Only the Names Have Been Changed

Have you seen this one?

It seems to go hand-in-hand with this one:

Worried about rising grocery prices and fewer retail choices? Maryland’s attorney general wants to hear about it, Lillian Reed, Baltimore Banner

The Kroger Co. announced plans this month to sell 10 Harris Teeter stores located in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., to C&S, another private wholesale grocery supply chain that operates Grand Union grocery stores and the Piggly Wiggly franchise.

Attorney General Anthony G. Brown is concerned about how the results of this action will impact Maryland consumers. Mergers and consolidation often bring higher prices, no matter what the folks at the top say. I can’t think of anyone who’d like to see higher grocery prices as this point, having endured the steady climb at the register in the past several years.

It’s especially worrying if your community is served by only one grocery and you don’t have the resources to hop in a car and find better deals. For many in Columbia/HoCo that’s not the case. We have so many grocery stores that Columbia’s Village Centers have had fierce competition in maintaining their own.

Howard County has three Harris Teeters. One is in Kings Contrivance, one in Maple Lawn, and one in Turf Valley. I don’t shop there because it’s “not on my side of town” and because, when they first opened, their prices seemed on the high side to me. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. On the other hand, there was nothing about it that would make me go out of my way, either.

What I’d like to know is whether Columbia/HoCo can tolerate a store with such a ridiculous name. “Piggly Wiggly”? Seriously? I don’t mean to suggest that we’re all insufferably dignified but, “Piggly Wiggly”? It doesn’t feel like a good fit. I’d be embarrassed to admit I shopped there.

What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.*

Yes, but…I bet there isn’t a “Piggly Wiggly” rose.

As silly as I usually am, I take a dim view of “cute” commercial names for things. I felt the same way about the dreadful children’s menu items in the restaurants of my youth. No one, no matter what their age, wants to be forced to order the Rockem Sockem Roast Beef Sandwich or the Little Jack Horner Pot Pie.

What’s next? Georgy Porgy? Henny Penny?

If the Piggly Wiggly chain had started here and we all knew the Piggly Wiggly family and the origin of the name it might be different. Maybe. As it stands, this would be the invasion of the Piggly Wigglies from out of town.

What do you think - - food prices? Grocery store mergers? Silly names? Let me know.

Village Green/Town² Comments

*William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

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