Slowly I have watched my neighborhood deteriorate. In typical fashion the city ignores hard working, home and yard maintaining, and law abiding people moving from the area. The councilman along with Cudell Improvement Inc. send out self congratulatory bulletins as homes deteriorate and businesses close. A group of do nothings still fiddling long after Cleveland burned.
A sure sign of deterioration are the empty stores on Clifton. Thank goodness for Sapell's. Since the evacuation of Giant Eagle it is being paid back for remaining in the area. Registers have been added and more help has been hired.
Those of us growing up in blue collar homes often find the increasing supply of gourmet or trendy products amusing. I do not always need coffee beans picked under the waning moon on remote mountains. I do not always need beef from cows who were massaged after attending a concert on a hill in California.
I frequently crave pot roast, fried cube steaks, beef stew, or chili. Sapell's offers all the simple and basic cuts of meat at good prices. I can find pork steaks that are perfect for making my favorite sandwich, laci pecsenye. Sapell's also has the full line of Glory Southern-style canned goods. The kale is as good as any I ever had anyplace during my eighteen years living in Virginia.
Sapell's stocks ice burg lettuce and Pierre's ice cream. Don't go here for Jeni's chocolate-jalapeno-sea urchin ice cream or for heirloom tomatoes. Go here if you want to cook a dinner that your parents or grandparents will enjoy. You should too.