Deb and I normally buy the large, 36 oz. bag of Eight ‘Clock Coffee French Roast at stop & Shop. We buy the whole bean and use their machine to do the grinding and all is well with the world.Last Thursday, I went to stock up and noticed the shelving was all rearranged and not only was the desired brand of coffee missing, so was the grinder. I looked and looked until I decided to go find me a manager. Walking up to one, I said, “You have a tie on so you must know where things are.” I asked and he shook his head sadly.Corporate decided to do away with the grinder. But they still sell whole bean coffee so this made no sense to him or to me. He suggested I mention this to corporate. That night, I went online, found their consumer input screen and wrote up a suggestion that ended with proposing that they make a change: replace the grinder and expunge the idiot manager who made the dreadful decision.On Saturday, we returned home to find a voicemail from the local manager. He congratulated me on filing my complaint and I would be happy to know that the grinder has been restored to its place of honor.Of course, the store still had no 36 oz. bag of French Roast in stock. I headed over to the other S&S in town and guess what? No grinder and no 36 oz. bag of French Roast. Foolish, foolish store.Normally, having a brand spanking new Shop Rite in town would give me cause for hope but alas, their limited offerings do not include the larger (and cheaper) bags of whole bean coffee in my desired brand.This is getting absurd. All I want is my nationally-distributed brand of coffee available for purchase and a machine to grind the beans. This should be a lot easier than it’s turning out to be.
I guess you didn’t get your coffee today?
See, Bob, you’ve got to become one of us Seattlle coffee uber-elitists and have your own grinder at home. (Actually, we have an automatic maker that grinds the beans and then brews the coffee, but we’re afraid to use it.)But I feel your pain, Bob… it seems to me that most of the products I come to REALLY enjoy get pulled from the store shelves. I can’t get Entenmann’s chocolate chip cookies out here (even in stores that stock some… Entenmann’s just didn’t want to ship out here. I asked). I found a mocha mix for milk that I liked (Nestle, I think)… gone. The brand of cargo pants I had a half-dozen of… gone. As a marketing guy, I know this means that enough other people didn’t like what I did, but when you get used to something…
Bob, I thought we were the only ones who has those kinds of issues. Stop & Shop and their new ideas are not making us happy shoppers. I guess I need to start reading your blog!
Bob, I’ll look for that coffee at my store.