Clothes, shoes, make-up, band-aids, and groceries

Where can you get all these under one roof, and cheaply?

One answer is Costco's, but you need a membership. WalMart is another option, though I avoid shopping there in protest of their unethical corporate policies.

In the middle of last week, I decided to go back to the family home for dinner. Right as I was leaving work, I got a text message from my sister with an odd request: bring home some band-aids and mayo. I was a little bit annoyed since I had a long day at work already, and then I had to sit through an hour's worth of traffic, spend another half hour travelling to, search, and then stand in line before I get to go home. I didn't want to do more driving than I needed to, so I decided to go to a plaza that had both a Target and a Food4Less. Mayo is obviously cheap at a place called Food4Less. Quality band-aids (the ones that don't fall off, don't hurt, and have packages that don't turn yellow over time like the cheapy 99 Cents store kind) tend to be more expensive at supermarkets, so I can head to Target for that.

I ended up doing all my shopping at Target because, surprisingly, it's a great place for non-perishable groceries. And the band-aids were inexpensive.

Target's affordable and gourmetesque snack selection has always been fascinating. Where my family lives, there's no such thing as Trader Joe's, Bristol Farms, or Whole Paycheck--stores that exist in trendy, relatively affluent areas that are the antitheses of my hometown. But I've never considered it to be a great place for groceries until I got extremely lazy and decided to explore the aisles on my way to the checkout line. Some things were more expensive than the grocery store, which was expected, but the bullseye-branded items were very competitively priced. At that point, I had already picked up some Target brand band-aids. There wasn't any Target brand mayo, but the Best Foods kind was priced equally with what I've seen at other markets, so I didn't mind picking it up. I also got a can of Target vegetable-and-beef soup, which appeared to be comparable to Campbell's Chunky soup, only cheaper--99 cents. I had it for dinner tonight, and it definitely tastes better than the cheaper supermarket-branded soups I've gotten.

Apparently Target is good with this kind of thing, but I didn't get the memo earlier. At least I get the message now.