Specifically at grocery stores.
This weekend I was grocery shopping, and it occurred to me whilst attempting to find the one or two whole bean offerings amid the sea of pre-ground coffee and k-cups that I haven’t seen coffee grinders in a grocery store in years. It feels like, growing up through the 90s and early aughts, most stores would have at least a few options to grind fresh, or at least the Bakers near my home did. However, at some point, they were seemingly removed everywhere.
Of course, my intuition tells me that it benefits stores to not have such specialized machinery in place so as to allow maximum flexibility with store layout, but I’m curious if anyone has an inside scoop.
Costco is my go-to place for coffee, and they still have them. However, I don’t use them, I bought a burr grinder. I prefer grinding the coffee beans right before brewing.
My local Costco stopped selling whole bean Pete’s Major Dickason’s blend. I asked why and got the answer that “we removed our grinders.” Lame. No one else can possibly have their own grinder and want to grind their beans fresh daily.
Well that’s annoying, hasn’t happened at my Costco yet but I may have to get coffee somewhere else if they do that at my store.