. There are even cooler and freezer items available in the mobile unit, and it is allowing Glassport residents to shop where they live for the first time in years. One senior citizen who did not want to give their name to the MonValley Independent said the mini mart is a blessing because usually a taxi or Uber is needed to get to the nearest grocery store. A Shop n’ Save was the closest thing Glassport residents had that resembled a full-fledged grocery store, but it closed 10 years ago. Then last year a Rite Aid, which offered some food essentials like bread and milk, shut down for good. Other mobile stops are in Clairton, Rankin, and at the Duquesne Shopping Plaza. It took two years to design and build the mobile market, and Giant Eagle still calls it a work in progress. But it is progress nonetheless…positive progress. —BW
Groceries on your way up: Grocery stores serving as anchors for residential units has been a trending topic. Just a couple of weeks ago Supermarket News reported that Costco was breaking ground with a mixed-use concept in Los Angeles. There are more examples in New York City, and Chicago has entered stage left with plans for 600 apartment units that will be connected to retail space like a grocery store. The project calls for a 25-story tower and a 38-story tower. A specific grocer has not claimed a spot on the ground floor, but officials believe an offering of fruits, vegetables, and other products will help support a growing neighborhood. The area in Chicago is a developmental hot spot. A 28-story mixed use tower is being constructed nearby, and another builder received approval to construct more than 400 apartments in the area. All these people are going to need to be fed. —BW
No bagel, no bagel, no bagel: Not poppyseed at least. That is if you’re headed to South Korea. One Trader Joe’s shopper learned the hard way recently after trying to take 20 bottles of Trader Joe’s Everything But the Bagel seasoning mix to the country, according to a story on CNN Travel. Apparently, poppyseeds are banned in the country — even though the substance found in poppyseeds used to make heroin is so small that it has no impact. Now, why the traveler was attempting to take 20 bottles of the seasoning into South Korea is unclear (some people really love the stuff), but the items were confiscated and never returned, according to the story. The story notes that other countries, like Singapore, also prohibit poppyseeds and have strict penalties for transporting drugs like marijuana. That country imposes the death penalty for some drug trafficking, so while on vacation, you might want to stick with blueberry bagels. —TI
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More and more apartment/condo developments are now including grocery stores located on the bottom floor. It’s happening in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. Is this just a passing fad, or do you think more types of these projects are on the horizon? Leave a comment below or reach out to the SN staff at [email protected].
