Shopping in Rawlins

Shopping in Rawlins isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. So there is no Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Home Depot, but I can get by for the next few months here. There’s an ALCO and some other store that starts with a ‘P’. I’, thinking Pimentos and Palisades but I knew neither one is the right name. Both stores are like small a Kmart. The ‘P’ store has some higher tech gadgets than ALCO. Both have some clothes and groceries, but the groceries are pretty overpriced. For groceries, there’s the City Market. It’s a Kroger store and seriously as good as or better than the Smiths back home. With the exception of a meager Asian food section, they are pretty good. The prices are a little higher than Winco but the produce, meat, and baked goods are fantastic. Anything I would buy at Winco is at the City Market. I’m pretty happy on that account. What’s great here is the Asian store. It’s nothing like the Southeast Asian grocery store in Salt Lake, but they have a great selection of stuff and the owner is very friendly. Next time I’m there, I need to get a bamboo steamer and shao hsing rice wine . I have to ask the owner for suggestions for what to do with the tahini I brought with me. There’s also a discount grocery that, I’ve been told, has amazing fresh baked goods. It’s run by Mennonites or some group like that. Within walking distance, there’s a family owned small grocer called Guns and Groceries. It’s an intersecting place. The owners are nice and cater to the BLM seasonal here. They, according to an internet review, really know guns. I don’t now guns and don’t need one.

There’s a Radio Shack, home building center, car parts stores, sporting goods store, thrift shop, the Rawlins Mercantile (no clue what they sell), and pawn shop. There are a few chain restaurants like McDonald’s, Taco John, Subway, and Pizza Hut. Believe it or not, there is a Thai restaurant here. It’s on my [short] list of places to check out.

What I haven’t been able to find is a mouse pad. I’m sure Radio Shack has one, but they’re closed on Sundays here and the Radio Shack is inside the home building center. That seems kind of weird. There is no RV supply store. This doesn’t make any sense to me. There are hundreds of mobile homes and travel trailers here. One of the RV campgrounds allegedly had supplies here. I went there looking for a roof vent cover and was sorely disappointed. Luckily True Value Hardware had one that fit.

On my list of places to check out are the pawn shop, thrift shop, home building center/Radio Shack, mercantile, antique shop, discount grocer, and Thai Restaurant.