Don't forget: The 2011 summer farmers' market starts this Thursday, June 9, at 3 p.m. in Tipperary Park.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Flowers are Pretty!
Not much to say today, I just wanted to share a pic of this lovely bouquet from Queen's Park Florist that I got in the silent auction at the Royal City Farmers Market fundraiser on May 26. I took this pic right after I got the bouquet and while some of the blooms have now faded, it still looks pretty enough to keep on my table.
Don't forget: The 2011 summer farmers' market starts this Thursday, June 9, at 3 p.m. in Tipperary Park.
Don't forget: The 2011 summer farmers' market starts this Thursday, June 9, at 3 p.m. in Tipperary Park.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Chair Shopping in New Westminster (or Oops! I Bought a Desk)
Today was big day in local shopping for me. I went out looking for a desk chair and ended up buying a desk. I got it at Modern Home Furnishings on 12th St.
Despite doing this blog and this local shopping experiment, I have a conflicted relationship with buying stuff, particularly big stuff. (Yeah, yeah, husband, I know you don't believe me.) But it's true.
When I was a kid, my aunt and cousin came to visit us one summer and they took a trip to the local mall. When they got back to our house, my aunt said it was so cold in the mall, she had to buy my cousin a towel to wrap around herself to keep warm. I was astonished and even shocked by this because this is something my parents never would have done. They didn't actually use the phrase, "Suck it up," but that was their attitude. In the same situation, they likely would have told me to go outside to get warm. Spending money and buying something was never the answer to a problem.
This upbringing has left me with the mindset that if anything costs more than, let's say, $20, it's too expensive. Of course, I do regularly buy things that cost more than $20, (the desk, for the record, cost more than $20) but there's always a voice in the back of my head telling me I'm spending too much. Thank goodness for this blog, which is helping to snuff out that little voice. Because of this blog, I would feel bad if I didn't buy stuff.
And there are all kinds of reasons to feel good about this purchase.
It's going to look something like this, but in a dark stain and with different handles:
Despite doing this blog and this local shopping experiment, I have a conflicted relationship with buying stuff, particularly big stuff. (Yeah, yeah, husband, I know you don't believe me.) But it's true.
When I was a kid, my aunt and cousin came to visit us one summer and they took a trip to the local mall. When they got back to our house, my aunt said it was so cold in the mall, she had to buy my cousin a towel to wrap around herself to keep warm. I was astonished and even shocked by this because this is something my parents never would have done. They didn't actually use the phrase, "Suck it up," but that was their attitude. In the same situation, they likely would have told me to go outside to get warm. Spending money and buying something was never the answer to a problem.
This upbringing has left me with the mindset that if anything costs more than, let's say, $20, it's too expensive. Of course, I do regularly buy things that cost more than $20, (the desk, for the record, cost more than $20) but there's always a voice in the back of my head telling me I'm spending too much. Thank goodness for this blog, which is helping to snuff out that little voice. Because of this blog, I would feel bad if I didn't buy stuff.
And there are all kinds of reasons to feel good about this purchase.
- Yay, new desk! I've written before about my desk chair, the one that I bought second-hand for $25 over 10 years ago. I didn't mention that my current "desk" is a plastic folding table. I used to use a small table my grandfather made as a desk, but it's now our hall table.
- B.C.-based and made in B.C. Modern Home Furnishing is a local chain. Most of their products, including my desk, are made at their factory in Surrey.
- Made of B.C. wood My desk is going to be made of alder wood and, from what I understand, alder wood grown here in B.C.
Monday, April 18, 2011
What's in a name? New Westminster's retail mix
While driving home a few days ago I saw some workers pounding in a few new signs at the corner of the outlet mall in Queensborough. "Coming soon! The Gap!! and Banana Republic!!!"
My first reaction was to get excited because, like all North Americans, I've been trained to salivate at the sight of shiny brand names. My second was to think, "Hmm, maybe if I start dieting now, I can actually fit into some Gap and Banana Republic clothes by the time the stores open." (Hey, I'm sharing my thoughts here. Some of them are stupid.)
It got me thinking about the ideal retail mix for New Westminster. North Americans are trained to salivate at the sight of brand names. But when New Westminster gets big chain stores, they are choosing to locate mainly in the island of outlet stores anchored by Wal-mart in Queensborough. There's nothing really cool, nothing really local or independent. New West's other shopping areas are mostly absent of many big name chains.
