Rules of the Road: Volume 4 - Grocery Shopping

This is just a model store.  Cool though!

      I looked through my past posts, and I realized that its been a while since I put up some "Rules," so here it goes!
     While its nice to go to the many and varied farmer's markets available in many places around Germany, eventually you will in fact have to go to a real grocery store, and you will find that there are a few differences that you should be aware of.  And jump!

A stand alone store; slightly less common in cities.

     One of the first things that you may pick up on is that there is a relatively larger amount of stores which can be found within other buildings, different from the United States, where they typically dominate the building that they are found in (or are stand-alone buildings).  They also tend to be significantly smaller than what we might expect as Americans, which comes in part due to size restrictions on the spaces they occupy and in part due to the large number of available stores (in the U.S., larger stores can move stock more quickly due to less competition).

This place has a parking lot!

     When you find a store that you want to go to, you will notice that like any grocery store that you know, they have a few rows of grocery carts lined up.  Unlike the loose cart system that allows people to leave their carts pretty much anywhere they want back in the United States, German grocery stores used a chain system which requires a Euro or two coin to release the cart, which is returned when you put the cart back (there is a slot on the handlebar; this picture isn't close enough to demonstrate it properly).

Look Ma, we're warm!

     Upon entering the store (most places have a gate to stop you from leaving through the exit.  Its actually a very smart system!), you should encounter a layout which looks pretty familiar to you, albeit condensed.  Put simply, if there is a complete aisle dedicated to something in the United States, it may have a section of one here.  Except for cheese, butter and yogurt.  Also, very few things are actually refrigerated, except for frozen foods, meats, and processed dairy (milk excluded).  Be sure to double check your produce!

Here's to hoping they have plastic ones!

     When you are ready to check out, you will likely notice that there are plastic, cloth, and/or insulated bags under the belt for the register.  Unlike in the U.S., where reusable bags are only just starting to creep into use, here in Germany, they are (and have been) the norm for a while.  Plastic ones can cost 15 cents (that's in USD to save you the trouble!), with cloth or insulated ones being higher.  The good news is that the plastic bags are thick enough to be reused, so its a good idea to throw one in the bottom of your backpack if you are a student.

This was just too funny not to use.

     When it comes time for you to pay for all of the various things that you have gathered, make sure that you bag your items as they are scanned (if you have more than just a handful of things), and pay promptly, as there will likely be a line.  If you have exact change, feel free to use it, but once the cashier puts the amount you have paid into the register, just accept the change you will get, if you realized that you have exact change late.  Also, if you need to pay by card, grocery stores here will usually only accept debit cards (from your German bank; don't try one from the U.S., as it won't work).
     And that's all folks!  You will find that many Germans shop for groceries daily, or pretty close to it, and for the most part it makes sense here (particularly considering how small German refrigerators are!).  As I mentioned above, be careful with fresh produce, as here in Germany, it isn't necessarily guaranteed to look as nice and pretty as it tends to in the United States.  Good luck shopping!

Places to Go:

Inexpensive options:

• Aldi, Lidl, or Penny are inexpensive options, with locations all over Leipzig and Germany in general.

More expensive options:

• Rewe, Konsum, or Hit are places which cost a little more.  As a student, go here only for the small things that you can't find at one of the places listed above.

For your Amusement:

Snow in the park!  Okay, its just sneeze inducing pollen.

Proverb of the Day:

I saw a guy get on the tram today with no shoes on.

He was otherwise normally dressed, and it wasn't a residential area.

*Source links are included for stock images.

**The background music is from a personal music project in progress.

***I had to look up which song I use for these, because it has been that long since I wrote one.

****I hope I guessed right!