the Scallion for June 3, 2010
| June 3, 2010 | REGENT MARKET CO-OP E-news |
eat your vegetables |
RMC Board President Ponders the Seduction of In-Store Music
Madison –RMC Board president Brad Wolbert found himself at the Copps at University and Midvale, a store he seldom visits. “The first thing I noticed,” he said, “was the music, all the easy-listening feel-good tunes. Billy Joel, Carole King, the Captain and Tenille, Karen Carpenter,” he recalled.
“It put me in a happy romantic mood, and on an impulse, I bought my wife some pink mini-roses. $3.99. She was pleased, but it took a couple days before I could get ‘we’ve only just begun’ out of my head.”
It set Wolbert thinking. Did music work as strategically everywhere? In the Regent Co-op’s other competitor stores too?
A few days later, he made a point to listen in at Woodman’s. ”The carts are rattling over the tile floor, toddlers are screaming, the freezers are humming, the loudspeaker breaks in to send out staff messages,” he recalled. “What music I heard was mostly the kind of emotional, urgent singing you’d hear on American Idol.”
“After a few aisles, the passion in it overcame me. In a heart-swelling, lump-in-the-throat moment, I bought my two wonderful kids a gift. A Frito-Lay 22-ct. Variety Pack, a bargain at $5.99.”
Trader Joe’s was “a no-brainer,” Wolbert said. ”World music, of course, but almost subliminal the volume was so low. I stood under one of the ceiling speakers and caught snatches of some sophisticated Jamaican reggae, then a guy singing a stylish song in Portuguese. I felt worldly and adventurous, ready for exotic travel. I bought some New Zealand dried apple rings.”
It was Metcalfe’s next. Wolbert’s empty cart rolled smoothly to the strains of Vivaldi and Bach. ”The sound system is excellent and the music is soothing and uplifting,” Wolbert said. “It’s an older crowd. There’s a small fleet of motorized carts at the door,” he recalled. “Everyone seemed hushed and well behaved, almost as if they’d just gotten out of church. I felt it was incumbent on me to buy something. It was the right thing to do. I picked up a couple Vidalia onions on special.”
Trader Joe’s gets their music on a CD from central headquarters, Wolbert learned, but the others, he concluded, probably subscribe to Sirius satellite digital radio, and among hundreds of commercial-free choices, pick the specific category that appeals best to their shoppers’ profile.
It was time to stop in at the co-op and give a listen. As he walked to the back of the store, soft rock and roll seemed to emanate from behind the meat counter. Staffers Miguel Salas and Bill Stoneking were back there at work.
“Where does the music come from? How do you turn it on and off?” Wolbert asked. Salas reached over and pulled a plug from a socket, and the music stopped. A radio.
“Tuned to what station?” Wolbert asked.
Salas and Stoneking shrugged. ”Wherever it’s set. Charlie FM, 101.5….”
“How do you change the station? Where’s the radio?” Wolbert asked.
They pointed up at a wooden sign that said “Deli” that Wolbert had never noticed.
“The radio’s behind that new sign now,” Salas said. ”We can’t reach it. Randy got a bunch of these signs at an auction, and that’s the only place he had to put it.”
“Is the music bothering people?” Stoneking asked. ”Do you want us to change it or something?”
“No,” Wolbert said. “It seems just right.”
Staffers Stoneking and Salas explain the RMC’s sound system
World’s Smallest Brat Fest! Coming Soon!
Saturday, June 12
Grillmaster Randy Winkler.
Member of the Month
Member of the Month: Bonnie Gruber
Bye Bye, West High!
West High students line up everyday at the store for lunch and stop in after school for a snack. We miss them when they’re gone. They add a significant amount of fun to the store.
And they add significant revenue to our balance sheet as well. What’s more, many of our regular customers leave for their second homes. Keep our store strong! Remember to shop often this summer!
Come in for RMC’s fresh, locally-grown produce and our good wholesome meat and dairy.
Cooking from the Shelves of the Little Store
This recipe was provided by Judy Sidran. She came to the University of Wisconsin in 1965 as a student from New York and has made Madison her home ever since. Her main interests are weaving, travel, cooking and yoga. She has been an active member of the Madison community and works as a travel agent.
RICE with SPINACH (arroz kon spinaka)
6 T olive oil
2 onions, chopped
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 cup long-grain white rice
8 cups coarsely chopped spinach
½ cup fresh dill
2 ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1½ tsp salt
½ tsp freshly ground pepper
1½ cups water
2 T lemon juice
Warm 3 T olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and rice, and sauté, stirring often, until the grains are well coated with the oil, about 5 minutes. Add the spinach, dill, tomatoes, salt, pepper and water, and raise the heat to high. Bring to a boil with stirring,and push the spinach down into the pan as it wilts. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender, 15 to 18 minutes. Remove from the heat and let rest, covered for 5-10 minutes. Spoon the rice into a serving dish. In a cup stir together the remaining 3 T olive oil and the lemon juice, and drizzle it over the rice.
‘we’ve only just begun’
Oh no now it’s in my head!