Scene This Week In…

The first thing I noticed when I pulled in the parking lot at the Long Reach Village Center today was that the parking was full of cars, at one o’clock in the afternoon. Since the Family Market opened earlier this month in the former Safeway store, the village center is showing new signs of life.

I’ve been in the new store twice now. The first time was Valentines Day when I just popped in for a quick look on my way home. I ended up buying Mama Wordbones a rose. The Family Market has a flower shop.

I also ran into Sarah on that first visit. It was her first time too. “It’s awesome,” she declared clutching her bag of mussels. We both acknowledged HowChows review for piquing our curiosity.

What I found interesting is that Sarah doesn't live in Long Reach. She lives in another part of Columbia, at least a couple of miles away. She had to go out of her way to visit the Family Market. This afternoon I noticed that the majority of the people coming in and out of the store were Asian. I suspect that many of these shoppers don’t actually live in Long Reach either. This leads me to conclude that, as long as the store maintains its focus, the Family Market will make it, even in a post Wegmans world.

Peanut likes the store too. She accompanied me on the second visit and spotted Mochi ice cream in a freezer case the end of an aisle. “That tastes like heaven,” she cooed. Of course I bought a box, opting for the chocolate instead of the red bean. Not bad.

As I was leaving I noticed that I needed gas. The pump price for mid grade at the village center gas station was 3.899 a gallon. I know prices have gone up but that still seemed high. I was headed towards Ellicott City so I took a chance that the price would be lower over there.

It was.

At the station in the rock just across the river in Baltco, the same grade of gas was 3.739. I saved another ten cents by using my Giant gas points. That little program and the hand held scanners have returned me to the Giant fold.

Ellicott City was pretty busy today too. The combination of no school and great weather bought the people down to Main Street and the little black and red dresses gently swaying in the breeze.

Ah spring, it won’t be long now…