Aw, Schnucks

Everyone knows that grocery store chains have different stores depending on the neighborhood. I'm kind of fascinated with how far Schnucks has taken it. A rundown of the Schnucks I frequent:

Olive and Midland
This is basically your lower rent Schnucks, especially since its the closest grocery store to the food desert of the balkanized, poor municipalities north of U city, namely Pagedale and Normandy.
Huge racial diversity here. Some students, mostly from the university housing north of Delmar, a few local Asians, lots of black people, more than any other Schnucks I've seen.
Next door: a dollar store, and a clothing store for plus sized black women.
Not much produce here, ( I have heard a theory that grocery stores in areas considered to be higher risk of shoplifting will carry less fresh fruits and veggies, which have a very low profit margin, and generally mark up the price to compensate for a higher loss rate ) very poor beer and wine selection, no coffee stand. They don't sell the premium orange juice they squeeze themselves, and they don't sell gelato either.
However, they do have the most amazing selection of smoked meats of any of the Schnucks I've seen. There's an entire section of the store devoted to it, actually. And its great stuff too, most of it from local smokehouses and sausage makers.
The store is more spartan, dingier. They started selling products in giant cardboard bins with giant sale signs in the middle of the aisle. It seems clear to me they are trying to attract the Wal-Mart shopper.

Clayton
A little over a mile south and you get to the grocery store that serves the university community and the relatively wealthy neighborhoods to the south and west. It's nice without feeling opulent. In-store coffee shop, sometimes with live music.
Next door: bikram yoga, UPS, frozen yogurt.
They sell the amazing orange juice and the expensive gelato. The smoked selection is not bad either.
Also pretty diverse. Seems to cover a wide range of shoppers. Great produce section, good wine selection, amazing beer section. Best beer selection of any Schnucks. Bustling and busy pretty much anytime. Open 24 hours. Lots of college kids.

Ladue
A little over a mile away is a world of difference in the Schnucks. If the Olive store caters to lower income blacks, this store caters to wealth and Jews. It's a logical step, given its location at the edge of one of the richest neighborhoods in St. Louis, and its proximity to the heart of the Jewish enclave. Walking in, I can always tell we're approaching a high holy day by the featured products on immediate display.
This is what my family calls "the nice Schnucks". It's actually part of a stylized shopping center which has a Barnes&Noble and a Gap. It's a vaguely Virginian style with red brick, chandeliers in the vestibule, and whitewashed wood. It's too pretentious. It looks like an upscale grocery store, although it doesn't have the smugness of nearby Straub's which is an upscale grocery store.
The produce and fruit section here is great- fresh, good looking, and lots of it. They sell the "life changing" Culinaria fresh orange juice. Huge selection of wines and other liquor, great selection of beer, including craft breweries. Coffee and gelato stands in the store. Really weak smoked meat selection.

Schnucks on the Plaza
The single bottle of beer I bought here was placed first in a paper bottle bag, and then in a larger, white paper grocery bag emblazoned with the store name in dignified serif typeface: this is not Schnucks-this is Schnucks on the Plaza.
Since the only large open spaces nearby are asphalt parking lots, I can only surmise that the plaza is a reference to the nearby mini-mall, with only luxury department stores. A friend characterized the area as "disgusting"and I have to agree with him. The architecture style of the area is Virginian plantation. Where the Ladue Schnucks simply borrows some materials and language, these buildings really try to look like plantation buildings. The Schnucks front facade is covered with whitewashed wood slats. It has a steeple. It looks like a cross between a church and a barn.
Next door: Sak's Fifth Avenue, Starbucks, financial advisors.
This is the Schnucks of the wealthiest area of St Louis. Big old houses, golf courses. This Schnucks feels more old money than the Ladue. No crystal chandeliers here, just a straight cold high end grocery. Good produce and veggies, wide variety of gourmet foods, the largest selection of wines of any of the other stores, and in sharp contrast; poor selection of beer, almost as bad as the Olive store. The weak craft beer section says to me that this is a store for old rich people.