You may recall my recent mini-rant about a photo I saw in our local Safeway grocery store depicting “a better beer aisle” coming soon as part of a store-wide refreshing.  If not, read up here. The photo depicted a sign I’d hoped was for illustration purposes only.  I also pondered what “categories” Safeway intended to help us find in its new and improved beer aisle.

It turns out I did not need to wait long to find out.  Though the layout of the beer aisle has not yet changed, the new signs arrived last week and revealed the answers.  No, the photo was not for illustration purposes only, and no, and the categories are not what I thought they might be.

Here they are (forgive the crappy photos, the beer aisle is only so wide):

I swear my initial point in bringing this to your attention was only my concern for the idea that craft beer was “for the aficionado” as depicted in the new sign.  Good beer is for everyone and craft beer is already generating enough of a snob affiliation without the help of a major grocery chain (which may soon be an Albertson’s, so perhaps the signs are short lived). 

Frankly, I’d be happy with lower prices, a better selection, and a single large sign pointing to “BEER.” But since we appear to be stuck with these, here are my suggestions for a little improvement (click for a bigger view):

Feel free to play along. Safeway can thank us later.