Finding a product

From time to time Craig likes to write a post.  He doesn't want to start his own blog yet.  Perhaps he will when we are traveling. 

[From Craig] Seems to me that there is something out of order about our national marketplace. Here we are, more computerized and connected and surveyed and with supposedly better access to information than has ever been the case, and I can't even find out where to buy my favorite snack!

There's a brand of snacks called Boulder Canyon that seems pretty successful with potato chips, but also makes wonderful "Rice and Adzuki Bean" chips. In our area, Costco used to sell them but you can't rely on them to sell anything other than paper products from one visit to the next. Trader Joe's had their own version but their product turnover may be even faster than Costco. Our larger Whole Foods stores had them, but no more.

So here I sit hankering for this product, and I go on-line to find them. Of course I can buy them directly online, but at 5 ounces per bag, shipping small quantities of such things around the country seems wasteful. So I find Boulder Canyon's website and, lo and behold, they have a "find a store in your area for your favorite product" page! Just what the WWW should have in 2013...

I find the rice and bean chips and tell them where I live. Quicker than rabbit songs, they return a page of local stores, all of which are Nob Hill stores, which is a subsidiary of Raley's.  I go to the closest one but it doesn't have the chips. I call several other nearby stores, but their people check and say they don't have them.

I am quite depressed that my fellow Americans haven't jumped on the bandwagon for these absolutely wonderful chips, and made them something that every supermarket stocks. I already order more oddball things online than I care to think about because local stores don't carry them. Do I have to add rice and bean chips to the list?

Before my snack desire overcomes my reluctance, Merikay and I are shopping a nearby Nob Hill store (one of those I called) when I discover a BIG display of Boulder Canyon Rice and Bean chips.  Both of the two available flavors! Turns out that this store has more snacks than almost any other supermarket I've ever seen, and they distribute them among several sections according to no category scheme I can see. The failure of their people who searched for me isn't their fault, it's due to bad store organization.

Readers who like good-tasting, lower-fat snacks can help me here. As you roam around the country (especially if you should pass through Scotts Valley, CA) look for these two products and see if you don't agree they're really good: Natural Salt flavor and Chipotle Cheese flavor. Or ask at any supermarket you stop at, and maybe we can get a real grass-roots movement going.