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Buffalo Snow = EVIL
Feb. 4th, 2007 05:27 pmSo, I decided to lay down at 9 last night and woke up fully at 3 this afternoon. Wild. I'm feeling sicker than yesterday. Eww.
We went to Buffalo yesterday and one thing completely boggles me:
How is Velveeta consumed in the United States?
The size of Velveeta sold in the states is MASSIVE compared to what I'm used to. Up here, it's a product used from time to time in baking and cooking (I think I use it once in every two years), sold in what I think amounts to a 6oz block. At Tops in the US, I saw a 32oz block going for about the same price as what I paid for a 6oz piece two weeks ago. Which begs the question: What is it being used on down there?!
I have come to the decision that plus side to cross-border shopping isn't so much the price anymore as it the selection. There's still some deals to be had, especially when it comes to dairy products, but it's more of a case where you simply just see items that you NEVER see in Canada. Likewise, I'm sure if an American came to Canada, they'd have the same reaction if they shopped at a Fortinos or another large grocery store. Smarties and Aero bars, oh my!
But, yes. On the top of Odd-Things-You-Never-See-In-Canada (tm), the big winner is the Microsoft Zune. The Zune was never released into Canada, so all the marketing and excitement passed us by. It was a case of we heard it was coming, but then we never heard of it being released. At one point the lack of information made me assume that the project was canceled. So, to go into a random store see Zunes and Zune related items was a touch odd, to say the least.
I also went into my first GameStop and I'm sorta mixed. The selection of games seems wider than our local EB, at least in the DS end of things. The price, though, isn't really worth it as it coverts to an average price in CDN, with some having about $5 in savings. What surprised me, again, was the selection. A lot of the harder to find titles, like the first Phoenix Wright and Trauma Center, are just happily sitting on the shelf. There's no "let's run through the city and try to find a copy". At least one of these rare titles is a reprint; there's an awful lot of copies of Trace Memory around, but the company that produced that just released Hotel Dusk. Me thinks it's a cross promotion.
On the same token, the EB we visited had a crappy/thin selection, although it did have the World of Warcraft character class pins. I now have a huntard pin. :B
And onto the odd food I found:
Iced (sweet?) red tea - Iced Rooibos! Yeah! I so should have picked up ton of this. Rooibos is actually really good cold. I may have to make some today with my loose leaf.
Box of peanut butter Twix - Heehee. Hey, it was a box of what amounted to 5.5 bars of a product that I only see at home once in a blue moon for less than $4 CDN. Eh.
Nestle Flips - Chocolate covered pretzels. I forgot that US chocolate, as a rule, isn't as sweet as Canadian chocolate. This was a bit of a let down.
Welch's-in-a-unfrozen-can - Bizarre.
We went to Buffalo yesterday and one thing completely boggles me:
How is Velveeta consumed in the United States?
The size of Velveeta sold in the states is MASSIVE compared to what I'm used to. Up here, it's a product used from time to time in baking and cooking (I think I use it once in every two years), sold in what I think amounts to a 6oz block. At Tops in the US, I saw a 32oz block going for about the same price as what I paid for a 6oz piece two weeks ago. Which begs the question: What is it being used on down there?!
I have come to the decision that plus side to cross-border shopping isn't so much the price anymore as it the selection. There's still some deals to be had, especially when it comes to dairy products, but it's more of a case where you simply just see items that you NEVER see in Canada. Likewise, I'm sure if an American came to Canada, they'd have the same reaction if they shopped at a Fortinos or another large grocery store. Smarties and Aero bars, oh my!
But, yes. On the top of Odd-Things-You-Never-See-In-Canada (tm), the big winner is the Microsoft Zune. The Zune was never released into Canada, so all the marketing and excitement passed us by. It was a case of we heard it was coming, but then we never heard of it being released. At one point the lack of information made me assume that the project was canceled. So, to go into a random store see Zunes and Zune related items was a touch odd, to say the least.
I also went into my first GameStop and I'm sorta mixed. The selection of games seems wider than our local EB, at least in the DS end of things. The price, though, isn't really worth it as it coverts to an average price in CDN, with some having about $5 in savings. What surprised me, again, was the selection. A lot of the harder to find titles, like the first Phoenix Wright and Trauma Center, are just happily sitting on the shelf. There's no "let's run through the city and try to find a copy". At least one of these rare titles is a reprint; there's an awful lot of copies of Trace Memory around, but the company that produced that just released Hotel Dusk. Me thinks it's a cross promotion.
On the same token, the EB we visited had a crappy/thin selection, although it did have the World of Warcraft character class pins. I now have a huntard pin. :B
And onto the odd food I found:
Iced (sweet?) red tea - Iced Rooibos! Yeah! I so should have picked up ton of this. Rooibos is actually really good cold. I may have to make some today with my loose leaf.
Box of peanut butter Twix - Heehee. Hey, it was a box of what amounted to 5.5 bars of a product that I only see at home once in a blue moon for less than $4 CDN. Eh.
Nestle Flips - Chocolate covered pretzels. I forgot that US chocolate, as a rule, isn't as sweet as Canadian chocolate. This was a bit of a let down.
Welch's-in-a-unfrozen-can - Bizarre.
