Willy Street excursion

During out picnic outing on Tuesday, we were discussing our favorite and most frequented grocery stores in Madison. Naturally, the Willy Street Co-op came up in conversation. It’s a staple in the Willy Street neighborhood and with the environmentally-conscious, organic food-loving crowd. Although I fall into those categories, I tend to do most of my grocery shopping at Whole Foods or at the farmers’ market — and I never venture out into the Willy Street neighborhood.. However, in the spirit of LGRAB’s Summer Games, I decided to explore the Willy Street grocery scene as my “explore a new part of town by bike” event.

Destination reached.

Whoa.

On my way to the Co-op, I saw a couple of tall bikes and took a picture of one on the way back. Unfortunately, it was getting dark, so it didn’t come out too well. I was intrigued: how do you mount and dismount that thing? Like a penny-farthing? I must admit that I don’t know much about the Willy Street neighborhood, but based on what I had heard, I was not surprised to see such a contraption parked on the street.

I wasn’t particularly surprised by the Co-op, either. It was pretty much exactly what I expected to find in a hippie neighborhood, and I mean that in the best possible way. The prices seemed reasonable, even for someone who is not a member, and I walked away with a few things (like RP’s ravioli!) that I would normally get at Saturday’s farmers’ market, which I’ll be missing this weekend due to an upcoming trip to Minneapolis.

All in all, I can definitely see myself going back to the Co-op a few times in the next month (in addition to the farmers’ market, of course), although I’m sure that once I’m back in DC, I’ll revert back to my Whole Foods ways. As far as I can tell from my limited online research, there are no comparable co-ops in DC proper, although there are some in Bethesda, etc. I’ll have to explore — at least once the farmers’ market that’s a block away from my condo shuts down for the winter.