Have you ever been in the grocery store parking lot and watched as a customer parks a grocery cart next to their car, places the grocery bags into their car, and then proceeds to leave the cart a few feet from their car, say in the parking space right next to their vehicle?  Seeing people do this perturbs me a bit.  After putting my bags in my car I always try and place the cart in the cart return, but I’ve noticed at the grocery store I frequent the cart returns seem to be placed for the grocery workers convenience and not the convenience of the customers.  Conspiracy?  I think so, and I’m crying foul.

The store has two entrances and very close to each of these entrances are two cart returns. All the grocery workers have to do is walk across a two lane driveway and collect the carts. There are other cart returns scattered throughout the lot but these are a country mile from either entrance and are therefore hardly ever used. The locations of the cart returns create a “stranded cart” zone in the middle of the parking lot.

Makeshift cart return

Many grocers parked in this zone look around and realize that the nearest cart return is in Eritrea and decide to use vegetation “islands” in the parking lot to secure their empty carts.  These “islands” are just random curbed-off spots throughout the parking lot that have a few trees on them to beautify the otherwise barren, desolate expanse that is the grocery store parking lot.  After all, securing a cart to one of these curbed islands is better than leaving an empty cart in the middle of the lot.  It prevents carts from rolling away and hitting parked cars.

"Ugh...where is the cart return?"

I’ve been one of those grocery store shoppers that has unloaded the cart, strapped my child into her car seat, looked up and realized, “I don’t even see a cart return.”  Even still, as far as I can remember I haven’t just abandoned my cart or made use of the vegetation islands in the parking lot to secure my cart.  Out of obligation, I always walk the empty cart to the nearest cart return, which usually is the cart return located 15 paces from the entrance to the store.  I’ve now learned to 1st unload my cart of groceries, then return the cart with my daughter, and finally strap my young one up for the ride home.

Figure 1: my calculations

Montevideo, Uruguay

I’m no brain scientist, but I think cart returns should be in the middle region of the parking lot.  Such a design would be of benefit to both supermarket workers and the shoppers.  Shoppers wouldn’t have to walk to practically the entrance of the store to return a cart and workers wouldn’t have to collect the abandon carts off the “vegetation islands” in the middle of the lot.  Such a change would make roses grow straighter and fuller and, by my calculations (see figure 1), would decrease global warming by 1º F every April 22nd in Montevideo, Uruguay (I know right now your telling yourself, “He didn’t just go there.” and I’m saying, “Oh, yes I DID just go there.”)

Starbucks

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I’ve just recently made the move to Mount Vernon, WA from Waco Texas and have noticed that the grocery store of choice up in these parts is Haggen. Back in Waco the store of choice was HEB. I’m going to be exploring the similarities and differences of these two stores and make a determination as to which one I feel is the better of the two…or perhaps just stump myself in the process.

Self Check-Out

HEB – Yes : Haggen – Yes

I’m not a big fan of the self check-out aisle I guess because all the work is transferred from the store employee to the customer.

I also am a little distraught when it comes to the line at the self check-out register. My experiences have been that there are usually four self check-out posts clumped together in a somewhat open area and the customers of the store kind of congregate at an area between all four of them, making it a little confusing as to who’s waiting for which post. Is the person in front of the blob of people (is there a front?) waiting for a particular check-out post? Is he/she waiting for the first check-out post that opens up? Is “check-out post” even the correct term to use for one of the stations where you purchase your goods? For me there’s just too much ambiguity involved with self check-out and I generally avoid them. That having been said, both HEB and Haggen provide a self check-out area.

Children’s Area

HEB – No : Haggen – Yes

Here’s a pretty nice perk that Haggen offers that I have never seen in an HEB: a children’s play area. The children’s play area is a place for parents of young children to drop off their kids while they do the shopping.  The area is just an enclosed room with toys and games and an adult to supervise. Diaper changes are not part of the deal, so if a diaper needs changing you will be called over the store intercom to come intervene.  The children’s area is a free service and allows for the parent to shop without the hassle of keeping track of what their child is getting into.

Eating Area

HEB – Yes : Haggen – Yes

Both stores offer in-store dining, however I would say Haggen offers this to a larger degree with a wider range of food selection and a larger designated seating area than I remember at any HEB that I visited.  The HEB dining I remember consisted of Chinese food, whereas Haggen offers Chinese, deli sandwiches, meatloaf, twice-baked potatoes, quiche and more.

An Abundance of Registers

HEB – Yes : Haggen – No

Of all the Haggen’s I’ve been to, none of them had as many registers as HEB had back in Texas.  While both stores have express checkout lanes for people with 10-20 items, HEB simply has more lanes at the front.  Both stores can certainly get cluttered at the front, but it seems to me like HEB has the edge.

Of course the operative key is how many lanes are open at the front.  For Haggen there are usually between 1-2 lanes open.  At HEB there were typically 4-5.

Starbucks

HEB – Yes : Haggen – Yes

The Haggen I shop at here in Washington has a Starbucks built in.  The HEB I shopped at in Waco didn’t have a Starbucks but I believe there are HEB’s that do in fact have a Starbucks built into the store.  This is quite nice for a one-stop shopping excursion.

Membership Card

HEB – Yes: Haggen – Yes

Both stores offer a membership card program but seem to be very different from each other.  HEB’s rewards program is a points system where you earn points for each item you purchase at the store.  At certain times in the year a customer’s points are tallied and, depending on how many points they earned, the customer receives a certain amount of HEB dollars that they are free to spend just like regular currency at any participating HEB store.

Haggen’s membership program offers a variety of rewards, but the most striking benefit to being a part of the Haggen C.A.R.D. program is that the customer with a Haggen card gets to purchase a wide variety of items at a discounted price…often a significantly discounted price.

Inclusion in both the HEB and Haggen membership programs are free.

Conclusion

So in conclusion, hmm…I guess I don’t really like grocery shopping all that much.  I do like food but as far as where I get it, I suppose it just doesn’t matter a whole lot to me.  As long as the price is relatively reasonable, the store is clean, and the food items are easy enough to find (Both HEB and Haggen are all of these.) I’m more or less a happy shopper.

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