WTF?

On my recent trip to Portland, I stopped into a retail location for Stonewall Kitchen, makers of all things jammy. I bought a jar of strawberry jam which was very good. Not too sweet, good flavor, fabulous texture; all of the things you'd want from some good, hand-made jam. I have to admit, at the time, I thought the logo was familiar. I just assumed I had come across it online, or something.

No, no. Not online. Very much in person. Stonewall Kitchen is fucking everywhere. Dave's? Belmont Market? Roch's? Yesiree! And here's the really funny part, I paid $7.95 for my jam, placing it at a stunning four dollars more than Smucker's. After much deliberation, I decided that Stonewall wasn't worth that. So what do I find? It's CHEAPER at other stores. A full two dollars cheaper. $5.95 for the exact same jar of jam. Well, that means the retail location is 100% tourist trap.

I have some negative emotions about Stonewall Kitchen, now. Not only did I get ripped off at their own location, but I also got chided by (very nice) employees for trying to take photos. Saying that they were directly told to not allow photographs of the interior; something about their layouts and designs being stolen. Because, you know how espionage is rampant in the cutthroat jam industry. Ridiculous.

As such, I don't think I'm going to buy anything else from Stonewall. A store policy that makes me feel like a criminal and prices aimed at ripping people off don't exactly elicit positive emotions.