The grimy grocery stores of Commercial Drive

We've been living on Commercial Drive for more than 12 years, and almost every day — and often more than once a day — I've ventured out, accompanied by Nerdy, to buy some groceries from the local stores. When we first came here I was taken aback by just how grimy these stores were: I don't think they have got any cleaner, but I have probably grown accustomed to the grime.

So this is a quick tour of notable grocery stores along a short stretch of Commercial Drive.

Let's start with Santa B, which I would classify as averagely grimy. It has a good range of produce though and most of it is in reasonable condition. In the summer it has huge boxes of peaches outside, which gets exciting later in the year as they become a haven for thousands of wasps. It also has a pretty good deli counter although you will die of old age waiting in line while the person in front of you samples every piece of sausage in the world.

The people who ran it were lovely, and when they sold the place last year there was a flash mob style community goodbye party outside, with actual dancing, singing, tears, and laughter. But the new people are lovely too, and the place doesn't seem particularly different.

Next up is Aaron A Aardvark's, AKA the Triple A Market. This is a substantially grimier store, and in fact I would recommend you not look too closely when shopping, except at the actual produce you buy, which you should forensically examine. But I go here a lot, because they have some great stuff. Especially, for some reason they always have the best kale, and in the fall people bring sacks of pine mushrooms and chanterelles that they picked in the local woods:

It's a much more ramshackle operation than Santa B, and as far as I can tell only 4 people run the whole show, including Joe, who apparently played for the Serie A club Sampdoria in his youth. There was also this episode a few years ago in which my neighbour's son left his Thomas the Tank Engine in there, and someone took it. Joe felt personally responsible for this and I became this kind of reluctant go-between, with Joe giving me lengthy updates every time I came in about his latest efforts to retrieve the thing. I had to stop shopping there for a while.

But, the people here are lovely too. One Christmas I left a bag of fancy booze behind here, only remembering when I was almost home. Of course, it was gone by the time I got back there but the owner insisted on walking with me about 10 blocks up the street looking for the thief, although clearly he and his longboard were long gone.

Finally we'll look at Super-V, which changed hands recently and was rebranded to Freshmart, but is otherwise identical. This is a much smoother and more corporate operation, definitely less grimy than the other two. Despite this, to me it always has a bit of an edge, a feeling of barely suppressed rage and violence bubbling beneath the surface. The great thing about Super-V, apart from its inexplicably good bread section, is that it's open 24 hours a day, every day. It's practically a Christmas tradition for me to come here to buy something I forgot to get before.