Senior Buffet - Market Friday

Today is #MarketFriday initiated by @dswigle

I love Market Friday. People from all over the world are participating going to all kinds of stores. from the most obvious - groceries - to antique markets, tire stores, open-air markets and so much more. It is almost as fun to travel this way as to actually go in person - almost.

I am not a great shopper - I just don't buy much. So, most of my posts are from grocery stores. One of the markets I go to on a semi-regular basis is CostCo. They are a big company and usually, smaller markets are my first choice. But there aren't that many small markets around here. And CostCo is treating their employees very well. I know many and they all are happy to be working there.

Now, on to today's market experience. Almost.

At one point in my life, I owned a small grocery store. Every two weeks or so, I went to Costco to buy things like gum, tomato sauce, and many other items at Costco for resale. It was cheaper for me than to order from my suppliers. If you are a small business, everything is more expensive to buy but customers expect to pay less. Go figure. But that is the reality and that is why small stores are disappearing.

In my experience, people came to me if they wanted service and needed help - but they went to other stores like Walmart and Food for Less for the bulk of their grocery shopping. I know that because I made it a point to carry bags to people's cars if I didn't have another customer waiting to check out and would see the bags in their trunks - filled with produce and other items I carried as well.

People went as far as buying coffee somewhere else and bringing it to me to grind because my grinder is better or buy meat, like lamb shanks, and wanted me to cut them for them. I would do the coffee, but not the meat after a while. It took almost an hour to clean the meat saw. At least buy it from me if you want it cut!!

Oops. I think I am still a bit bitter about that.

One of my produce suppliers, Bassam, had become somewhat of a friend. He had a twisted sense of humor and so do I. When you work 12 hour days seven days a week, the customers and suppliers become your friends - and your only social life.

Bassam came to the store one day around lunch time and said that he wanted to take me out to lunch. since I had an employee there who could take over for me, I said okay.

To my surprise, we drove to Costco. With a big smile, he told me that he was taking me to the senior buffet.

Let me show you what he meant by that.

Any given day, around lunch time, there are friendly people like Carolyn, serving all kinds of goodies to the shoppers to entice them to buy the products offered.

Nutbars are actually a good choice to start with - especially if you are hungry. They fill one up just a bit - enough not to go crazy with shopping. Did you know that a hungry shopper sometimes buys double from what they intended to buy? A shopper who had a meal before going to the store goes home with maybe two impulse items. Big difference!!

Next, there was some Salmon to be had. This is for sure not on my shopping list since the price tag is a bit high for me. But it is delicious as a buffet item for my lunch.

Can you see this booth? Neither can I! They were serving Korean BBQ and the masses were forming tight circles around it. Pass on this one. I can't stand it when people are pushing and shoving to get a piece of something. do you remember a couple of years ago when people got into a fistfight over the Nutella samples? It was a big news item.

But have no fear, if beef is your thing, here are the burgers!!

If you don't eat red meat, no worries. We have a choice of

Turkey or

Chicken.

"What is with all the meat?" You say. "I am vegetarian!"

No problem, we got you covered. Here we go.

Have some delicious focaccia hot from the oven. Yummy!!!

And all of you who only eat organic. You are in luck!!! Organic dried apples. So good!

They make a delicious dessert to round out our buffet walk.

Why is it called senior buffet? Good question.

Some might say it is called this because many of the sample givers are seniors. But here is my friend's explanation and it makes a lot of sense to me.

Many seniors are on very limited incomes and can't afford to buy the food they need. I had senior neighbors before who were dumpster diving at the local grocery store on a regular basis to supplement their food and have known others who ate cat food because it was cheaper than tuna or canned meat.

As long as a person has a Costco card, they could come every lunch and dinner time to partake of the samples and go home well fed. Nobody checks if buy anything. Just take a cart and go from sample station to sample station.

You are welcome!! I just bought you lunch.

Here are the instructions on how to join the fun by our own @dswigle

I hope you will join us as we share the different markets from all over the world. I have always and forever loved traveling and I find it simply fascinating to go to the markets. Who doesn't love to see what they are selling? There is always a curiosity attached to foreign ingredients, different produce or any product sold.So, yes! I would love to see yours! So don't forget to take photos wherever you happen to be shopping - whether it be the grocery, art galleries, wherever money is exchanged for a service or for merchandise. Don't forget to use the hashtag #marketfriday and @dswigle.