Hainesport Shop Rite

     I love the Hainesport Shop Rite.  The store is big and clean.  Produce and dairy products are always fresh.  The staff is friendly and helpful.  Even the kids who collect carts in the parking lot offer to take your cart when you leave or give you a cart when you arrive.
     Occasionally, there can be a snag in the shopping experience at any store.  The way the store resolves an issue is what is important.  Once I tried a new brand of orange juice.  The stuff was awful - a thick, pulpy mixture with the consistency of a milk shake.  Shop Rite returned my money and explained that the processing plant must have had a glitch when adding some pulp to the batch.  Another time, I was accosted by a panhandler in the parking lot.  He was a pitiful looking soul who said he needed gas money to return to Browns Mills.  I'm no fool, so I offered to go with him to the Wawa and put some gas in his vehicle.  He walked away saying, "Never mind."  Sounded like he really wanted beer money or drug money.  I reported the incident to the store, and they promptly handled it so that no other customers would be hassled.
     When it comes to ground beef, I like to find a lean roast and have the butcher grind it.  The result is super lean hamburger that is cheaper than the store's 93% lean burger.  Yesterday, I had some difficulty locating a chunk of beef that could be ground since most of the round roasts were marked to be sold only as roasts (no grinding allowed).  By the time I found the right cut of meat, the butcher had gone on break, and his assistant was not sure if he would be allowed to grind the meat.  I asked the manager, Mr. Blackwell, if the roast was "eligible" for grinding, and he assured me that it was.  He had the meat ground while I finished my shopping.
     Sometimes people bemoan the fact that the mom and pop stores are gone.  They say the personal attention that shoppers used to receive is a thing of the past.  That's not the case at the Hainesport Shop Rite.  Thanks, Mr. Blackwell, for doing your part to make Hainesport a happy place.