Jonesy: You should visit again someday and check your list twice, go to the out of the way streets where the locals shop and not the tourists! I also lived in the midwest for 5 years (Minneapolis/St.Paul) both really cool cities with tiny ethnic boroughs, as well as Chicago, with its own unique Chinatown!

To answer one of your other questions: Question: "Were postwar Americans such savages that they didn't have tea?" Answer: YES- but it was not a result of WWII, in fact it goes back about another 150yrs. Just prior to commencing hostilities in our revolution there was a protest action known as the "Boston Tea Party", Dec.16,1773 in which a number of colonists disguised themselves as Native Americans and boarded an English ship in Boston harbor that was loaded with tea and they tossed the tea overboard to protest the outrageous tax on tea imposed by the King of England. After that it was considered a mild form of personal protest to refrain from consuming tea, which explains why coffee is considered the primary hot drink in USA. In polite society, even when coffee or tea is served, it is generally not served with the meal, but rather as a separate course after desert, and often served from a large silver urn buffet style to allow the wait staff time to clear the table. An alternative was for the ladies to retire to another room and have tea, while the gentlemen retired to another room for brandy & cigars. I don't recall ever seeing a butter dish with a formal or semi formal set of dishes, not meaning to say they weren't made, but from my experience for formal dining they used small butter molds to form individual serving pieces into decorative flowers, perhaps individual pats with the family crest or the initial of the host and the butter pats were then either placed on the individual bread plates, placed on a small communal butter plate with the butter fork.

I can understand that some people think that registering is demanding and greedy. That's the way it is now. I have watched young women go on line and see what has been bought from their "checklist." And the check list is long. And there are many stores. One thing they do that is nice is they will pick places like Target and Bed Bath and Beyond so you have a range of prices. But my friend's daughter was furious when she got gifts that weren't on the list. My friend was horrified my her daughter's behavior but I have seen that before. If I were the groom to be I would run for the hills. In my day....I registered for only china & silverware and glassware. That's what my friends did. I had no idea if anyone bought it. I was at school.We opened our gifts after we were married. There were many more things like candy bowls and candle sticks and a hobnail sugar and creamer set. Whatever they bought I have til this day to remember them by. No taking things back. I was flabbergasted that people would think of such nice things to make or buy for me.And I wrote my very personalized thank you notes within the month. My mother made sure of that. She would have been embarrassed to get a phone call asking if I got the gift. Someone gave me a shower and I got practical gifts like cookbooks and some lingerie and fun gifts. Nowdays, I have friends who give elaborate engagement parties at expensive restaurants. You can't tell the engagement party from the wedding reception. There is competition between friends. No wonder these kids don't know how to save money. I have also seen kids take many of the gifts back and use the money for televisions and in my God-daughter's case, windows. How do you like that!! I was wide-eyed when she told me and her mom was mortified. It seemed so unfair to the people who took the time to buy what they thought she would like.Oh well.

Careful there marie-ndcal, bringing up the "W" store might get you banned from it! Remember I was ordered by one here to stay out of Malwart when I shared an experience! And when she bans you, the "go-gurlers" will chant their mantra too! LOL There's lots of reasons for the prices fluctuating. Some good, some not so good. I understand that costs go up for utilities, labor, etc so I fully understand normal price increases, but one of my peeves is when the same store has locations within a few miles of each other and the prices vary, sometimes significantly. Walmart and Target are this way and the cost for fuel/transportation is clearly not the reason. Their COGS are the same and they come from the same supplier, probably on the same invoice so the cost to them is the same. Labor costs, taxes and utilities would be comparable so that can't be a rationalization. Store volume and size doesn't seem to make a difference. And curiously, the lower-affluent area will have the higher prices and I don't think they can rightfully blame it on shoplifting either. So 'splain that one to me will ya? I don't look close enough at the more conventional grocery chains to notice, plus I don't buy as many groceries as I used to since I'm eating out more. And yes, I found out (and got lectured for it!) that Target is cheaper on a lot of things than is the "W" place that is so beloved and rabidly defended by some. Perhaps the Walton family is larger than I realized? :D I still track prices on a lot of things. I like watching how the prices run. It has saved me a lot over the years. And I have my buying quirks as do most everyone. I have limits on what I'll spend for certain things. For instance there's just no way I'll pay $2+ for a pound of grapes. I will go without them, especially when they're not so good to start with! I do wonder though on sugar - I wonder if the change from 5# to 4# isn't at least partially because of people doing less baking these days. With slice and bake cookies, cake and brownie mixes and canned pie fillings people might not be using as much sugar at one time and sales might have dropped a bit where dropping the size and price a bit could have helped their sales at least stabilize. Factor in the sales going to artificial sweeteners, dieters and yes some loss to the Chicken Littles ranting that sugar is such a killer. No stats on it, purely speculation, but it would make some sense for the downsizing. And yes I realize that there was a sugar spike at a few times so it would sound cheaper and yes they could have dropped price less proportionately that what they should. I also notice smaller bags of flour getting more shelf space which suggests that the smaller bag flour sales are increasing.