By MAGGIE M, Wedgee-inChief, Editor, the wedge.LIVE

The wedge got news today that Andress Your Independent Grocer, Smiths Falls, is now accessible in your pyjamas and under a minute. Yep, they are live on the web as of May 16th.

The wedge just tried the store on-line for size. The website is intuitive and elegant. The images and details are excellent. To boot, the sales prices in their flyers and in-store are also matched. You might lose a little on selection (stores carry so much more); but, you gain on time. And time is money!

So you view items, click them into the shopping cart, check out, and pay on-line. Store staff will pick-and-pack. Later, you drive-up in your pyjamas and staff will put your bags in your car. No need to brush up on the mascara or shave!

So the grocery trip is cut by an hour.

A screen shot of produce aisle in the new on-line store, Your Independent Grocer.

What’s also impressive, YIG is making quite a pitch for local farmers–they seem to be hearing the shoppers’ passion for “local local local.” You can click on-line and choose from a trough of field vegetables, tomatoes, mushrooms and herbs–all sourced locally. No geography lesson.

Your Independent Grocer makes deep commitment to local farmers.

A few other YIG’s are also on-line. It seems this is rolling out gradually.

This launch will kick Walmart (also on-line) across the street to the curb and add roadblocks to Amazon grocery expansion beyond its urban domain. The thing with Walmart is, it’s the kingdom of 3,000 mile “big agri” apples and wide screen TVs. I can’t imagine waiting outside for someone to spring from their vast windowless space to load my car.

And there’s that impersonal, no face or name thing. A multi-national behemoth vs. a Canadian grocer, emblazoned with a real surname and operated by real people, Dan and Wanita Andress. This matters a lot these days. Hardly a contest for this writer.

Smiths Falls’s Andress YIG is one of the early adopters in the chain to take this experience for a spin.

Here is YIG store site: http://www.yourindependentgrocer.ca

CAVEATS: A $3 service fee is added (dropped during the first month) and there is a minimum $30 purchase.