>Just look around these threads: newspapers vanishing, this consolidating, that merging... and the assortment dwindling. Every week or two I notice an item vanish from the shelves. Question for East-coasters: was the last time you saw knackwurst at Kroger? IIRC, October or even earlier. They're just gone. How many other suppliers of chocolate are there, besides Hershey? When was the last time you saw them on the shelves? How many cell phone providers are there? Who bought whom in the last two years?

We don't have Kroger around here, but I visit a couple of different supermarkets. Never bought or looked for knackwurst, so I can't speak to that.

In the baking chocolate (which is what I'm interested in), depending what I want, I have a choice between Nestle, Hershey, Ghirardelli, Baker's, and the store brand. And that's without looking in the kosher or organic sections.

Sounds like you need to choose a better market.

Tamar

P.S. I'm looking forward to the new co-op that's opening in my neighborhood, probably in the fall. We've already paid our membership in full.