I used to live in Sylvan, a short walk away from Worcester Dining Commons. I had breakfast there every day, either in Worcester itself or I got it from the ‘Grab and Go.’ But I could always have eggs, a bagel, coffee and a pastry or a muffin every single morning. For dining hall food, it was always fine.

But then, I moved off-campus last summer and I started to notice something interesting: we can eat as much as we want virtually any time we want on campus – with meal plans; but off campus, food is expensive.

I’m not even talking about Antonio’s, which is technically gourmet pizza, or Wings, which is an awful lot of food.

I’m talking about groceries.

Foods like bagels, bread, mayonnaise, lettuce, carrots, fish, chicken, sandwich meats and milk. The basic, ordinary, everyday foods that anyone ought to be able to find for reasonable prices at any grocery store.

Except in an Amherst grocery store.

My Mom regularly buys two or three times as much food as I do and spends half as much. Around New Year’s I went on a shopping trip to get food for a party in Philadelphia and I think $300 was spent on food for an expected 60 or so people. At Wal-Mart, the same shopping that cost me $40 at Big Y now costs me $20. The situation is no better when compared to Stop & Shop either, except that I have been to one in New York with much better prices.

There’s an even bigger mystery involved: my hometown, Rutland, Vt., has a population of 16,000 and three full-blown grocery stores, plus a Wal-Mart. There’s also a Shaw’s about twenty minutes away. Yet Amherst, with a population of about 35,000 people, has just two grocery stores and a Wal-Mart.

I’m not even counting Hadley here. We can forget about places that are already really expensive, like Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods Market; I can’t believe anyone making less than $70,000 a year would get their groceries from either of those places. They’re both basically the grocery store equivalents of Starbucks – places for gourmand Yuppies to spend their Clinton era disposable income without being too ridiculous.

Good for some, but I die a little when I see students shopping at either Trader Joes or Whole Foods Market. I like to go in and look at the prices to give myself something to complain to my grandchildren about when I’m a crotchety old man.

A quick look at Google maps reveals only a few more Big Y’s and a Super Stop & Shop in Northampton. Hardly competitive.

Amherst could easily support another grocery store, especially one with prices more in line with the rest of New England. A better grocery store would be advantageous for everyone in the area: us off-campus students would be able to save more money, keeping us out of debt; the 20 percent of Amherst residents living below the poverty line would see their standards of living go up with greater savings on their groceries; and most importantly, it would bring some new jobs to the area.

We’re in the middle of a recession right now and it’s important to note that the only reason it’s not a depression is because prices haven’t fallen and probably won’t. Saving money however possible, especially as college students and especially on necessities in life, is more important than ever.

The fact that Amherst has so few grocery stores and that all of them are expensive is a serious issue for the community. It’s not like there isn’t space, it’s not like there isn’t a market for one. But there are people out here whose lives would be improved immensely by a grocery store they can afford to shop at.

I don’t know how anyone could object to a better life for everyone.

Matthew M. Robare is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].