Sunday in North Carolina

We stayed on the outskirts of Winston-Salem, in an extended stay hotel with kitchenette.  Sunday was another day of rest for us.  We explored the area in search of a local supermarket.  Harris Teeter was our destination because it was the first we came upon when bumbling around the local roads.  The market has a southern feel, with ornate cast-iron signage and down-homey marketing materials throughout the store.  I found it interesting that they grouped produce, deli, and bakery into one department called "fresh".  The store is laid out opposite of most Hannaford's, with shoppers entering on the left and shopping counter-clockwise.  The customer base in North Carolina must value bargains, because I saw numerous signs extolling the virtues of saving money created by bagging your own groceries, "check it yourself", cleaning up your own spills (they have boxes of wipes in prominent locations that implore you to clean up your own spill so that prices stay low), and paying for what you leave with (they have TV's throughout the store reminding you that you're on camera.)  Some gems in the store were their meat department, health and beauty aids, halloween promotional section, and shopping carts.  They utilize ergonomic push carts with two cup holders.  Their Halloween candy is merchandised in mass-fashion between the entrance and their express-checkout.  Health and Beauty is in a separate section decorated like an old southern drug store.  Their meat is about 15% more expensive than that back home, but the quality is superior.  Wal-Mart is huge down here, so I'm guessing their strategy is to grab a clientele looking for better quality and more convenience.  We purchased some fresh, local sausage and headed back to the hotel to make sausage and cabbage.  It was superior to the product from Maine, with finely ground quality pork shoulder nicely seasoned in a thin and tender casing.  Cooked up beautifully with our Pennsylvania cabbage.  I washed mine down with Cheerwine, a delightful local Carolina soda.  It tasted like a cross between black-cherry soda, 7-up, and cola. Unique and tasty.

We capped our day off by shopping at a world imports market, and kicked back with a movie at the hotel.  Rest and relaxation to the max before a day of hard work on Monday.