Broadway and Pike QFC Redux
Since moving to the Central District again, I have not been frequenting the Capitol Hill grocers as much as I used to. After my dogs case of the runs, I needed to get some meat to boil for her post fast, diarrhea recovery meal. I decided to visit the Broadway and Pike Quality Food Centers.
Having not been there since they started the remodel and everything was extremely hard to find, I was quite surprised to see a newly remodeled QFC that resembles the one in U-Village. I decided to begin my investigation into the underpinnings this remodel and see what exactly has changed other than the lighting and wood trim.
The first major change I noticed is that the bakery no longer makes SBC espresso, because there is a Starbucks kiddie corner to the bakery. This could be a disappointment, because QFC was the only place you could reliably get espresso at 5am, I doubt that the Starbucks will be open 24/7 but honestly I didnt find out.
Next on the road to change was the produce section, which has been moved from west side of the store to the east. This is kind of refreshing because I really do like hitting the produce isle first.
After mingling through the fresh vegetables and misting I stumbled upon a Sushi Chef by the name of Leo who was preparing some rolls, and some cuts of Sashimi for lonely fishless beds of rice he had on the counter. After talking to Leo for a few minutes, I found out that QFC does not have my favorite Sashimi, Toro (fatty tuna). Leo informed me that Toro can cost up to $25 a pound, and that they probably would not sell enough of it to make it worth there while. Leo did assure me though that if QFC sold Toro he would purchase it. By then end of our conversation he had down sold me a to $7.49 package of un-fatty Tuna and Salmon sushi which he promised I would enjoy. Leo if you read my blog, please examine this survey, apparently 40% of women and 50% of men share my love of Toro, you might sell more than you think.
The whole purpose of going to the store was to get some meat to boil for Sadie’s liberation from diarrhea feast, so I moved on to the meat department. I was rather disappointed to find out that the entire meat department was lacking in plastic bags to put your raw animal parts in. I definitely dont want my packages of raw animal parts sweating on things like vegetables, raw animal parts have bacteria and that is one of the causes of diarrhea which was got me here in the first place.
On decent from the meat department I overhead an elderly man talking to a Quality Food Centers clerk “I think I took wrong turn, can you tell me where the toilet paper is?”, luckily he was looking to purchase some and did not come wandering out of bathroom stall.
To wrap up my investigation I headed to the checkout line, where there is now 8 (count’em!) Fujitsu U-Scans. I love the U-Scan not because of their efficiency but there in-efficiency. It took me about 7 minutes to check my self out with the U-Scan, plus I needed “cashier assistance” multiple times, I didnt know what the code for eggplant was, the U-Scan didnt think I had “Placed the Item in the Bag” and when paying I only had a 50 dollar bill (left my debit card at home), well the U-scan only takes up to a twenty so I had to go to the U-Scan cashier to get my change. Ah but to get change at the U-Scan we need to find someone with the right key. So after about 10 minutes I had checked myself out at the U-Scan and wasted 2 clerk’s time in the process. All in the name of efficiency.