The question is, would a few "big" names in other parts of New West help out the existing locally owned, independent stores? There's some evidence this works, at least for coffee. It's called the Starbucks Effect. Essentially, Starbucks revived interest in coffee and gave the public a taste for expensive, premium coffee, which was good not just for Starbucks, but for anyone selling coffee.
A store called Red Brick just opened on 6th St. at Carnarvon. It features a funky mix of modern home furnishings and eclectic accessories, such as salad servers with twig handles and oversized vintage (or vintage-look) clocks. I have to confess though, when I walked in to check out the store, I felt a pang of fear. It's exactly the kind of store New West needs; it's exactly the kind of store that has trouble staying alive in New West. Would it be more successful if there was a chain store nearby? An Urban Barn perhaps?
But I wouldn't want New West to ever have a retail landscape like Robson Street's, despite its popularity. I'm old enough to remember all the character Robson St. used to have when it was still called Robsonstrasse and young enough to remember scoring drinks while underage in several places along it. Robson Street's location and all the foot traffic that location brings meant rents skyrocketed, until only the biggest companies with the deepest pockets could afford stores on Robson. It now has all the character of a suburban mall. A glossy, upscale mall, but a mall nonetheless.
New Westminster has, in Columbia Street, the kind of downtown main street urban planners go crazy for. We have what other cities are willing to pay money to try to recreate. Just take a look at this story about Surrey and Mayor Diane Watts talking about the importance of town centres.
New Westminster is lucky, we don't have to build Fakey Town like they did at Park Royal Mall. I hope for a funky future for New West's shopping areas, less like Robson St. and more like Commercial Drive, which last time I checked has very few big chain stores, (unless you consider Ten Thousand Villages a big chain).
Screw the brand names. Let New Westminster and its retailers make a name for themselves.
My first reaction was to get excited because, like all North Americans, I've been trained to salivate at the sight of shiny brand names. My second was to think, "Hmm, maybe if I start dieting now, I can actually fit into some Gap and Banana Republic clothes by the time the stores open." (Hey, I'm sharing my thoughts here. Some of them are stupid.)
It got me thinking about the ideal retail mix for New Westminster. North Americans are trained to salivate at the sight of brand names. But when New Westminster gets big chain stores, they are choosing to locate mainly in the island of outlet stores anchored by Wal-mart in Queensborough. There's nothing really cool, nothing really local or independent. New West's other shopping areas are mostly absent of many big name chains.
The question is, would a few "big" names in other parts of New West help out the existing locally owned, independent stores? There's some evidence this works, at least for coffee. It's called the Starbucks Effect. Essentially, Starbucks revived interest in coffee and gave the public a taste for expensive, premium coffee, which was good not just for Starbucks, but for anyone selling coffee.
A store called Red Brick just opened on 6th St. at Carnarvon. It features a funky mix of modern home furnishings and eclectic accessories, such as salad servers with twig handles and oversized vintage (or vintage-look) clocks. I have to confess though, when I walked in to check out the store, I felt a pang of fear. It's exactly the kind of store New West needs; it's exactly the kind of store that has trouble staying alive in New West. Would it be more successful if there was a chain store nearby? An Urban Barn perhaps?
But I wouldn't want New West to ever have a retail landscape like Robson Street's, despite its popularity. I'm old enough to remember all the character Robson St. used to have when it was still called Robsonstrasse and young enough to remember scoring drinks while underage in several places along it. Robson Street's location and all the foot traffic that location brings meant rents skyrocketed, until only the biggest companies with the deepest pockets could afford stores on Robson. It now has all the character of a suburban mall. A glossy, upscale mall, but a mall nonetheless.
New Westminster has, in Columbia Street, the kind of downtown main street urban planners go crazy for. We have what other cities are willing to pay money to try to recreate. Just take a look at this story about Surrey and Mayor Diane Watts talking about the importance of town centres.
New Westminster is lucky, we don't have to build Fakey Town like they did at Park Royal Mall. I hope for a funky future for New West's shopping areas, less like Robson St. and more like Commercial Drive, which last time I checked has very few big chain stores, (unless you consider Ten Thousand Villages a big chain).
Screw the brand names. Let New Westminster and its retailers make a name for themselves.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Special Spend Report: Shop Small, Save Big
During the month of February I didn't shop at any major chain grocery stores. I did all my shopping at smaller grocery stores. I assumed prices would be crazy expensive and that my monthly grocery bill would skyrocket. I was wrong.
I shopped at:
I did most of my grocery shopping at Donald's Market. I found that on produce and regular priced items, Donald's was very competitive with Safeway, which is where I usually do my big grocery shops.
