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October 3rd, 2007

24-Hour Supermarkets

We have two (maybe three) 24-hour supermarkets within a 10 minute drive from our house. I find a weird sort of comfort in knowing that if I need a 3am run for Ho-Hos, Ding-Dongs, or some other snack item with sexual connotations, that I’ll have options. I think the latest I’ve ever been in a grocery store, though, has been about midnight. Even at that relatively early hour, there were only one or two other shoppers. What I liked even more than that, though, was that the store employees were laughing and having fun rather than looking like they were dreading the six lonely hours ahead of them.

What are your thoughts on 24-hour grocery stores?

Posted in Everyday Life, Food and Beverage

jk October 3, 2007, 3:01 pm

I am usually at Giant at 10 or 11pm and recognize the team that runs the store at that time. Mostly men. I don’t need to shop at 3am, but I do like how empty the store is when I go. I can fly down the aisles and I’m usually the only person at U-Scan.

Dave Walls October 4, 2007, 10:59 am

Back in VA, I worked plenty of second and third shifts on my last job. Sometimes, I wouldn’t get out till 2a or 3a. It was always comforting to know I could food shop in silence (!!) at the local Kroger or other supermarket, take my time, decide on my groceries, and pull up to the register whenever I want with no waiting.

I actually kinda miss food shopping in the middle of the night…just about every time I go to the crowded supermarket now.

COD October 5, 2007, 1:02 pm

What I really like are 24 hour WalMarts. It’s comforting to know that if I need a shotgun at 3 AM I’ll be able to get one.

24 hour grocery stores make a lot of sense next to busy interstates or in major urban areas. I wonder if they really get enough overnight business in an outlying suburb to justify the cost of being open.

Clay Dreslough November 30, 2010, 7:18 am

I love 24-hour stores. I have a sleep disorder, so I am often awake in the middle of the night, hoping to get errands done. Alas, I live more than an hour from the closest 24-hour grocery store.

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