Grocery store
Grocery store is a store that sells a wide variety of food. A grocer, owner of a store, would shelf different kinds of food and gauge them when selling to customers. With the invention of supermarket and pre-packed food, grocery stores are gradually replaced by supermarkets which are larger in scale and selling products at lower prices and with more variety of choice.
Despite of the superiority of supermarket, a grocery store has its own niche to sell some traditional food that cannot be easily found in supermarket.
In the United States, supermarkets are commonly referred to as grocery stores.
I don't really mind waiting in line at the grocery store. Don't get me wrong, I don't choose the slowest cashier on purpose: that usually happens without any special effort on my part. But I do enjoy this idle time, during which I can study the latest chewing-gum innovations (they seem to come up with new ones every other week), mentally review my shopping list (and make the occasional frantic dash for that one capital item I forgot), and more importantly, peek into other people's baskets and try to picture their life from the mundane little things they're buying.
It was a particularly long wait the other day (someone hadn't weighed his apples, or perhaps was applying for a membership card and wanting to hear all the details, I forget), so much so that I ran out of strangers' baskets to study, and had no choice but to turn to mine. It dawned on me then that I hardly ever mention grocery store products here on C&Z. Suddenly all the little guys in my basket were staring at me with a sour look. "Yeah, why is that?", they cried accusingly, "Why the injustice? Don't we deserve a kind word once in a while? A bit of recognition for all the hard work? For heaven's sake, is that too much to ask?"
A bit flustered, faintly worried that they might start a riot then and there, I had to promise I would write a post and turn the spotlight on those loyal supermarket favorites. That seemed to appease them, and we were able to proceed through the register without further grievance.
The grocery store is one of the best examples of a place where math is real. It's a great place for practicing measurement, estimation, and quantity. Since trips to the store usually affect everyone in the family, the following activities include various levels of difficulty within the activity.
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