Christmas would not be the same if I didn’t do some last minute shopping each year.  It is a firmly entrenched part of my being.  Perhaps it is genetic.  Anyway, I headed out to two different stores at 4:55 pm, Christmas Eve.  I’m writing this at 5:50 pm, 10 minutes before the stores close, so I guess I didn’t do too badly.  I’ve had plenty of practice.

The point of this post isn’t really my last minute shopping habits, it is a rant against Tops.  Before I start on them, I will comment on the first store I visited, Target in North Buffalo.  I was fearing the worst, the parking lot was pretty full.  As I entered the store, I noticed that the supply of available shopping carts was not very good, another bad sign.  I needed 2 items for last minute gifts.  Of course, I didn’t know what those 2 items were, a last minute shopper doesn’t plan that well.  I was able to locate a couple of good choices quickly.  Target, to their credit, had most of the checkouts open and I was able to quickly pay and exit the store.  Total time in Target was 15 minutes or so.  Target rates as a last minute shopper friendly store.

Now, on to Tops (Elmwood) never stops disappointing you.  The store was busy, but I’ve seen worse.  I had hopes that perhaps this would be a complaint free shopping trip.  I should have known better.  There were only 5 items I needed to purchase to make a spinach-artichoke dip for Christmas.  Usually when I go to tops with a list of 5 items, I can count on one or two being out of stock.  Today was a pleasant exception.  The prices would have been a bit better at Wegmans but I didn’t want to take the extra time to drive there.  Just as I thought my shopping trip was going smoothly, I approached the checkout.  The lines at the standard  checkouts were long.  Not to worry, I was planning on using the self-checkout registers.  That is when I discovered the cause of the lines.  Tops, in their infinite wisdom, closed the self-checkouts that serve 8 customers at a time while only using one employee.  I ended up in a line with FULL shopping carts ahead of me.  Naturally, the lady directly in front of me had about $100 worth of groceries and paid with a card.  Unfortunately, this must have been her first time grocery shopping, she regarded the card-swipe device like it was something from Mars.  After several attempts she managed the difficult process of following the directions on the screen and inputting her PIN correctly.  Thank you Tops for not disappointing me, I knew that you provide some little extra that reminds me why I usually go to Wegmans.