Taking thrills where you can get them

I'm taking in an extra loop of the neighbourhood, to get in a bit of exercise before going to get Demeter's dinner.  A neighbour from down the hall in our building, spots me and scurries across the road to approach me.

"Are you on your way to Roots Cellar?" she inquires eagerly.

Roots Cellar is a local grocer specializing in local produce and "nutritious food and healthy lifestyle choices". It is, as you can imagine, rather upscale and very middle-class, despite its claims for being "dirt cheap".  The business is expanding, and has just opened its second store in Victoria, after a long wait of nearly a year.  The selling point, in addition to what has already been mentioned, is in supporting local businesses and producers, which is not to be sniffed at.

It's been a long year without a local grocery.  The small and even more specialized organic food store appeals to a very narrow (and comfortably off) vegetarian/vegan/gluten-free clientele.  

When we lived in Fairfield in the nineties, there were two supermarkets in Cook Street Village, both doing steady business for years.  The Country Grocer closed down in the aughts, replaced by (of course) expensive condos.  Oxford Foods (named because it was on the corner of Oxford Street) soldiered on in its grungy glory, featuring the kind of items prized by pensioners, of whom there are a lot in our neighbourhood: packaged foods, canned foods, cleaning products... Their produce was serviceable, but not all that fresh, and mostly imported. The owners decided to retire and sell to the younger couple who runs the original Roots Cellar.

As it happened, I told my eager neighbour, I had popped into Roots Cellar early that morning, securing a Bosc pear for Demeter (one of her favourites) and having a quick look around at dazzling stacks of every kind of fruit and vegetable imaginable, up to and including jackfruit and pineapples.

If you're in the market for dairy products (see what I did there?), you're in luck: wide varieties of yoghurts, milks, sour cream, and whipping cream in many forms, to say nothing of a huge selection of cheeses.  There's a meat counter and a deli counter, and many options for meat substitutes.  A small display of ice creams, a modest bakery and baking section.  No boxed cake blends (small bags, though, of more local mixes).  Absolutely no paper products, or cleaning aids. If you want cereal, you go to the bulk bins for rolled oats or granola. Very West Coast.

So, no one-stop shopping, but an easily accessible place for staples such as eggs, milk, or fruit.  It's been more than nine months since Demeter's fall, and my being able to quickly replace supplies will be a welcome change from making do with what I can find in convenience stores.

Our condo building was positively buzzing with giddiness.  Over a grocery store. 

The Resident Fan Boy, trying to transport a heavy basket to the laundry rooms upstairs, encountered neighbour after neighbour, unseen for months, using the elevator to get to the sidewalks and join the pilgrimage.  

Is this touching or pathetic?