11 February 2008

I Heart Euro-Mart

Went to one of my favorite places in Champaign today: Euro-Mart, an international grocery store on Springfield Ave.

This tiny little store crams more yummy goodness into its square footage than seems possible. The bread and date-filled cookies are fresh from the baker, the cheeses are plentiful and delicious and there are more olives than you can shake a stick at, which in my book is a good thing.

I'm not necessarily a foodie, but I love going to grocery stores especially ones that are stocked with all kinds of exotic goodies. One of my favorite things to do on any vacation is check out the local grocery store (I bought Jelly Babies in bulk in Ireland). My husband has indulged this quirk of mine in Toronto, Ontario and various states in the U.S.

Anyhoo, I digress. There are two reasons why I like shopping at Euro-Mart more than any other international grocery in C-U. One: Euro-Mart carries a salami my kids and husband adore, one I thought we'd only be able to get when we visit my MIL in Chicago. The salami itself is made in IL (my MIL buys her's from the maker, Bendi) so it's not like the stuff comes direct from Hungary but I could never find it downstate until I ventured into Euro-Mart.

And two: the guys that work at Euro-Mart are friendly and open, not like at World Harvest (another international grocery store I like). For example, a couple of months ago I was in with my daughter and while we were paying for our things the guy behind the counter gave Flynn a lollipop (she thought that was pretty awesome) and today the credit card machine was taking longer than usual so the guy discounted my total by 10% for waiting. Talk about customer service!

Euro-Mart is small on space but packed to the gills with great, not-easy-to-find international food and offers second-to-none customer service. I love this store.

1 comment:

Jenna said...

Its not so stroller/toddler friendly. I fear that my little ones will break everything on the bottom shelves. But love it! I love looking at everything and trying to rationalize a reason to buy it all.