Waiting for Technology

So the grocery store closest to our house, Treasure Island, closed down some weeks ago. While it was very convenient to stop in on the way home, it was never a place I really enjoyed or felt a connection to.

The prices were, in my opinion, always on the higher end. But it was close, and convenient, and really the only option for our area. A Whole Foods opened nearby in 2016, but to me it was the same issue in terms of expense – and also a bit further away.

Whenever I found myself impatient and waiting in line, it was usually at Treasure Island. And each time, I’d think about how grossly inefficient grocery store lines were, and how tedious the manual checkout process was. And how I longed for someone like Amazon to swoop in and change things up.

Fast forward to tonight, when I stopped in at Whole Foods (which Amazon acquired back in 2017). I get to use my Amazon Prime app to get a bit of a discount, but… here I am, standing in line in a different store.

There’s an actual Amazon Go Store in downtown Chicago, I believe. And I really should head there some day and document that whole process.

But I found it funny that I longed for Amazon to come in. And, ultimately, I kind of got my wish. Amazon and its technology have arrived, but I’m still going to need to wait a little longer, it seems.

Related:
Impatience and Inefficiency
Sudden Showers Inside Treasure Island Supermarket
The Final Days of Strack & Van Til on Elston Avenue, Logan Square