firesale

The little neighborhood grocery market that seemingly just opened is already going under. Some sort of disagreement/legal trouble with their landlord that stemmed, it appears, from them getting really behind on their rent. Indeed, Ryan's Grocer had a everything-must-go 50% off sale starting today at noon and going through Sunday, though by the looks of it, I'm not sure how much will be left by then. Leah and I got there at about one (just an hour after it began) and the shelves were already looking pretty bare and the line snaked around the store all the way to the door. Our friend Robbie was there with a fully loaded cart--she said she'd been in line about an 30 min and it appeared she wasn't even halfway to the register. We wanted a few things, some mineral water, beer/wine, maybe some other food items, but we weren't really interested in waiting in line for an hour + (though there would have been not shortage of folks to chat with). Indeed, everything was half off, including beer, which is what it seemed most people were interested in--and rightfully so, perhaps, as at those prices the beer would be about or less than wholesale prices. Lots of folks there were actually just sitting down, getting drunk, or drinking in line--like going down with the Titanic or something. It was a bit odd and the air was certainly jovial. In fact, this guy had just accidentally shattered a bottle of Lone Star on the floor as he was arranging his huge load of PBR tallboys. It sucks to see a small, local business go down, especially so quickly after they opened. They had let me come in and take pictures of their meat counter (linked above) and we'd picked up a few things before, however they had an odd selection of items (super obscure gourmet things that you wouldn't need but once in a blue moon) and their prices were a little steep, at least for us to do any kind of regular shopping there for fridge-stocking and such. And their little restaurant was supposed to have a great brunch. Well, good luck to Brittany and all of their employees in the future. By the looks of today's mayhem, they should at least recuperate some of the money they owe.