For example:
It is hard though to beat the big stores' sale prices: Safeway sells Eggo waffles on sale for $2. I bought a big box of Froot Loops at Donald's for $6.49; the same box at Safeway is regular priced at $7.11, but on sale, it's just $4.99.
It was tough to find a deal on milk. I'm used to paying about $4.50 for 4 litres. It was a lot more expensive at Uptown Market—$5.99 for 4 litres—and a bit more expensive at Donald's—$4.99 for 4 litres. And the wonderful glass bottles of Avalon Dairy milk are way more expensive, I think about $2.99 for 2 litres.
But sometimes it's worth it to pay for the quality. That's what I found at Queen's Park Butcher, where I got a pound of ground beef that cost about $1 more per pound than at Safeway. But there was such a noticeable difference in quality, I know I'll go back. When I cooked up the ground beef and went to drain off the grease, there was nothing to drain off. Not that it was entirely fat-free, but there was not enough to drain.
Was there any cheating? You bet. My husband made a couple of morning runs to the nearby Price Smart for milk. I felt a wee bit bad about this, but while Price Smart is part of a big chain, it's a B.C. chain. Plus the store near our house is always being threatened with closure so I always feel good when I shop there because if it closes pretty much the only place to buy milk near our house will be Wal-mart.
According to one blogger, after she started meal planning, her grocery bill was cut in half. Mine didn't go that low, but I did spend less, and I did use up way more of what I had in my pantry, fridge and freezer.
I have to admit that after February I pretty much reverted back to my old grocery shopping habits and I've abandoned meal planning. That's something I want to start doing again.
I'm also hoping to make my way back to the smaller stores on a more regular basis especially now that I know I can get:
So, where did I buy my groceries?
I shopped at:
- Donald's Market
- Uptown Market
- Queen's Park Butcher
- M&M
- Kin's Farm Market
- Bella Bakery
- Holland Shopping Centre
I did most of my grocery shopping at Donald's Market. I found that on produce and regular priced items, Donald's was very competitive with Safeway, which is where I usually do my big grocery shops.
For example:
- Philadelphia soft cream cheese: $4.49 at both Safeway and Donald's.
- Bananas were .79 cents/lb. at both Safeway and Donald's.
It is hard though to beat the big stores' sale prices: Safeway sells Eggo waffles on sale for $2. I bought a big box of Froot Loops at Donald's for $6.49; the same box at Safeway is regular priced at $7.11, but on sale, it's just $4.99.
It was tough to find a deal on milk. I'm used to paying about $4.50 for 4 litres. It was a lot more expensive at Uptown Market—$5.99 for 4 litres—and a bit more expensive at Donald's—$4.99 for 4 litres. And the wonderful glass bottles of Avalon Dairy milk are way more expensive, I think about $2.99 for 2 litres.
But sometimes it's worth it to pay for the quality. That's what I found at Queen's Park Butcher, where I got a pound of ground beef that cost about $1 more per pound than at Safeway. But there was such a noticeable difference in quality, I know I'll go back. When I cooked up the ground beef and went to drain off the grease, there was nothing to drain off. Not that it was entirely fat-free, but there was not enough to drain.
Was there any cheating? You bet. My husband made a couple of morning runs to the nearby Price Smart for milk. I felt a wee bit bad about this, but while Price Smart is part of a big chain, it's a B.C. chain. Plus the store near our house is always being threatened with closure so I always feel good when I shop there because if it closes pretty much the only place to buy milk near our house will be Wal-mart.
Other than avoiding big chains, I did make one other big switch to my shopping habits in February: I meal planned. Every Sunday, I figured out what we already had in the fridge, freezer, and pantry and I planned my meals around that. Instead of buying things I thought we might need, I was buying only the specific items I knew we would.
According to one blogger, after she started meal planning, her grocery bill was cut in half. Mine didn't go that low, but I did spend less, and I did use up way more of what I had in my pantry, fridge and freezer.
In total, I spent about $380 on groceries in the month of February. In January, I spent just over $450.
I have to admit that after February I pretty much reverted back to my old grocery shopping habits and I've abandoned meal planning. That's something I want to start doing again.
I'm also hoping to make my way back to the smaller stores on a more regular basis especially now that I know I can get:
- reasonably priced ground turkey at Uptown Market;
- great meat at Queen's Park Butcher; and
- a made-in-Vancouver laundry detergent at Donald's Market that is formulated for this area's soft water and is priced comparably to big name detergent brands.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Local shopping missionary or losing my religion?
