Snow day!

Today's post will be another interruption from the norm. Over the last few days, we've gotten around 4-6 inches of snow in Seattle, which is quite a bit for this region! Since it's so out of the ordinary, I decided to get some pictures showing how my local stores fared.

My first stop was the Ballard Fred Meyer. Despite what this picture shows, they had actually done a pretty good job of plowing their lot and clearing at least the sidewalks right by the entrance. However, one big downside of the store's location several blocks off major roads showed up today, as Seattle doesn't generally treat or plow non-arterials.

Stepping inside, it's immediately apparent that this store wasn't spared from binge-shopping. However, the produce department was much more picked over than most of the store (oh, Seattle).

Looks like the milk truck was able to make it in today, since their milk case was almost completely stocked.

However, the rest of the dairy department didn't fare so well. It's kind of interesting to see the products people aren't willing to buy even in this sort of situation...

The meat department was pretty much wiped out as well, with the service counter completely shut down. With no one back here, I was finally able to get a good picture of the seafood wall sign -- and just in time too, as this store appears to be getting a renovation in the near future!

Just a couple more pictures of the empty produce department. The rest of the store seemed fully stocked -- kinda funny how people were mainly stocking up on perishables in this sort of scenario! 🙂

Starbucks closed? Whatever will Seattle do?! The inside ex-Tully's seems to be permanently closed now, probably in advance of the remodel, meaning people would have to go three whole blocks to the nearest alternate coffee shop!

A couple more views walking away from the store. The whole roof was covered in a few inches of snow, and the outer parking lots weren't plowed very well (though the big snow-covered area is deceptive, as it's just a section of lawn, not part of the parking lot).

Just a block away from the Fred Meyer is a brand-new New Seasons Market, a Portland-based chain of high-end grocery stores. Throwing shade at Fred Meyer, they put up this little sign facing people leaving that store claiming that they still had produce. Of course, that's probably because most people can't afford their produce... Notably, this little bit of Ballard's industrial district has a bizarrely dense concentration of grocery stores, with the Fred Meyer, New Seasons, Trader Joe's, Cash and Carry/Smart Foodservice, and a future PCC all within three blocks of one another (though nothing seems to put a dent in the Fred Meyer's crowds).

Jumping up to the Safeway, we find a similar scene. There's a little bit more snow up here, further away from the water, but still not all that much.

Safeway, however, hadn't plowed their lot very well if at all. They had sanded/salted it, but not actually cleared it for some reason.

The gas station area was a sheet of ice! Not a good look, Safeway...

Looks like the closers last night abandoned a bunch of carts in the parking lot, which were encased in snow.

This Safeway, along with many others in the area, got a bunch of "new" carts a few months ago, which were actually old Lifestyle v1 and v2 era carts, some even with the old logo still. Some of them appear to have been pulled from a local store that closed, as they had the cart escalator attachment, but I have no idea where the rest of them are from -- maybe Safeway just kept them in storage after they were replaced with Albertsons-style black metal ones. This store now has a huge mixture of random different carts, with some of the new metal Albertsons ones alongside at least three different varieties of beige plastic ones. I imagine this was done since Safeway was sick of giving this store brand new ones to replace all the ones that get stolen around here...

Just like at Fred Meyer, the produce department here was quite empty.

Also of note, some new decor has shown up throughout produce, changing out the Lifestyle v3 green accents for Brown Decor black ones. I keep hoping for a full Brown Decor remodel, but Safeway still doesn't seem interested in updating these Lifestyle v1 stores, despite the decor having been retired nearly 15 years ago now...

The meat service counter was shut down here too, though at least the self-service portions were reasonably stocked, unlike Fred Meyer.

The bread selection was incredibly picked over here. The bakery, however, was the only service department still in normal operation.

Safeway's milk truck apparently didn't show up today, as their milk case was pretty empty as well. The milk case has received new Brown Decor-themed accents as well.

The deli was completely shut down and unstaffed. The whole store seemed understaffed today -- probably at least in part a consequence of Seattle's housing crisis, which has made it so that retail workers can't afford to live anywhere close to where they work.

One last look back back at the store from my bus stop. One very nice thing about living in the city is not having to drive in these circumstances -- the buses are still partially running, and I can walk to fill in the gaps without too much trouble.

Sorry for yet another interruption to the norm; hope this was interesting to people other than just me! Tomorrow, I should be back to normal, unless something else interesting happens! 🙂