Tag Archives: stores

NO COMMERCIAL BREAKS

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A few months ago, I began watching SUPERSTORE on Hulu. I had heard it was a fun, goofy show, and I’m a fan of “Jonah” (who plays the lawyer on Silicon Valley). I also liked that there were already four seasons to watch, so I knew it would take me some time to get through it all.

I’m not a binger of shows. I don’t enjoy watching a whole butt-load of episodes of one show in a single weekend, unless I have already seen the entire series and it’s playing in the background while I’m cooking or doing other stuff. I like to treat my shows like a fine Merlot. I take in one episode at a time, maybe two or three in a full day, at most. I let shows breath so that entire seasons don’t become one mega episode of mush in my brain.

Superstore has so much, “REAL” product placement in it, that it should not have commercial breaks. As someone who isn’t a fan of forced product placement in movies and TV shows (like Michael Bay’s 2-hour Transformers Car Commercials, AKA the ones after Shia Lebeouf), SUPERSTORE does a great job with having all the products on the shelves, but not in your face.

SUPERSTORE takes place inside of a Walmart clone, called Cloud 9. Cloud 9 carries only real products that you would find in Walmart and Target and other real-life superstores. Most times when you see a product on a TV series, it’s usually a fake brand they created just for the show, so they don’t have to deal with the companies who make these products.

I’ve only watched SUPERSTORE on Hulu, so I’m not sure if it actually has commercial breaks when episodes play on prime time (if it doesn’t leave a comment below and let me know). If a soccer game can get away with not having commercial breaks just because each player is a walking ad for the team sponsor, then SUPERSTORE should definitely not have commercials.

Perhaps SUPERSTORE can do what pod casters do and create their own ads within the show, where they get to say whatever they want. Sort of like how pod casters just say whatever they want when creating ads for strange internet brands, like MeUndies, Blue Apron and Third Love. 

SUPERSTORE is showing off so many products that we all know and already buy. While watching episodes I sometimes add things to my grocery list (this makes the show not only entertaining but also convenient). Usually, this would annoy me, but since they never really talk about the products or have the camera zoom in on certain ones it doesn’t bother me. It just makes the world seem more realistic.

On the show I’ve seen everything from La Croix, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Doritos to Reed’s Ginger Beer and Squatty Potties. I hope all of these brands are paying SUPERSTORE to carry their products on the shelves of Cloud 9, and that is how SUPERSTORE will stay on TV forever, taking money from all of these rich companies to create entertainment as I slowly watch it on my friend’s Hulu account until the end of time.

WHOLE FOODS = Less Than Expected

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Any time I shop at Whole Foods I always come home with less items than I expect (based on the money I spent). The other night, I spent about fifty dollars at Whole Foods on one, big brown bag of stuff. When I got home I pulled out my dinner, some cookies, some snacks, a few other items and when there was nothing left in the bag I asked myself (in my head), That’s it? (It also doesn’t help that they give you a monstrous brown paper bag).

I don’t shop at Whole Foods regularly, I’m more of a Fresh Market guy. When I shop at Fresh Market I build my meals based on what’s on sale, so I end up with a good haul for the money spent. I sometimes even forget about certain things I bought at Fresh Market and get a nice little surprise when I come home.

Why does every new Whole Foods that gets built look more and more like the future?

Now that Whole Foods is owned by Amazon I thought I would get some savings with my Amazon Prime membership, but instead I always end up saving 10% on one or two items. Items that usually cost between one to two dollars, so I save about ten to forty cents on my whole purchase (Prime deals!).

I know some people call Whole Foods, “Whole Paycheck,” because they think it’s funny and they also think they made that up. (It’s not that funny) It’s a dad joke, but I guess it is kind of true. If I did my weekly groceries there, and not just some random snacks and dinner buying every once in a while, I would definitely not have much of my paycheck left over each month.

One thing that’s neat about Whole Foods is the hot foods bar, they have a huge selection of good hot food, but if you’re not looking for “good hot food” you can also grab some pizza. They also hold the “Guinness World Record” for largest soup bar (I’m not sure if that’s accurate, but it is the largest soup bar I’ve ever seen. They even beat out Panera, and those people are all about their soups). Just don’t hit up that hot foods bar at lunch time, because all you’ll get is hangry, annoyed yuppies.

I do enjoy visiting Whole Foods in new cities though. When I lived in New York they had special meats and beers that I had never seen back home. In Chicago the cookie bar was insane, and they had over ten different restaurants inside. The last out-of-town Whole Foods I went to was in Minnesota, there they had cheese curds (which I have never found in any grocery stores in Miami) and different coffees, some different hot foods and crazy flavors of RX Bars.

I usually like visiting different Best Buys, Barnes & Noble’s and sometimes Targets in new cities, because those make me feel like I’m home even though I’m not. But Whole Foods always feels new to me, in a different city. I guess Whole Foods isn’t really a bad place, it’s just expensive. I will continue to go for specialty and small things, but I will never go regularly (unless I become crazy rich).