Red Deer Reality Rant #10 - Stupid Store
Hello, and thanks for stopping in to check out another instalment of Red Deer Reality Rant. The city really has become Green Deer these last couple of weeks with the plants sprouting and the trees decking themselves out in new leaves, as well as the city’s street sweeping and parks maintenance staff hard at work cleaning up winter’s debris. There’s been some nice days for going out and about, and running errands is better when the weather is good.
I tend to like to go to several different grocery stores in Red Deer, although there are some that I avoid due to their outrageous prices. Most of the big names in food stores are here in Red Deer. I still have some difficulty finding some items, could be possibly due to the fact that I have put myself on a vegan diet that requires high protein but low calories. But I think Red Deerians can benefit from some specialty food stores outside of the few that we seem to have.
Downtown Red Deer used to have a great little store on Ross Street called Artisan Food Market and I do miss it since they closed up shop after a battle with the city to accommodate their delivery problems due to the downtown’s crazy parking issues. To be fair, the city has created some more free parking downtown, but some problems still exist. My Rant today however, is not about city bylaws and such. It is again about foodstuff, and the lack of fairness in acquiring that commodity.
Prices are consistently rising since the beginning of the pandemic and there has been many excuses over the last two years. First, it was the pandemic itself, then it was a lack of workers. After that it was a shortage of truckers, and the blocking of the border. Also some food manufacturers raised their prices so the stores that carried their goods followed suit. It has been and probably will always be blamed on supply and demand too, as well as inflation.
But what really gets my goat is that foodstuffs are necessities, so a person has no choice but to pay exorbitant prices even though their wages remain the same. Furthermore, when you are trying to eat as healthy as is possible on a limited budget the options just aren’t there. There was a rumour a little while back that a T & T market was going to move into the old Co-op building downtown but as yet it is still empty. Sure, there are some specialty stores like Nutters as well as various small health food stores but even they have a lack of fresh items and most have ridiculous prices that are only expedient for a single wealthy person.
Something needs to change, like more variety in quality health foods, and lower prices because demand is at least the same if not more these days. A person can stock up on some items at Costco but have you seen the plethora of junk food there? Who needs several kilograms of chips? Or a case of chocolate bars? Even a family of six would overdose on those!
Even if you choose to eat high calorie, high sugar, sodium or fat foods, (hey, whatever floats your boat) Red Deer, Alberta, and Canada would benefit from having more options. Fair prices, fair pay, and quality food for quality of life is what I believe everyone deserves to live the Canadian dream. I know that Red Deer, Alberta is no exception.
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