A story from our community
The Places We Shop - Whole Earth Center
The Princeton Public Library made the introductions to various businesses around town for this project, which brought me to a few new places. While the Whole Earth Center was new to me, it certainly is not new to the community. Every artist I know seemed to shop there that Wednesday! I realized this is where all the cool kids hang out. Whole Earth Center has been in business since 1970, and apparently is a fixture in this town! (My former and current husbands are chefs, so they love to do the shopping - it’s the only excuse I have.)
I was met with kindness when I arrived, but also a bit of inquisitiveness, as having an artist paint next to produce in a grocery store is objectively unusual. Still, staff and customers alike went about their business, only occasionally needing me to move to find the perfect bananas. One of the cashiers was very talkative and engaging, and would come over to chat between customers. She also talked to the customers as if they were friends who needed to catch up over tea. Her interactions made me smile as I painted.
I spent some time deciding which view to paint. As in all the stores, I could have made any number of paintings from all the beautiful views. It was hard to know if I had chosen the “best” view. But I also wanted to include either their rainbow flags or their peace flags to help represent the inclusion culture woven into their store experience. I went with the peace flags in different languages, as the display helped frame the store’s logo.
The produce manager, Bona, kept popping into my view as he stacked produce. I painted him into the scene, and later showed him my work. He smiled at the painting. He’s been an employee for 15 years. I was happy to commemorate his efforts in this work.
After I stared at the beautiful leeks in the produce display for 4 hours, I returned home and asked my chef husband to make potato-leek soup. He’d never made it for me before. He didn’t even have to ask - he knew that I wanted the leeks from Whole Earth Center. He made the soup not just that one time, but probably 8 times since that day. When he came home from his first shopping trip there, he commented on how friendly the cashier was. I knew exactly who he meant, and it made me smile.
(Written from the heart, without the use of AI.)
I was met with kindness when I arrived, but also a bit of inquisitiveness, as having an artist paint next to produce in a grocery store is objectively unusual. Still, staff and customers alike went about their business, only occasionally needing me to move to find the perfect bananas. One of the cashiers was very talkative and engaging, and would come over to chat between customers. She also talked to the customers as if they were friends who needed to catch up over tea. Her interactions made me smile as I painted.
I spent some time deciding which view to paint. As in all the stores, I could have made any number of paintings from all the beautiful views. It was hard to know if I had chosen the “best” view. But I also wanted to include either their rainbow flags or their peace flags to help represent the inclusion culture woven into their store experience. I went with the peace flags in different languages, as the display helped frame the store’s logo.
The produce manager, Bona, kept popping into my view as he stacked produce. I painted him into the scene, and later showed him my work. He smiled at the painting. He’s been an employee for 15 years. I was happy to commemorate his efforts in this work.
After I stared at the beautiful leeks in the produce display for 4 hours, I returned home and asked my chef husband to make potato-leek soup. He’d never made it for me before. He didn’t even have to ask - he knew that I wanted the leeks from Whole Earth Center. He made the soup not just that one time, but probably 8 times since that day. When he came home from his first shopping trip there, he commented on how friendly the cashier was. I knew exactly who he meant, and it made me smile.
(Written from the heart, without the use of AI.)
About the Contributor
Barbara DiLorenzo is thrilled to be the 2026 Princeton Public Library (PPL) Maker-In-Residence. Building on a painting series she began in Ipswich, MA, over two decades ago, she returned to the idea of focusing on the organic retail landscape of our independent retailers in a small town. The PPL reached out to several Princeton loop businesses for this project. In return for letting her paint on-site for a few hours, each shop will get to keep their painting.