Shopping local -- without a car

Since I don’t have a car (or even a driver’s licence), grocery shopping is somewhat harder for me here in Charlottesville than in Paris. Occasionally a friend takes me with her when she shops. Most of the time, I take a five minute walk to the bus stop where I catch a bus which takes me to another bus which takes me to two supermarkets and a health food store. If I want more gourmet or organic fare, I can take a different bus to a different area of town and shop there. People with cars can go out into the county to one of the organic farms and buy fresh produce, organic meat and dairy products but I can’t.
Nearly a year ago, a young electrical engineer and entrepreneur from Charlottesville called Zach changed my shopping life. Zach’s great idea was to provide a way for people to shop for local food on-line and then pick up their groceries near where they live or work. Some of the greatest ideas are the simplest.
He created a business called Retail Relay which lets you shop a number of local stores in Charlottesville and organic farms in nearby counties – including Polyface Farm made famous by Michael Pollan in his book “Omnivore’s Dilemma.”
You order and pay on-line before midnight of the day before you want to pick up your groceries. His team collects the orders from all the stores in the morning, packs them in a truck and you have your groceries in one easy pick-up that afternoon.


I first found out about Retail Relay from my friend Jeanne this summer.
Seven months ago, they had two or three pick up places in the parking lots of local businesses. They visited each once a week. On Tuesday, they came to a lot across the street from where Jeanne worked. All summer I ordered my groceries on Monday and she brought them to me after work on Tuesday evening.
By the end of my Christmas holiday, Retail Relay had become so successful that they had expanded their pick-up locations to two or three per day, five days a week. And one of the Monday locations was a five minute walk from my house!
My least favorite time to grocery shop has always been the day after I get in from Paris. All I want to do is unpack, check my mail and recover from my flight. But off I had to trek to the supermarket and back. That usually ate up about three hours of my first tiring day.
But not this time. I ordered my groceries in Paris on Saturday. I flew to the United States on Sunday. And on Monday afternoon, I trotted off to the parking lot where the Retail Relay truck was waiting.
Life is good.