You can have an adventurous shopping experience in stores like this one, which I call The Dented Can. Bent and Dent discount/salvage stores buy odd lots of groceries and related items from salvage companies and sell the goods at greatly reduced prices. Some of the packaging is damaged, some of the items are out of date, and some items were cleaned off of store shelves to make room for updated products. Most of the items are still good, and in many years of shopping in these stores, I have discarded only a few purchases. This particular store is operated by Amish proprietors and is a few miles north of Kalona, Iowa, just east of the cheese factory on Highway 1. You will note on the photo that this store is open just three days per week. The shelves are fully stocked only on Wednesdays, and this creates an intense competitive mood among the bargain hunters shopping here. The number system was installed after scuffles broke out among people waiting to get in the doors at opening time. The owners now let one person in at a time, and this has worked for crowd control outside the business. Once you get through the doors, it is a bit like a roller derby retrieving a cart and getting to the aisles. Customers do not behave like ladies and gentlemen when they have bargain coffee beans in view and are blocked by other shoppers. I prefer to wear my combat boots, and I keep a sharp lookout for ladies with a clenched jaw and steely eyes.
You can shop for the same type of bargains safely at Greenfield Grocery in Wayne City, IL. This discount grocer is open six days a week and has fully stocked shelves every day. Greenfield is operated by a Mennonite gentleman, which means that the store has electricity, refrigeration and air conditioning.
Neither Amish or Mennonites will use the internet, so searching for these stores is not easy. If you can find one in your neighborhood, you can save a lot of money on your staple items, and try new foods at bargain rates.
