I love Costco, but fuck knows, you can't get everything you need there. Which means I need a regular grocery store to go to. Now, the closest grocery store to me is Whole Foods, but that's as much of a specialty market as Costco is, only more expensive. The second closest is Byerly's, but seriously, fuck Byerly's. I do not trust carpeted supermarkets. When I started You Are Dumb in 2004, one of the things that inspired me was how much I hated shopping at the nearby Byerly's.

So for the longest time, I've been using the Knollwood Cub. Not the most convenient, but I can hit it on a fairly short looping drive up to Costco, then over and down to Cub, and then straight up 7 back home. But now there's a Rainbow in St. Louis Park. Specifically, as part of "The West End", a truly epic monoculture outpost. Right across the street from the OTHER monoculture outpost that holds my Costco. BOOSH.

Which left only one question. Could I stand to shop there? I swung through it for a couple of things last weekend, and had my doubts. But it was the first weekend it was open, so the aisles were full of sample ladies and douchebags blocking the aisle while they waited for their samples. This would pass. And then, last night, I realized I could put it to the test. I needed frozen chicken patties, and it was rush hour. Could I still shoot up 100, get what I needed, and get back in a reasonable amount of time, without killing anyone?

I can.

It's still a bit upscale as Rainbows go. But that's OK. There's no carpet on the floor and the prices are comparable, so if they have a slightly larger produce selection and a nice fish counter, I can work with that. The layout's a bit odd, with the frozen foods sitting in the front left corner, and there's an inexplicable revolving door exit at one end of the checkouts, but these are minor irritants.

Oh, and there's the parking lot, which is small and oddly shaped as a result of the ridiculous West End development, plus it's away from the road. The Rainbow backs onto Park Place/Xenia, with the front of the store facing east, and the parking lot beyond that, forcing you to drive through the development to park and walk in. I assume they hope to tempt you into catching a movie at the bigass movie theater they're putting in there, or grabbing a meal at the Noodles or what I suspect will be the inevitable next-to-Noodles Chipotle. Good luck with that.

Horrors of modern development aside, this store will cut out a good 20 minutes of driving per grocery trip for me, which is good for me, good for the environment, and good for any frozen foods I might buy at Costco before heading to the regular grocery store. I believe I win.