G&M Family Market is a full grocery store, and the aisles are stocked with the brands and staples you keep a kitchen running on. It is a grocery store you can get in and out of quickly, which is the point for most people doing a weekly shop in Holden.

The aisles

You will find canned vegetables and soups, pasta and sauce, rice and beans, cereal and oatmeal, baking supplies, coffee and tea, snacks and chips, crackers, condiments, and bread. Household goods share the aisles: paper towels, toilet paper, trash bags, laundry and dish soap, cleaning supplies, and pet food. Name brands sit next to a store-label line, which is usually the cheaper way to buy the basics.

Dairy and frozen

The dairy case along the wall keeps milk, eggs, butter, cream, yogurt, sour cream, and packaged cheese. The frozen aisles hold vegetables, fruit, pizza, ice cream, breakfast items, and frozen dinners. Between dairy, frozen, and the fresh departments up front, most people fill a cart without leaving for a second store. Swing by the meat counter and produce on the same trip and the week’s shopping is done.

Weekly ad and coupons

The grocery store puts out a weekly ad with sale prices across the store, and it is worth a look before you shop. Manufacturer coupons are accepted at face value, paper or digital, so the coupons you clip or load stack on top of the sale prices. The flyer changes every week, and the front-page items are usually the deepest discounts.

Floral and everyday extras

There is a floral section with cut flowers and arranged bunches for a birthday, a thank-you, or a table for Sunday dinner. Near the registers you will find the odds and ends people forget, like batteries, greeting cards, and travel-size items. If a product you buy regularly is not on the shelf, tell someone at the desk. A store this size can often bring in a specific item or tell you which day it arrives.

A full grocery store run

People sometimes assume a grocery store this size cannot cover a week’s list, then find that it does. The aisles carry the everyday brands, the store label fills in the cheap basics, and the fresh departments up front handle meat, produce, deli, and bread. You will not find a wall of forty mustards, but the items most people actually put in a cart every week are here, and the checkout line is short. The store takes SNAP/EBT along with cash, debit, and the major credit cards. For a lot of Holden households it is the regular grocery store, with the bigger chains in Bangor saved for the occasional specialty item.