Because I Just Had to Ask…

The rush of warm air greets you as you step inside the foyer, the floor muckingly animated with the gray speckled snow brought unwelcomingly in from the parking lot. The air-curtain breathes life back into you as you begin to once again feel your nose. You question for the umpteenth time why you have decided to settle in a state that experiences blizzards, when you could be enjoying a half-priced Mai-Thai… when suddenly, the warm air carries upon it the aroma of (Insert Grocery Store Name Here) and you snap-to your shopping list.

Now, depending on your shopping destination, that description was either a fond French-bread daydream or an affronting moldy-delirium. The question is not whether grocery store chains have their own distinct smell, regardless of branch location, but why each brand has its distinct smell in the first place is an urgent topic not being discussed. More importantly, in the year of 2026, nothing has been done to curtail the slightly nostalgic but overwhelmingly burnt-salami-esque miasma of well…you know the one.