Grocery Store Repurposes Salad Bar For Alcohol and Candy, We’ve Been Suggesting This For Years

In the last decade, one way you could tell that you were in a nice grocery store was based on the length, size, and the number of offerings at the salad bar. The more cumbersome and gaudy the salad bar, the better the grocery store. If you walked in and saw the equivalent length of half of a football field of fancy lettuce varieties and hard-boiled eggs, you knew you were in the right place.

There’s one big problem with this theory during these COVID-19 days: all the salad bars are closed. How are we supposed to know we’re in a good store? Well, what if they replaced the iceberg lettuce and neon beets with candy, booze, and cereal? That would work.

That’s exactly what a Missouri-based grocery store chain decided to do. Instead of wasting time removing the unused salad bar, Dierbergs Markets filled it with beer, liquor, cereal bars, and even candy.

Photo: Dierbergs Markets

Photo: Dierbergs Markets

Originally, when the pandemic hit, salad bars just stayed empty and sad in the stores, practically begging for someone to add something to them. Store director Rick Rodemacher heard the empty salad bar’s siren song and decided to act.

“He tried other fresh food items at first but when that wasn’t really working, he came up with the idea to place beer cans in the empty space,” Dierbergs Markets told UPI. “It started with beer cans and liquor bottles. Others have done their own versions. We now have a tiki bar, cereal bar, and energy bar.”

Not only did the stores remove fresh produce and add booze, but they also had a little fun with it by crossing out the word “salad” while keeping the word “bar.” We honestly don’t know if any other grocery store chains have decided to take a hint from Dierbergs, but we really hope they do.

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