AWESOMENESS AHOY
Holy crap, today I discovered the most awesome place on my way home (temporarily; I have to go back for German in a few hours).
Those of you who are/were longtime IC residents probably know the Bread Garden, the cafe/restaurant famous for its soup, breads and pastries. Well, they've opened a grocery store in the Ped Mall! (Where Tait's Natural Foods used to be; for those of you who haven't been here in a few years and don't know where that is, it's basically part of the ground floor of the new office building next to the library that was under construction when I came in 2005.)
So I was pleased to discover that not only do I now have a small grocery store on the way home from campus again, but this time it's exactly the kind of grocery store I would wish for if I had a choice. Like Tait's did, it has lots of organic/healthy/high-dollar but high-quality items; unlike Tait's, it also has "regular" food (i.e., brands like Doritos and Coke and Breyer's and the like, with commensurate pricing). So basically I can stop both to buy the unhealthy things I like (Pringles, pop, etc.) but also to get healthy/nice items to cook actual food.
I think some will be leery because Tait's died a death of attrition, basically because it was trying to do what the New Pioneer Co-op (our local crunchy granola organic/healthy/high-dollar but high-quality items co-op) does. But for a while it really did fill a needed niche in that it basically served as a neighborhood grocery for people in the area; it died mostly because it didn't offer anything to fit student budgets. That's not the problem with this place; not only can you get the nice $5 organic brats, but you can also get the $3.50 Johnsonville beer brats as well, and for a lot of things it has both "regular" and organic/nice versions.
So basically, while Iowa City doesn't have enough crunchy granola people to support two organic grocery stores, I think it does have enough crunchy granola people and students who walk to campus to support a neighborhood market that offers both cheap and nice varieties of food. I'm hoping it will survive, and perhaps even expand the organic/quality food market (Tait's certainly seemed to; the Co-op said their membership rose after Tait's opened, which I can only put down as more availability of nice organic food leading to more consumers of it, and the Bread Garden Market may do the same).
Also, the coup de grace: like Tait's did (and unfortunately the Co-op doesn't), THEY HAVE KING ARTHUR BREAD FLOUR, HOO-YAH
Those of you who are/were longtime IC residents probably know the Bread Garden, the cafe/restaurant famous for its soup, breads and pastries. Well, they've opened a grocery store in the Ped Mall! (Where Tait's Natural Foods used to be; for those of you who haven't been here in a few years and don't know where that is, it's basically part of the ground floor of the new office building next to the library that was under construction when I came in 2005.)
So I was pleased to discover that not only do I now have a small grocery store on the way home from campus again, but this time it's exactly the kind of grocery store I would wish for if I had a choice. Like Tait's did, it has lots of organic/healthy/high-dollar but high-quality items; unlike Tait's, it also has "regular" food (i.e., brands like Doritos and Coke and Breyer's and the like, with commensurate pricing). So basically I can stop both to buy the unhealthy things I like (Pringles, pop, etc.) but also to get healthy/nice items to cook actual food.
I think some will be leery because Tait's died a death of attrition, basically because it was trying to do what the New Pioneer Co-op (our local crunchy granola organic/healthy/high-dollar but high-quality items co-op) does. But for a while it really did fill a needed niche in that it basically served as a neighborhood grocery for people in the area; it died mostly because it didn't offer anything to fit student budgets. That's not the problem with this place; not only can you get the nice $5 organic brats, but you can also get the $3.50 Johnsonville beer brats as well, and for a lot of things it has both "regular" and organic/nice versions.
So basically, while Iowa City doesn't have enough crunchy granola people to support two organic grocery stores, I think it does have enough crunchy granola people and students who walk to campus to support a neighborhood market that offers both cheap and nice varieties of food. I'm hoping it will survive, and perhaps even expand the organic/quality food market (Tait's certainly seemed to; the Co-op said their membership rose after Tait's opened, which I can only put down as more availability of nice organic food leading to more consumers of it, and the Bread Garden Market may do the same).
Also, the coup de grace: like Tait's did (and unfortunately the Co-op doesn't), THEY HAVE KING ARTHUR BREAD FLOUR, HOO-YAH