Dental health, hoagies, hardware and more!

Monday, January 11

My first shopping stop was in the borough.  And I’m trying to figure out if the music soundtrack should be (Take These)Chains by Judas Priest or Unchained byVan Halen.  Because my first stop is at a chain store.  Part of a huge chain.  Walgreens.

Because I have run out of dental floss.  And you know how that always happens.  You tug on the loose end, expecting a foot or so of floss.  And you get three inches.   Try flossing with three inches.  You then look around for those free samples you got from the dentist at your last visit.  The ones you saved for such an occasion.  But you put them in that special place you know you will always remember.  And never can.

So I take my un-flossed self to the local drug store.  Now, I’m going to say this.  I’m all for buying from local shop owners.  If there was a dental floss shop in town, I’d most probably go to it.  But there isn’t.  And I’m not against big chain stores in our borough.  They serve a very good purpose, and I’m not ashamed to say I patronize them, They provide jobs for local residents.  And, as it turns out, they have row after row after row of dental products.  So may flosses to pick from!  I’m overwhelmed.  I stand, mesmerized by the array of flosses until I finally grab the Walgreen’s brand.  I mean, I’m just going to dig out gunk from between my teeth.  And the packaging looks just like the Johnson & Johnson one.  I’d be surprised if they weren’t manufactured in the same plant.

Lansdale Shopping Score:  1

Here’s an interesting thought about Walgreens.  They are in the process of buying the Rite Aid chain (click here).  But wait.  We have a Walgreens at one end of Main Street, and a Rite Aid at the other end.  A really controversial Rite Aid that always starts a lot of conversations.  Mostly negative, because it is rather an eyesore at the intersection of our two main shopping streets.  And replaced an historic landmark – the Tremont.  So what is going to happen?  Will they both stay open when they are under the same corporate roof?  This will be an interesting one to watch.

All that floss shopping has made me hungry, and it’s lunch time.  I feel like having a perfect tuna hoagie.  If I was out and about outside of the borough, I might stop at Wawa.  Not a perfect hoagie, but a darn good one.  But I am in the borough – with lots of good choices for a hoagie.  And I know where the perfect tuna hoagie will come from.  Corropolese Bakery & Deli.  Easy to locate in the Pavillion Shopping Center on South Broad.  Not so easy to locate on-line.  Do they have a web site?  I can’t find it.  http://www.corropolesebakery.com seems to go nowhere. [1-15-2016:  link is fixed!]  Even though it comes up in a Google search.  And it should!  You  may know them for their tomato pie – best in the world.  And they are also a former winner of Lansdale’s Business of the Month award.

Anyway – the hoagie is tuna perfection.  Mainly because of the roll.  They have amazing rolls!.  And good prices.  And fast, friendly service.  The worst thing about this shopping trip?  Wanting to buy everything else in the store.  From their cookies to cakes to breads and everything else – this place has amazing wares.  If you haven’t been there, you owe it to yourself to go.

Lansdale Shopping Score:  2

The next two entries are Ken's.  We recently got a new mini-Shop Vac.  And Shop-Vacs use bags if you are sucking up dry stuff.  And this bag was full.  Remember how vacuum cleaner bags used to have letters on them?  I need an A-bag.  Or I need a J-bag.  Perhaps a D-bag.  Noooo.  You never need a D-bag!

Any way.  I send Ken off to Wilson’s Hardware with bag in tow.   They, of course, have a great supply of vacuum cleaner bags.  Including the one we needed (for the record, it’s an a- bag).   Wilson’s is the first ever winner of Lansdale’s Business of the Month.  And well deserved.  For old house owners like us, it’s a godsend, because they have a lot of quirky items the big box stores don’t. 

Every small town in America needs an old fashioned hardware store.  We are so lucky to have Wilson’s as ours.

Lansdale Shopping Score:  3

Ken is a runner.  He ran over 1,400 miles last year.  Mostly on Lansdale Borough streets.  He’s in great shape because of it.  Me?  My running is usually limited to running a few yards across Main Street when cars ignore the “PA Law – Stop for Pedestrian” signs.  Ken runs for his health.  I run for my life.

When the weather is running unfriendly, like yesterday (boy, was it cold!), Ken goes to the gym to run on a treadmill instead.  And he patronizes a gym in the borough – Total Body Fitness on South Broad Street.  Right next to the Burger King (what a juxtaposition!).    He likes it there.  And he had more than one gym to choose from in the borough.  There is the YMCA on Main Street, and  the UFC Gym in the Pavillion.  Am I missing any?  Seems like Lansdalers like to keep fit!

Lansdale Shopping Score:  4

We are eating in tonight.  So a trip to the supermarket.    Ken likes going to Giant in Hatfield.  He likes the gas discount points.  Enough said.  I will beat this dead horse some more:

Lansdale Shopping Score:  Zero (I would have if I could have, but it’s something not available in the borough)

Another day draws to a close.  We’ll score this one:

FOUR opportunities to shop/eat in Lansdale met.

ONE needs not fulfilled by a Lansdale establishment.

Let’s see what today brings!