Posts Tagged ‘norristown’

• Regional storm grinds rush hour traffic

  Date: 2011.08.20 | Category: East Norriton, Local Bullshit, Weather | Response: 0

  The storm this evening that hit the Norristown and surrounding areas slowed rush hour traffic in East Norriton to a virtual standstill. There was mild flooding on Swede and into Norristown where it becomes DeKalb. The storm seemed to be hovering right above the intersection of Germantown and Swede for almost an hour.

• Sears Not Scared of Rapture

  Date: 2011.05.20 | Category: East Norriton, Norristown | Response: 2

  Well it’s been well over  a year (I think?) since Kmart closed it’s doors in the nameless shopping center up the hill from Northtowne Plaza.  Maybe it does have a name but they certainly don’t do a good job of sharing it.  Perhaps it’s even part of Northtowne Plaza itself.

  Tomorrow May 21st, 2011 the new East Norriton Sears Outlet will be hosting it’s Grand Opening at 9AM.  Here’s the address, it’s right behind the Applebees and Chick Fil A on Dekalb.

  Store #9114
  2700 Dekalb Pike, Norristown, PA 19401
  610-239-8292

  The word on the street is that there was some sort of soft opening this week whatever that means.  I have to be honest I’m not in a huge rush to get over there tomorrow, but I am pretty pleased that the void in that shopping center is now filled.  I’ll make it a point to stop in next week, I’m just not much for events.  I remember shopping at the Sears Surplus in Quakertown in the late 80′s and early 90′s and if this new Sears Outlet is anything like what Surplus used to be than I am in!

• 7 Eleven

  Date: 2011.02.23 | Category: Consumables, East Norriton, Everywhere else, Grocery, Local Bullshit, Norristown, Nostalgia, Video Games | Response: 3

  It may come as no surprise that my favorite store is 7 Eleven.  It has been ever since 1993 when the 7 Eleven in North Wales on North Wales Road got a Mortal Kombat II arcade machine.  Ironically one of those machines is sitting behind me as I type this but it hasn’t worked in over a year.  I really have to get someone out here to take a look at it.  Hands down my favorite game ever and I completely dominate at it.  Don’t even think of messing with me.  During college I would double flawless/fatality challengers through a mirror.  It was intense, but this post is not about Mortal Kombat II, the greatest game in the history of video games.  It is in fact about 7 Eleven, the greatest mini mart in the world.

  Now mind you all 7 Eleven’s were not created equally, and some disgrace the precious TM they have adorned over their storefront.  However I haven’t seen tyranny like that in 20 years.  From City Line Avenue to Blue Bell 7 11′s dominate the landscape of southeastern PA for good reason.  Simply, they’re the best at what they do.  But what do they do?  For starters how about providing you with 365 days a year non stop interrupted service.  The only time I’ve ever seen one closed is right after a robbery.  7 11 knows how bad you need them too.  On City Line there are 2 practically across the street from one another.  In Norristown and the immediate surrounding areas there are at least 5. 

  However East Norriton itself only claims ownership of one 7 11 and sadly I rarely get over there.  You see in my opinion the East Norriton 7 11 is in what I like to call the barren zone.  Don’t get me wrong I love that 7 11 and it has some unique items that set it apart from the 7 11 on Swede in Blue Bell, but it’s in that zone.  The zone I’m referring to is anything between Whitehall Road and Swede Road.  If you are a Norristown resident, it’s very unlikely you will ever cross Swede Road for a spontaneous stop because there are no through roads again until you get to Whitehall.  East Norriton Township Park, Norristown Park, Elmwood Park, and the ever famous Norristown State Hospital all bump up against one another and permit no traffic.  Sure you could get through there with almost any vehicle.  But it’s just not a viable route.

  For the last 10 years or so my 7 Eleven of choice is far and away the Blue Bell location.  Friendly people, your brand of cigarettes is never out of stock, and it exists on an obelysk of concrete that you can only see from an overhead map.  I have been known to visit this store on multiple occaisions per day.  I was recently ousted as foursquare mayor because I got tired of checking in there!  I’m sure I could earn it back, but I don’t have the proper motivation to be honest.

  update:  I got my Mayor title back with one check in.

• Bottom Dollar Food

  Date: 2011.02.06 | Category: Dining, East Norriton, Everywhere else, Grocery, Norristown, Walmart | Response: 3

  As I promised a few weeks ago, I finally checked out the new Bottom Dollar Food in Northtowne Plaza.  I only needed a few things and had planned to go to the Dollar Tree, but I figured this was a good chance to give Bottom Dollar a day in court.  At first I was dissapointed that such a new store could have a light out already in it’s sign. 

  

  How is a light out already!

  Fair enough I figured, for all I know they could have asked the leasing company that owns the strip mall about it weeks ago.  I’m not gonna assume anything though, and I’ll just take it for face value.  As I entered I was suprised that before me was a minitaure supermarket!  

  I didn’t know what to expect, but I did not expect anything like this.  It was like someone took a regular supermarket, stripped away all the bullshit that you don’t need or want, and left you with everything you do!

  

  Nice layout!

  At first I didn’t know where to go.  Should I get a cart?  Nah I’m tough enough to carry everything.  The first thing that happened was truly miraculous and I don’t ever expect it to happen again.  I grabbed a 24 pack of water of the shelf and it was ice cold!  I looked around as if I was guilty of receiving such a blessing.  I checked it again, my hands were not deceiving me, this water was already cold.  Now, they were stocking the shelves so I have to assume that this water literally came right off the truck out of the cold Pennsylvania winter night.  Now I don’t know what the odds of that happening again are, but I can tell you in all the years I’ve been buying bulk bottled water, I’ve never experienced it. 

  It appears that one of the methods Bottom Dollar uses to keep costs down, is by not providing free bags for your purchases.  I’ve seen this before in Ireland while I was there on my honeymoon.  It was at a department store called DUNNES in Ennis, Clare.  Really cool store by the way.  Kind of like a small super walmart, but much more upscale.  

  In any event bags were 5 for 25 cents or somethin like that.  I also grabbed a membership card and was on my way. 

  Next I was heading for Church’s Chicken in Norristown to pick up some dinner.  I had a coupon for a 12 piece chicken strip meal plus fries*, AND biscuits.  No way I’m passing that up.  It took a while though because that menu item is “cooked to order”  It was fairly uneventful.  Use your imagination.  There was a bunch of other people standing around waiting for their cooked to order meal.  It’s my understanding now that quite a few items on the menu are cooked to order.  When I got home I harrassed that box of chicken and then sampled a biscuit.  Thats when I decided to start working on this post.  Which is just about over. 

  

  Uneventful night at Church's

  *The coupon was actually for mashed potatoes but the cashier was gracious enough to let me swap for fries.

• Thundersnow

  Date: 2011.01.27 | Category: Local Bullshit, Norristown, Weather | Response: 0

  I don’t know how I feel about this seemingly out of nowhere terminology that the news is using.  I do know that for as long as I can remember I’ve never seen lightning during a snowstorm.  It’s pretty wild out there.  Here’s a pic from down the street in Norristown.

  

  Norristown covered in snow