dagibbs | Grocery shopping in Germany

I went to the neighbourhood grocery store -- it is bigger than a "corner store" but smaller than a supermarket. Probably comparable in size to the grocery store that is (was?) on Booth street a block south of Somerset.

It had an odd (to my eyes) selection of non-food stuffs. Paper napkins, plastic table cloths, but no plastic or other disposable cutlery or plates. Non-disposable glasses, mugs, plates, etc -- but also no cutlery. And, bras sitting in the same area as a bunch of the mugs and plates in nigh-identical packaging. An odd selection of tools -- large tree loppers, heavy duty buck saw with two blades, drill bits for putting 2cm - 5cm holes in wood, but no drill, no hammer, no screwdriver. And, the eggs weren't kept refrigerated.

And some of the prices made me wonder. I paid 5.20Eu/kg for Camembert -- at the current exchange that's about $8.30/kg -- but in Ottawa I'd probably pay about $25/kg. I expected wine (and other alcohol) to be much cheaper, seeing it as low as Eu1.99 for a 750ml bottle (probably bad wine) because I know how heavily "sin" taxed wine is in Ontario/Canada. But why 3x as much for Camembert? Where are we getting ripped off? Or is there some European cheese subsidy that is taking their prices way down?

(I ended up borrowing a few eating utensils from the place I'm staying. The room has an unequipped kitchen (stove, sink, two-burner stove top), and this place is not a standard hotel. It seems more oriented towards the long-term stay, rather than the short-term of a normal hotel.)