The Fresh Market in Columbus, Georgia

After doing quite a bit of shopping in cramped, sometimes dingy Asian grocery stores, or in wet markets, it was a treat to shop in The Fresh Market.  Granted, it’s more of an upscale grocery store, but that will just help to highlight the difference between what you usually see in Singapore and the Philippines, and what’s available in the US.

The first thing I saw when walking into the grocery store were these humongous apples:

The interior of the store is well decorated and there’s a pleasant aroma of cinnamon and other spices.

The fruits and vegetables in The Fresh Market are really awesome looking:

Notice how red the tomatoes are.  When I went to Asia I couldn’t figure out why the tomatoes there always had more of a yellowish green look to them, instead of the read I was used to.  I later found out that tomatoes in the US are artificially ripened using methane gas.  Even knowing that, there’s something comforting about seeing bright red, luscious tomatoes.  The ones in Asia always looked like they hadn’t been left on the vine long enough to finish growing.

Fresh baked pies:

They all looked delicious, and I really love pumpkin pies and pecan pies, but we picked up one that I hadn’t heard of before: praline peach pie.  It’s delicious!

The cuts of meat on display looked incredible:

Ya, with all this good food, I’m gonna start looking like a pig if I’m not careful.

A whole wall of spices:

Mixed nuts:

The Fresh Market is clean, smells nice, everything is in order and it’s quiet inside.  Most importantly, it has plenty of space.  In Asian markets and grocery stores, as in most other areas, you’re constantly jostling around and past people to get to what you need.  Shopping there is an ordeal that has to be endured, but in grocery stores in the US there’s enough space to take your time to find what you want, to enjoy the experience, and you enjoy looking around.  Also, though this doesn’t usually apply to grocery stores, there aren’t jackasses hovering over your shoulder constantly trying to push you to buy something.  I hate that!

This level of spaciousness is something that’s more available in Georgia than New York City, because there are far more people in the city, obviously.  Even there, though, stores often have more space to accommodate people.

Visiting The Fresh Market was a fun experience.