On a recent trip to Naples, Florida, we discovered that the Seed to Table supermarket (across the main road from our Marriott TownePlace Suites hotel; we explained to the kids that this was a double lie because the rooms are not suites and the hotel is not in town) has live music in the evenings. Example:
The first two years of 14 days to flatten the curve have been terrible for musicians, with venues closed by order of Covidcrats, people with money fleeing urban areas, events canceled, etc.
What if other supermarkets adopted the Seed to Table idea, though? Except for the extremely COVID-concerned, people are still going to supermarkets. It is easier to do in Florida because the ceilings are usually so high (the music at Seed to Table happens about 30′ above the main floor), but why not a guitarist in the produce section to encourage people to linger and thereby maximize public health with increased vegetable sales? If I can take over as public health dictator, I will mandate an opera singer performing Wagner in the chips section to discourage sales of Cheetos and Ruffles (also ration coupons for chips and anything including sugar, of course, since obesity is contagious and is an intolerable health risk in the age of COVID).
Readers: dumb idea as usual?
Separately, Seed to Table made the news back in February 2021, e.g., with “Florida grocery store bucks mask mandate; owner says Covid death toll is ‘hogwash'” (NBC):
A video that was taken at a South Florida grocery store shows nearly every customer and employee without a mask.
The footage was filmed this week at Oakes Farms Seed to Table Market in Naples, about 42 miles south of Fort Myers. In it, not a mask is in sight and social distancing is not being followed.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has repeatedly stated that masks and social distancing can help slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Note that Florida state law eventually came around to the owner’s point of view, i.e., that local officials cannot order masks (see “Florida governor signs law preempting local COVID edicts” (AP, May 3, 2021)).
What does the market look like inside? (produce from local farms in abundance; good restaurants, coffee, and an ice cream parlor; wine shop; not the place to go for cleaning supplies and the other non-food stuff that supermarkets carry)
Way more than only a supermarket, Seed To Table also has a great wine collection, a wine bar, a bar, great restaurant and a great meat counter. You can buy your fresh meat or fish and walk over to the kitchen and have it cooked to order. Not to mention not seeing dead bodies piled up inside from not wearing masks last year. Florida Free State.
> Dumb idea as usual?
I love it. Do you know what live bands live for? Crowds of people listening to them and enjoying their music. First of all, you can change up the music and get younger people back into the supermarket shopping experience so they not only feel comfortable gathering the groceries for the family but meet up with their friends while doing so. It’s a social space.
Every night you switch the music, tailoring it to the demographic you’re trying to attract, and throw in offers, discounts and ticket information for other venues. The Shaw’s near me doesn’t have the vertical space but it’s absolutely HUGE and has enough floor space so that at least 2000 square feet could be repurposed. With a little creative sound shielding it could absolutely work. Then you allow actual dance instructors to distribute business cards and do demonstrations. Wednesday Night is Salsa Night at Shaw’s! Ballroom Dancing Thursdays!
It all seems like a lot more fun than the usual dreary supermarket experience and the rest of the food looks great. I love the: “Would you like a little guacamole and salsa with that?” pictures. And look at all that fresh pineapple!
I keep looking at your pictures and comparing them with the sourpuss, stressed-out and dour faces I see on so many folks in Massachusetts, and it looks to me like people in Florida know how to live, while the people here know how to punish themselves and each other. It’s like some kind of internalized masochism. One day maybe some of them will wake up and realize that most of it is self-imposed and there’s no reason for it.
Wow, for a moment there I thought you were describing Germany and not Maskachussetts!
I guess getting enough sunshine does have an effect on happiness.
“Dr” Phil:
Thank you for Mask Post #246. After the first 245 I still wasn’t sure where you stood on mask use.
Maybe rename the blog to “”Dr” Phil’s lightly edited FoxNews.com comment section summaries”?
Mike: the original post takes no position on whether the owner of Seed to Table is correct in his adherence to WHO guidelines (June 2020 edition of #Science) regarding masks (“If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with COVID-19; Masks are effective only when used in combination with frequent hand-cleaning with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water. … Replace the mask with a new one as soon as it is damp and do not re-use single-use masks.” https://web.archive.org/web/20200604003932/https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/when-and-how-to-use-masks )
@Mike – it is amazing how much you hate our host and yet keep coming back for moar. Why bother reading (and more so – posting comments) if you can tune in to CDC site and get the official information right from the scientist, without any flip flopping or uncalled for sarcasm? Is it because you cannot post your approval there?
Or do you believe you will move PhilG to bigger and better things in his blog, like discussing outstanding economic growth we all observe, or disastrous policies of Ron De Santis (or another recent Trump reincarnate) or perhaps the definite success in solving immigration crisis as seen in border states?
Mike: If other news outlets only report events that are politically expedient, we need the Daily Mail and Fox News!
If you are a mask lover, there are new developments:
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/japan-researchers-use-ostrich-cells-make-glowing-covid-19-detection-masks-2021-12-10/
“Japanese researchers have developed masks that use ostrich antibodies to detect COVID-19 by glowing under ultraviolet light.”
“Tsukamoto told the Kyodo news agency he discovered his own positivity for COVID-19 after he wore one of the special masks and found that it glowed when checked. The diagnosis was confirmed after a standard test.”
Note that the professor, like most people, needed a test to even notice that he was a “person with COVID-19”.
My suggestion is to engineer a new COVID-19 resistant human super race that incorporates the relevant part of ostrich DNA. Please spread this idea in the Fox News comment section!
Anon: I think Mike is working in an established tradition of hostility toward infidels. It isn’t acceptable in the U.S. to express hostility toward Islam because it teaches that homosexual acts should be punished, valorizes Mohammed’s marriage to what we would call a “young girl” ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aisha ), etc. You’re not supposed to hate Jews anymore. Whom is it acceptable to hate, then?
Suppose that you worship the fickle god of coronascience. Sanitizing Latinx-delivered grocery bags works. Sanitizing doesn’t work. Masks don’t work. All masks work. Cloth masks don’t work, according to the randomized controlled study, but wear them anyway. Vaccines work. Vaccines don’t work, but boosters work. Nobody will call you a racist for expressing hatred toward infidels and heretics against this religion, so it is a very satisfying activity to rage against those who say, for example, “masks for the general public are ineffective and therefore anyone who is determined to avoid infection should stay home.”
I like how the Naples Seed to Table is flying a New England flag right behind the fresh pineapples.
They might as well have a sign “Covidstan Refugees Welcome Here!”
Seed to Table is a very polarizing business. You either love Alfie or hate Alfie. He has unnecessarily alienated about half of his potential market.