Page Title

Huber

Funeral Home & Cremation Services

952-474-9595

Pediatric Rehabilitation Clinic.

Occupational Therapy. Speech Therapy.

952-443-9888

Victoria’s Corner Bar. Nightly Specials and Menus. 952-443-9944

Buying or Selling Victoria?

Call Nan Emmer. 612-702-2020

Weinzierl

Jewelers

8 First Street in Waconia. 952-442-2885

Preschool and Childcare in Victoria.

Call 952-443-2121.

MVT Excavating

No job is too small. 952-446-9341

The Key

The Key to advertisers

in the Victoria Gazette.

Located at www.VictoriaGazette.com.

It’s not fun to be on the road in a heavy downpour of rain with loud thunder and lightning strikes everywhere and dark clouds turning light into night. A car is tight quarters with a pretty thin shell separating us from the elements and there’s no southwest corner to crawl into or stairwell to hide under.

So when the storm came up while I was inside Eden Prairie Center a couple weeks ago, I felt safer than if I had already been in my car on the way back to Victoria. The Center is large and the shell is thick. I did think twice, however, about the possibility of flying glass between the huge air spaces of floors and ceilings.

I was on the last leg of my shopping that afternoon, standing at one of the many Target checkout counters and emptying my cart which had grown rather full with a mishmash of items. How can you not pick up milk and orange juice along with the greeting cards, new movie, paper towels, toilet paper, and Tide?

Looking for a few groceries in stores not formerly known to carry groceries is becoming more common and acceptable to me. I don’t pass up convenience very easily. My loyalties in the area of groceries have become even more divided than in earlier times. If it’s convenient, I do it. I suspect a Fresh Seasons Market in Victoria would become convenient for me.

When we were building our home in Victoria in 1971, I often stopped at Notermann’s Grocery Store here on Main Street where Mr. John Notermann himself worked the lone checkout counter. The store was close and convenient for me.

The old Red Owl Grocery Store in Excelsior was convenient for me because I had become a patron of the pharmacy at the nearby Bacon Drug.

The old Driskill’s Super Valu in Shorewood was convenient for me when I needed paint or potting soil or gifts at Warner True Value Hardware.

Cooper’s Super Valu in Chaska was convenient for me while Jenny and Nick were at piano lessons every week.

Mackenthun’s in Waconia was convenient for me after an oil change or doctor’s appointment and Dueber’s was just across the parking lot.

Festival Foods in Chanhassen was convenient for me when I needed the services of one-hour film developing at Focus Photo.

Cub at Shorewood became convenient for me because it’s the closest grocery store to Victoria and takes the least number of stoplights to get there.

Byerly’s in Chanhassen became convenient for me because of the full service bagging and drive-up area, especially in the winter months.

Costco’s in Eden Prairie became convenient for me because of their big family quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables at bargain prices.

Lakewinds in Chanhassen became convenient for me when I began looking for gluten free, dairy free groceries.

Kowalski’s in Eden Prairie became convenient for me on the way home after shopping at Eden Prairie Center.

Did I say Eden Prairie Center? Yes, that’s where I was standing just a few paragraphs ago, on my last leg of shopping for the day, and my Target cart was pretty full and included some groceries. The checkout girl was about half done with me when all the lights went out. I could see that it was also black outside, even though it was early afternoon. We stood still in the dark and listened to the noise of the wind, hail, thunder, and lightning strikes to the ground.

After a short time, less than a minute, the lights flickered back on while the storm continued to rage and everyone in the store -- customers and clerks alike -- were herded down the aisles to a corner of the large Target store. People remained calm and then began talking all at once, not to each other but into our cell phones to spouses, kids, parents.

I was stuck in the pillow aisle -- king size, queen size, standard size, cotton filled, feather filled, polyester filled -- and almost picked up a couple of them to add to my shopping cart, if I could ever find it again. Can’t we always use a couple of new pillows? After about 15 minutes it all ended and we were let loose to gather our bearings and carts.

My cart was parked right where I left it, with half my things checked into white and red plastic bags, having been scanned just before the lights went out, and half of my things still on the black conveyer belt going nowhere. The power outage meant starting from scratch at a different checkout lane, so a gaggle of us re-carted and hauled on down the line.

For our trouble, customers such as myself, who got caught in the middle of a checkout, received a $3 voucher good toward anything in the store. “The storm wasn’t Target’s fault,” I said to the store hostess, “but thank you. Very nice.”

On the way back to Victoria I did not stop at any of the several grocery stores along the way. However, I picked up a fast food burger in Eden Prairie, my dry cleaning in Chanhassen, and gas in Victoria. Many things in life are convenient today, not just grocery stores.

Then the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful summer evening. It’s fun to be home on a beautiful summer evening, and it’s fun to think that Fresh Seasons Market could become convenient for us in downtown Victoria.