23. A Russian grocery store
I've seen a range of Russian grocery stores in St. Petersburg. Small, 24-hour mini-markets where literally everything is behind the counter, to large buildings in the city outskirts with a presumably huge selection of merchandise inside. One expat acquaintance here commented that the store where he shopped in the outskirts of in St. Petersburg was bigger than anything he had available when he was living in upstate New York. My particular store (Land Supermarket) is just across Rubinshteyna Street from the Tolstoy House. It's literally on the route from my house to the nearest Metro station, so it's convenient to make a quick shopping trip either on the way home from work or as a separate errand on the weekend. I would characterize it as a medium-sized supermarket.
I eat breakfast, most weekend lunches, and most weekday dinners at home, so I shop here every 5-7 days to stock up. The ingredients for most of my standard recipes from the US are all available - some from the same global brands, and some from local Russian brands. Most of the produce here has arrived from halfway around the world. The fruit and vegetable stands around town as well as several large food markets are the place to go for locally- and regionally-grown items.
Based on a sample size of this single store, I haven't seen anything exotic about Russian grocery stores, by American standards - it's basically exactly what one would find anywhere in the US. I've spent plenty of time in US grocery stores (1-2 visits/week for most of the last 17 years), so I have ample basis for comparison.
Here are the main differences (at least as compared with Colorado supermarkets):
1) All the produce must be weighed and labeled by a store employee in the produce section, NOT during checkout
2) A full range of wine and liquor is available in the store (I do know that there are many states in the US where this is also standard, just not in Colorado)
3) Some product categories (e.g., face lotion) are not available in the "drugstore" section. Presumably one has to go to a separate "apteka" (pharmacy/drugstore) for these.
4) If you want to use the store's plastic bags, you have to pay for them. In Colorado, many shoppers bring their own reusable shopping bags even thought the store's paper or plastic bags are generally free. In St. Petersburg, it appears that most people just pay for the disposable plastic bags.
5) There aren't many "bulk" items available. But, I wonder if this has more to do with the neighborhood (right in the heart of the city center) and typical clientele (largely single people and child-free couples, I would guess) rather than anything unique to Russian grocery standards.
I eat breakfast, most weekend lunches, and most weekday dinners at home, so I shop here every 5-7 days to stock up. The ingredients for most of my standard recipes from the US are all available - some from the same global brands, and some from local Russian brands. Most of the produce here has arrived from halfway around the world. The fruit and vegetable stands around town as well as several large food markets are the place to go for locally- and regionally-grown items.
Based on a sample size of this single store, I haven't seen anything exotic about Russian grocery stores, by American standards - it's basically exactly what one would find anywhere in the US. I've spent plenty of time in US grocery stores (1-2 visits/week for most of the last 17 years), so I have ample basis for comparison.
Here are the main differences (at least as compared with Colorado supermarkets):
1) All the produce must be weighed and labeled by a store employee in the produce section, NOT during checkout
2) A full range of wine and liquor is available in the store (I do know that there are many states in the US where this is also standard, just not in Colorado)
3) Some product categories (e.g., face lotion) are not available in the "drugstore" section. Presumably one has to go to a separate "apteka" (pharmacy/drugstore) for these.
4) If you want to use the store's plastic bags, you have to pay for them. In Colorado, many shoppers bring their own reusable shopping bags even thought the store's paper or plastic bags are generally free. In St. Petersburg, it appears that most people just pay for the disposable plastic bags.
5) There aren't many "bulk" items available. But, I wonder if this has more to do with the neighborhood (right in the heart of the city center) and typical clientele (largely single people and child-free couples, I would guess) rather than anything unique to Russian grocery standards.
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