The organization of this store makes absolutely no sense to me. Going clockwise around this side of the first floor, you have a small section of fancy soaps, then dairy, the bread part of the bakery, produce, and a random section of frozen pre-made meals and cold drinks. And, of course, there's even more easter stuff in the middle. I know my sense of store layouts is warped by Safeway's standard northwest layout that everyone seems to think is weird, and I know that this store is retrofitted into a very unconventional space, but still, this just seems weird.
Note that even Eataly's store-brand chocolate eggs were selling for €15, and you can only get that price if you're signed up for the Eataly Club and also buy an Eataly-brand colomba. I don't remember Eataly being this overpriced when I visited it a decade ago, but it's possible that I was mentally comparing their prices to grocery prices in Washington -- Italy's cost of living is way lower than Seattle's, and even Port Angeles grocery prices make typical Italian supermarkets look unbelievably cheap.
Huh, I don't remember Italian grocery prices being particularly cheap when I was last there, but I wasn't really buying perishables of any kind so it is hard to remember for sure. Maybe we're just used to lower prices here. At the time I was there, both visits, the Euro was still new and I think the exchange rate was not as even as it is now so maybe it was just harder to do an even comparison. I also don't know what their tax laws are like on groceries, though if there is tax, it is probably in VAT form so, again, it is hard to make comparisons especially when remembering so far back.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember if Italian grocery prices were always as cheap as they were now -- it's possible they just haven't gone through the roof over the past few years the way prices around here have. You're right about exchange rates and I hadn't thought about that -- the Euro used to be around $1.25-1.50, but now it's much closer, under $1.10. As for taxes, Italy (like most countries) includes VAT in the listed prices, making the price difference even larger than it looks at first glance, at least for someone like me who's used to very high sales taxes (except on groceries).
Delete