Whole Foods at Columbus Circle came up with a great idea. Interested in sampling a new kind of cheese but don't want to shell out six or seven dollars for a standard size portion? Well, Whole Foods has set up a little basket in its cheese section. Grab a mini-size portion of one of most kinds of cheese, and try any variety for under three dollars. (This sampling basket is located all the way to the left, near the corner, for anyone who may visit as a result of this post).

I really, really try to support Fairway, a native New York business, whenever possible. For kitchen staples, such as cereal and paper towels, it's very good. Their produce is generally good. And you can count on them for standard items like Eggo frozen waffles (at Whole Foods, you have to sift through hemp and flax organic waffles before arriving at the sub-standard "Whole Kids" kind).

But Whole Foods is much better in certain ways. First, if you are getting ten items or less, you can be sure you will check out in less than ten minutes. Even when the express line seems long, it moves incredibly fast--they obviously have express line apportionment down to a science. Second, as noted here before, Whole Foods properly packages its fried chicken in a paper box while Fairway wraps it in damaging foil.

More generally, the crowd at Whole Foods is also livelier, and younger, and generally better looking, and more artsy, most likely because it is more central to a livelier, younger, better looking and more artsy part of Manhattan. Fifteen blocks may not seem like much, but it makes all the difference. You can leave Whole Foods not aggravated from slow shoppers trudging along with overflowing carts.

Fairway renovated several years ago to double the size of the store and stock nearly everything under the sun. Now the next step should be to remove the worst-selling 1/4 of the items, widen aisles and remove some of those middle shelves near the bread department, and make it a more pleasant place to visit. Of course, it seems to pride itself a little on this aggravation factor (signs around the store almost celebrate it as part of the classic Fairway experience).