I've had a couple of reminders that I haven't exactly been devoted to updating this blog recently.
The first kick in the pants came from a recent column in the New West News Leader about the importance of shopping locally.
"Ideally, we’d all be doing more of what Sheila Keenan’s doing this year," wrote editor Chris Bryan. "She’s a missionary type, going at it with a zeal few could sustain for the long term."
So full of zeal that I hadn't posted on this blog, which he included a link to, for over a month. D'oh!
What really got me though was an e-mail today from a reader in Texas, asking if I was still shopping locally since she had noticed the blog hadn't been updated lately. I didn't know I had a reader in Texas, let alone one I was disappointing with the infrequency of my posts.
The truth is I've been feeling kinda blah about this whole local shopping endeavour. In February, I did a month of grocery shopping only at small grocery stores and no big chains. That got me fired up about local shopping, though not, you'll notice, fired up enough to actually blog about it yet. (The short story: it's not as expensive as one might think. For produce and regular-priced items, a store like Donald's is fairly competitive with the big stores.)
I didn't have any special focus to my local shopping in March and that's when the doldrums really hit. I bought my office chair used for $25 over 10 years ago. It now makes my butt sore every time I sit in it. I don't just write for fun, I do it for a living, so my butt's in the chair quite a bit. I really want a new one and I want a good one. I know I could drive about five minutes away from my house to the Staples in nearby Burnaby and pick one up pretty quickly. I'm not sure where I'm going to find one in New West and the thought of making a big hunt of it is just kind of tiresome. (Wal-mart has them, but they're $90 and I'd really rather not buy one there.)
So much for my missionary zeal. Here I am ready to abandon the whole thing due to one slightly sore butt.
Remember how saintly and devout everyone thought Mother Teresa was? Then after she died and some of her letters were published, it turned out she had struggled mightily with her faith for decades, to the point of doubting the existence of heaven and even of God at times. Not that my boredom with shopping in New West compares in scale with a saint's crisis of faith, but I have been wondering if doing this is worth it. If it really makes any difference at all.
Then, it turns out I have a reader in Texas who cares whether or not I'm still shopping locally.
And a friend tells me she tried a restaurant because I wrote about it.
And I see this neat video about what the development around the New Westminster Skytrain Station is going to look like:
Or I read about all the super-cool stuff coming to the River Market that I can't wait to see.
And then I think, sore butt or not, it is worth it to keep the local shopping faith.
The first kick in the pants came from a recent column in the New West News Leader about the importance of shopping locally.
"Ideally, we’d all be doing more of what Sheila Keenan’s doing this year," wrote editor Chris Bryan. "She’s a missionary type, going at it with a zeal few could sustain for the long term."
So full of zeal that I hadn't posted on this blog, which he included a link to, for over a month. D'oh!
What really got me though was an e-mail today from a reader in Texas, asking if I was still shopping locally since she had noticed the blog hadn't been updated lately. I didn't know I had a reader in Texas, let alone one I was disappointing with the infrequency of my posts.
The truth is I've been feeling kinda blah about this whole local shopping endeavour. In February, I did a month of grocery shopping only at small grocery stores and no big chains. That got me fired up about local shopping, though not, you'll notice, fired up enough to actually blog about it yet. (The short story: it's not as expensive as one might think. For produce and regular-priced items, a store like Donald's is fairly competitive with the big stores.)
I didn't have any special focus to my local shopping in March and that's when the doldrums really hit. I bought my office chair used for $25 over 10 years ago. It now makes my butt sore every time I sit in it. I don't just write for fun, I do it for a living, so my butt's in the chair quite a bit. I really want a new one and I want a good one. I know I could drive about five minutes away from my house to the Staples in nearby Burnaby and pick one up pretty quickly. I'm not sure where I'm going to find one in New West and the thought of making a big hunt of it is just kind of tiresome. (Wal-mart has them, but they're $90 and I'd really rather not buy one there.)
So much for my missionary zeal. Here I am ready to abandon the whole thing due to one slightly sore butt.
Remember how saintly and devout everyone thought Mother Teresa was? Then after she died and some of her letters were published, it turned out she had struggled mightily with her faith for decades, to the point of doubting the existence of heaven and even of God at times. Not that my boredom with shopping in New West compares in scale with a saint's crisis of faith, but I have been wondering if doing this is worth it. If it really makes any difference at all.
Then, it turns out I have a reader in Texas who cares whether or not I'm still shopping locally.
