Village Providores

Love for a providore stretches beyond the quality of the produce it sells. Of course, this is ONE of the most important features, as a providore would be nothing without its products. And yet, in order to woo a customer into falling in love, a providore has to provide more than just products.
A good providore must charm. It must entice. It must have that certain je né sais quoi that makes upselling appear endearing and that makes spending $ 29 on a small tub of salt seem not only sensible but sexy. It sounds ridiculous, but I’ve been in to delis where you fall in love. You dream of marrying Providore Pedro and moving to his country home in Perpignan where you eat cheese and drink wine all day long.
Sadly, Village Providores is not one of these providores.
Village Providores does have some pretty good products. Maggie Beer, Pastabella pastas and sauces, a good range of cheeses and meats (an especially good range of sausages), with freezers of different brands of ice creams, some gluten free products and a few fresh loaves of breads. And yet, I didn’t want to buy any of it. Furthermore, I wasn’t interested in what they had to offer me, because they weren’t offering it well.
Somebody send a marketing officer and an interior designer toward Village Providores and things could turn around quite quickly. In the meantime, it’s probably lucky — I don’t have $ 30 to spend on salt right now.