Our First WinCo Experience

It's been big news in the Salt Lake Valley - WinCo was coming to town! Granted I'd never heard of the store myself, but everyone seemed to be aglow! "Prices better than Walmart" they exclaimed!

That was hard for me to wrap my mind around, as I've been shopping at Walmart for several years now (yes, traiter that I am). Yet the idea intrigued me. What would this enigmatic WinCo be like?

Turns out, it wasn't the fun family experience we were all hoping for :(

Mistake number one. We decided to try going opening week. I mean, come on. How dumb could we have been?!

Mistake number two. We went on a Friday.

Mistake number three. We went on a Friday NIGHT!

I know, I know, but it's nothing compared to:

Mistake number four. We took the whole family.

Perhaps we should have known what to expect when we had to go in one door and could only come out the other, followed by the part where we're all fighting just to get through the door. The point where I knew we were in trouble occurred not ten yards in.

M had attached herself to my arm, visibly closing into herself as she felt more and more crowded. B and J were having a good time running back and forth between me - who had A in a shopping cart as we attempted to maneuver through the throng - and Daddy - who had made it quite a distance ahead of us! Every ten to fifteen seconds we did a quick head check to make certain no one (meaning the boys) got lost.

The good news is as we wandered through the maze like good little mice WinCo had posted signs big enough to advertise their huge deals. This turned out to be helpful since it was too hard to get close enough to see the actual products.

I did get awfully excited to see all the big bins of candy and granola and flour and candy and spices and candy and cereal. OH, and they have candy :)

Still, by the time we found ourselves approaching the front of the store M had obviously had it. She was miserable. Even the treat we got her didn't seem to brighten the morose look covering her lovely features. As we finally made it to the eternally long lines at the front, my hubby made a run for it with 3 out of 4 kids. Good thing the fourth decided to hang around...I didn't realize we had to bag what we bought. That kid sure turned out useful!

Regardless of the rather frightening introduction to the world of WinCo, I'm willing to give it another try (especially when we finally run out of all the cereal we bought at such great prices!). I'll just go on a weekday. In the morning. And I'll pray first.