"Home of Soviet style supermarkets..."

Put a grungy looking produce section, and a lot more beer, into a Sav-on and you’ve got the makings of a typical German supermarket. Expatica.com reports, “...for anyone who's ever shopped elsewhere, a trip to a German supermarket can be like taking a step into the Dark Ages - cluttered shelves, out-of-date products, sparse staffing, long queues and dated décor.”

International chains don’t step in, as the combination of “Germany's obsession with cheap” (i.e., discount stores) and government controls are just too daunting...even Wal-Mart is flailing. Hard to say where these government controls are getting them though, our supermarket in the center of town always has filthy floors and we’ve given up buying meat there...the rest is okay, but my mother would find the place absolutely appalling. Since it’s half a block away (and underground!), and without a car we can’t just head over to the much nicer supermarket we used to go to on the other side of town, it will have to do. There’s always a world famous outdoor market a couple of blocks in the other direction, and every two feet a department store with upscale groceries in the basement...so it is possible to find what you need.
Take Fourth of July supplies for instance, one of the local chains is having a sale on all of the traditional fixin's today. Hot dogs in a jar, cream of clam chowder soup, barbequed marshmallows, chicken corns...and when's the last time you celebrated Independence Day without a big juicy steak from South America?