Ok, Ok. You are all right about the grocery stores. But I'm going to stick up for the hipermercados - at least a little!

Way back when La Vaguada was new, and I lived in the Barrio del Pilar, Alcampo had the BEST croissants in the barrio. People made long lives in the store when the time to take them out of the oven came (you could tell by the smell)! It was super convenient, and you could always go down to the far end of the centro comercial to the lovely mercado and get fresh food from stalls. (Hey guys, doesn't it ever bother you that people always ask "¿La última, por favor?" How about "¿El último?" Sorry - I'll get back on track.)

Later I became very attached to the Prycas, especially the one in Las Rozas. I could find everything there. I loved it when they had customer service representatives roll through the store on roller blades. Hey, Spain moves with the times!!

The real problem is not the stores, it's the fact that life is changing in Spain. I believe the single greatest factor in the change is that women are working outside of the home. How can you go to the market, which is without a doubt the best place to buy fresh food, in the morning, and prepare a three course hot meal for the family by 1:00 or 2:00, and hold a paying job? It's impossible. I know - I was in that position. So they do their best on weekends. And the hipermercados are a great help. Why, there are even businesses now in the suburbs that deliver every type of frozen food imaginable to your doorstep. It's sad, but as long as all the adults in a home are out working, homemade meals, and the type of daily shopping that goes with them, are going to disappear.