I was going to lambast you for not including Mothership Music under Music Gear until I scrolled down and saw your top pick in another category. By publishing the nonsense that QFC is Portland’s #1 local grocery store, you have demonstrated yourselves to be completely batshit insane. It would be cruel of me to deride the mentally ill.

QFC is just a Fred Meyer's grocery section, but with an inferior selection of products, terrible produce and much higher prices. And, unlike Fred Meyer, it was never local. Seattle ain't local. Every time I set foot in my neighborhood QFC (Westmoreland), I miss the Kienow's that once occupied the space.

I was cheered to see that the Hipper than Thou Mercury praise "unhip" QFC for what it was -- a hybrid offering both good prices and unusual selection. Since moving here from the mid-west we struggled to find a suitable equivalent to the Heinen's we knew back home. Portland seemed to have only boutique grocery stores offering merchandise at Tiffany's prices, or cut rate discount shops selling bulk goods. Stores like Heinen's and QFC recognize that their shoppers aren't all families feeding a horde of kids and that in addition to some bargain prices their customers might be willing to spring for something better than table wine. They also don't require shoppers to travel a store so large in size that shopping there requires having gorp on hand to see you through the trek. Three cheers for the Mercury and good ole QFC. And no, I have no professional attachment to QFC, but my family was in the grocery business way back when so I appreciate a good store when I find one.