And a friend tells me she tried a restaurant because I wrote about it.
And I see this neat video about what the development around the New Westminster Skytrain Station is going to look like:
Or I read about all the super-cool stuff coming to the River Market that I can't wait to see.
And then I think, sore butt or not, it is worth it to keep the local shopping faith.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Small Shift No Chicken Scratch for B.C.'s Economy
This post is an excuse to share this clip from the show Portlandia. (A great show with lots of evidence that Vancouver is quite a bit like Portland.) Since I feel the need to have a point when I write, I came up with one that fits in pretty well with the clip.
Watch it first, then I'll make my point:
Create 1,600 jobs.
Create $137 Million in new economic activity for the area.
Create over $53 Million in new wages.
Watch it first, then I'll make my point:
As you can see, this is taking the whole idea of going local to ridiculous (and hilarious) extremes.
There's a new "shop local" campaign that recommends a far different course. Instead of going to extremes, it recommends making a small change, a small change that could make a big difference to B.C.'s economy.
The Ten Percent Shift is a campaign aimed at encouraging B.C. residents to shift just 10 percent of their household spending to locally produced goods and services and locally owned businesses.
Think 10 percent wouldn't accomplish much? Think again.
The B.C. campaign ties in with many other "Shift 10" campaigns in the United States. A study recently completed in Michigan found that if the 600,000 residents in the area studied shifted 10 per cent of their spending the results would be dramatic.
In just one year the shift would:
The point is, you don't have to know your chicken's name to make a big difference to B.C.'s economy.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Spend report-a-palooza: Spend Reports #16 to #21
I've gotten incredibly far behind on my posting, specifically my spend reports. I got derailed after Christmas. Going through two months of receipts is not fun, but I've done it. December and January were the months of both shopping at Wal-mart and at a whole bunch of fast food joints. I must have never said no to my son when he wanted to go to Tim Horton's or McDonald's. I have to work on my resistance to letting him get his way. Him saying, "Wow, you're letting me get away with so much stuff," one day really drove that point home. And let's face it, I don't think I ever said no to myself either when I felt like eating out.
I've decided to do one condensed spend report for Dec./Jan. and then catch up on February later.
In February, I'm not shopping at any big chain grocery stores, so I will put together a post on how that's going. Sneak peek: I have paid $5.99 (!!!) for 4 litres of milk and .99 cents/100 g for Black Forest ham (also !!!, but in a good way).
My last spend report was from way back in December, so this one covers from Dec. 17 to Jan. 27.
From Dec. 17 to Jan. 27, I spent approximately $3,000 in New Westminster. (Wow, that's a big number. Bear in mind two things: this includes Christmas shopping and covers six weeks.) I bought:
I also took a trip up to Dawson Creek for my uncle's funeral and a trip to Kamloops for a fundraiser at my high school. On trips, I'm buying only essentials: food, gas, lodging and not doing any other shopping.
I've decided to do one condensed spend report for Dec./Jan. and then catch up on February later.
In February, I'm not shopping at any big chain grocery stores, so I will put together a post on how that's going. Sneak peek: I have paid $5.99 (!!!) for 4 litres of milk and .99 cents/100 g for Black Forest ham (also !!!, but in a good way).
My last spend report was from way back in December, so this one covers from Dec. 17 to Jan. 27.
From Dec. 17 to Jan. 27, I spent approximately $3,000 in New Westminster. (Wow, that's a big number. Bear in mind two things: this includes Christmas shopping and covers six weeks.) I bought:
- Groceries at Safeway, IGA, Donald's Market, PriceSmart, Save-on, M&M, and Kin's
- Baking supplies, mostly nuts, at Galloway's. Their nuts are so reasonable compared to grocery stores.
- Food/drink at Hi Dozo Sushi, Indian Star, Taco Del Mar, Boston Pizza, Starbucks, Opa Souvlaki, Tim Horton's, Schanks Sports Grill, Great Wall Tea, Graze, Dairy Queen, McDonald's, and Queensboro Pizza
- Christmas presents at: Fraser River Discovery Centre gift shop, Black Bond Books, Home Outfitters, Purdy's, Wal-mart, Pedagogy Toys, Chatters, London Drugs, Moores, and Shoppers Drug Mart
- Clothes at Laura
- Winter boots at SoftMoc
- Toner at BestBuy
I also took a trip up to Dawson Creek for my uncle's funeral and a trip to Kamloops for a fundraiser at my high school. On trips, I'm buying only essentials: food, gas, lodging and not doing any other shopping.
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