Detroit is in the news often now, as it makes for good Poverty Porn and sensational stories of rot and ruin. Journalists love to gawk at the abandoned buildings and often go on and on and on about the lack of chain supermarkets available to residents. Of course, the backlash to that is that the hipsters living in Detroit point out the excellent small supermarkets like La Colmena (I love Sam's Supermercado, myself -- but that's a whole other journal entry) or the excellence that is Detroit's Eastern Market, a large and flourishing farmers' market.
What they don't say is that one can find fresh produce in some odd corners of the city. I found such an odd juxtaposition of a canned retail experience and fresh vegetables at Walgreens, of all places! A friend and I had finished up some excellent swimming at Detroit's Belle Isle (which that, too, is another journal entry) and stopped in to the Walgreens near the island to buy some drinks. Near the register, a huge bin of sweet potatoes beckoned. Now, I've been to many Walgreens throughout Michigan and I have never before seen a bin of sweet potatoes, much less fresh vegetables, inside any location. That's what's so interesting about Detroit: the city always has some surprises in store for visitors.
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