Local economies.

A couple of years ago, a branch of a local grocery store chain near the place I was working went out of business. Just that location - the company kept going and liquidated the stock of that particular location.

Now, the company's been sold and all the stores are being cleared out. There's one three blocks from my apartment, and it's been going pretty fast. I admit to helping out in regards to the canned tuna, and I might go back again for canned salmon if they've got any left. The deep discounts started last week, and for a while before that the shelves haven't really been restocked quickly. It's been profiled on a neighborhood blog - and that there are many such blogs, sometimes several to choose from, is one of those odd but useful things about New York City, the resurgence of the local news - so I knew it was coming to pounce on the fish.

The store has gotten to the point they're selling naked sheet cakes. They're exactly the kind of cake you'd find behind the counter all dressed up for office parties, just without frosting, sprinkles, or anything. Boxes of them, because they've got to go before the store closes. Tubs of sprinkles, too. Things the store was using that can't be kept around. It's a fascinating, though tiny, peek into how modern grocery stores can operate. I get to watch what goes fast, what goes first, and what sticks around because there's really no market for it.

I'm not that saddened the company had to be sold for me to get that peek. Part of that's I get my groceries from the farmers markets if I can, and independent stores if I can't. So I'm not too disappointed that this place is shutting down. What saddens me about this is that the store's employees are going to be out of a job, and I hope they find something else soon.

In the meantime, they've reached the phase where they're heavily discounting nonperishable household cleaning supplies. I give it another week.