Good for you! Bad for you!

I had a horrible time trying to find a coconut today.  You would think in freakin' Hawaii you could find coconuts, right?  I went to two Foodland stores and the only coconuts they had were fairly young and mostly moldy.  MOLDY.  I like mature coconut, and ... well ... non-moldy ones, too.  I went to both the Ala Moana location and the S. Beretania location.  Lots of young, moldy coconuts.

But I was pretty surprised to see they had both upped their GF selections!  The Ala Moana location had Tinkyada pasta, several Ener-G breads, and more than one variety of the Mi-Del gluten free cookies.  (Usually everyone just carries the ginger snaps.)  On previous visits they've just basically had Nut Thins and Tasty Bite curries, and that's been roughly the extent of their gluten free food selection.  So this was a big surprise!

Then when I went to the S. Beretania location, I noticed they had Rudi's and Udi's breads!  Wow! 

Wow ... wow ... WOW WTF THAT PRICE OH MY GOLLY GOSH.

See, it's all fine and great and good to carry what are considered two of the best GF breads, but ... geez.  Try to be a little more Safeway, a little less Whole Foods.

You see, Safeway recently has been carrying the Udi's and SOMETIMES Rudi's breads as well.  At Safeway the Udi's only runs about $5.50, and for a while was on sale for 4.50.  Rudi's is roughly $7.  At Foodland, Udi's was about $7.70 and Rudi's was a dollar more.  That's roughly what both brands cost at Whole Foods, which is a store known for its insanely high prices. 

I was so thrilled that Safeway got these breads, since the prices end up being so low.  I'm a little annoyed that Foodland is going more the WF route.  It isn't even very competitive, since most stores that aren't WF charge $6.60-7ish.  Rudi's at least has its scarcity on its side.  But Udi's is at almost every single Safeway, Whole Foods, Vim & Vigor, and Kokua.  Honestly, if you want to be competitive, you should try to be competitive. 

Speaking of Vim & Vigor, I used to enjoy shopping there, but I just discovered that a food product I purchased there expired last August.  Crap, I wasn't even in Hawaii last August.  And this product supposedly has an 18 month shelf life, so I wonder how long it sat in there.  (I ate it and haven't died yet.  Retort curry probably doesn't go bad.) 

You know what I really wish we had in Hawaii (other than coconuts, ha ha ha)?  Schar breads.  I really want to try those.  I want a baguette!  I wonder if I'll ever find one anywhere.