Observation Notes

Question: Is it better for people and the environment to buy locally made and grown food?
Location: Liberty Heights Fresh

Hear: I hear cars driving passed. The crisp crunch of my apple. The cashier talking and helping customers. Two guys talking outside the store. A small child asking to his father to push the small car. The bass of a car stopped at the light.

Smell: my pink lady apple. Loads of fresh fruits. Smokey smell of car exhaust. Smell of the Parmesan cheese at the cheese bar. The smell of the fresh wood of the shelving.

Taste: The sweet and tart juice from my apple. My organic peach black tea.

Touch: The smooth peel, and sticky juices running down onto my hand from my bitten apple. The dirty orange table outside, covered with wood chips. The slight softness of the fresh avocado.

See: Large variety of fruits, vegetable, meats, cheeses, fish, juices, teas, olive oil, spices, jams, merchandise (shirts, bags, gift cards with the store logo), yogurt, milk. Two large garage doors, one gray, one red with windows painted yellow, purple & pink. (looks reused, maybe an old garage shop). Produce scales. Dried peppers hanging outside. Crates, baskets and barrels of food on display.

7:00-8:00 pm
I browse inside the shop, checking out the array of food carefully set up in the small shop. I pick out a fresh apple, and buying a ice tea drink. I go outside to sit on the rusty orange table to eat my food and observe.

-A guy is sitting on the other orange table, listening to his ipod. Another buy guy comes out of the shop, recognized the one sitting at the table. They begin talking about the first guys bike. He says he bought it from an army guy off of craigslist, who took the bike all over Europe. The second guy says that he just got back from traveling from Vancouver, British Columbia to San Fransisco, California and that he took a lot of pictures. Both said they needed to come ‘here’ (Liberty Heights Fresh, grocery store), more often. One walks off, leaving the other to finish listening to his ipod, who eventually rides away on his Europe trotting bike.
-Woman with dog jogs by.
-Two employees (male) carefully but efficiantly move a large quantity of boxed sodas from outside into the back stock room. They worked together and still did their job. They greeted and helped the customers who were still at the small grocery store.
-Man with a golden retreiver buys some flowers.
-Woman comes in with her bike and backpack on. She picks out two zuchinni, a bag of peaches and weighs them. Shes wearing gray converse shoes, white basketball shorts and white v-neck t-shirt. Kindly pays for her food and rides off with her groceries in her reusable bag.

As I sit, watching them close up the shop, I notice some of the things surrounding me a bit more. The Sanpellegrino canned juice, the bright green and orange flavored Selzter drinks. The different advertisement signs: “Organically grown sustainably farmed food”, No Smoking in accordance with Utah indoor clean air act, inside or within 25 feet”, “Local eggs-laid fresh by happy hens”, and add sign made from one of their paper bags. I see the bright red tomatoes, peaches, large melons all outside on sale, all organic. They begin to close shop and I carefully throw away my apple core, recycle my glass bottle and leave them to finish their work.

Thoughts:
-I noticed people who came into the shop or stopped by, all seemed to know each other. It seems like a small community, everyone is friends, and friendly to others. Probably get a lot of ‘regulars’ coming in.
-How long have the local people been going to the Liberty Height Fresh?
-It seemed like there was a variety of people. Including families, single people and younger and older people too.
-I saw a father and a small boy together and I wonder if they are teaching their kids about organic food.
-Is it really helping local farmers?
-I noticed a lot of people smiled and asked how if i needed any help, much kinder than regular chain grocery stores.
-All of the food seemed so much fresher, more colorful and a higher quality than some of the grocery stores.
-Its nice to see little shops like these getting a lot of business, its bringing people fresh foods, organic foods, its an enjoyable place to shop, quaint and less people.