Piedmont Grocery

I would be remiss not to mention Piedmont Grocery.

A short walk away.

The wonderful ease of picking up a handful of needs at your local grocery store is almost invaluable. It’s even better when the store is family-owned and a cornerstone of the community. Piedmont Grocery is hugged on all sides by small businesses, and the walk either up or down Piedmont Avenue is always pleasant.

It’s no Berkeley Bowl, but it’s not trying to be.

East Bay folks know all about Berkeley Bowl, with lots of love towards their vast yet curated selection of produce, perishables, and staples. But the chaos that is the Berkeley Bowl Experience (getting there, parking, meandering around, dodging stray carts, navigating the isles, waiting in line) is too much to deal with sometimes. When you really don’t need much, maybe some oat milk, pasta sauce, and bread, the cost-benefit ratio of going to Berkeley Bowl doesn’t weigh in it’s favor. When you need these by, like, tonight, there is no way you’re going to Berkeley Bowl. I’m going to Piedmont Grocery. Want anything?

Yellow and white onions in the produce section of Piedmont Grocery. Those with an X indicate they are organic.

People really make all the difference.

I’ve been going to Piedmont Grocery for almost a year and a half now. The same folks who chatted with me while checking out then are the same folks I see now.

Of course, it’s always nice have friendliness be met with friendliness anywhere, for any occasion. However, there’s an almost indescribably invaluable quality about consistent, (seemingly) genuine, kind, friendliness from the same people at the same place over several months. The ongoing context of the pandemic makes this all the more invaluable. Personally, I miss the frequency and lightness of friend-hangouts that existed pre-pandemic. In a way, I can grasp at those qualities — frequency and lightness — while buying olive bread.

While some of us have been given the ability to work from home or to reduce our public-facing presence, grocery store workers all over the world have not. They show up to work. Be it the dark days of winter 2020 or the brief state of normalcy in summer 2021, they were there. For you. For me. Something not to forget.