i became an owner of weaver street back when i was applying for in-state residency for tuition purposes. nowadays i find myself frequently surfing the web at the cafe and listening to music on the lawn, and occasionally i’ll buy fish and vegetables for a single meal. but i’ve never gone there to buy 2-3 weeks worth of groceries, mostly because i’m familiar with the brands i grew up with–that i know i can get at harris teeter.

it occured to me a while ago that the next time i go grocery shopping, which happened to be today, i should bring my standard list and see how substantially weaver street differs. is it more expensive? are there too many must-have items at harris teeter (like oscar meyer bacon) that i can’t get there? i figured i’d give it a shot.

what surprised me was how not different things were. i happened to need a bunch of paper products (napkins, toliet paper, paper towels) and guess what, they’ve got all that, mostly a brand called seventh generation that’s supposed to be better for the environment. buying paper products never felt so good.

i ran out of ketchup and wondered if they even have any. turns out they do! a few varieties, including the one i picked up, heinz organic ketchup. curiosity alone demanded that i get it and compare to my memory of the original. the verdict: it looks darker in color, richer/tangier in taste, and not as thick/gloppy.

weaver street doesn’t have any non-veggie vacuum sealed coldcuts (of which i’ve been snacking on the sara lee brand lately), in fact i didn’t think they had any coldcuts at all. i found out from the girl who was checking me out that they actually do slice coldcuts at the cheese counter–something she admitted that most people don’t know. so next time i’ll give those a shot.

i didn’t expect them to have thomas’s english muffins, but they do. and i expected them to have tons of morningstar veggie foods in the freezer section but they have none. once again the girl checking me out (who i let in on my little project) said they’ve never had any because of concerns about chemicals used in their production. some quick searching online suggested that starlink corn was found in their corndogs. but weaver street does have the wonderful quorn brand which i highly recommend as well as gardenburger which i’ve had mixed experiences with (definitely avoid their riblets and buffalo chik’n wings, bleck!)

and cost? usually i spend about $100 on groceries and my total at weaver street was $106.25 which seemed right on–even better considering i got some infrequently purchased cleaning products and a number of impulse buys. the total includes my 5% owner discount (on certain items) of $2.09. what did i go back to harris teeter to buy? chewing gum, coldcuts, listerine, and face wash. next time i’ll have to check out tom’s of maine and burts bees.