Shopping habits are changing, and as Milwaukee's retail landscape continues to evolve OnMilwaukee.com is pulling out the credit card for a full week of retail, shopping and commerce content. Stories about local stores, national retailers, online shopping and more. OnMilwaukee.com "Retail Week" will highlight shopping through a creative and diverse lens.

Rhino Food Store, 7411 W. Hampton Ave., is what I always want Pacific Produce to be: cheap, unoffensive to my sense of smell and filled with my favorite Asian foods and items.

Sure, Pacific Produce, 5455 S. 27th St., has a much larger selection (particularly for frozen foods), but the prices are a lot higher. Plus, Rhino is smaller – not small, but smaller – and less overwhelming, stocking everything I’m interested in, including straw gardening hats, Asian candy (hard-to-find black coffee candy and also ones with cute, bubble-headed panda wrappers), rice noodles, large bottles of Sriracha, coconuts and joss paper (gold paper used primarily in Chinese ceremonies but also makes for great crafting of all kinds).

It’s also always fun to look at all the items that don’t make it into my cart: cans of bananas, crickets, larvae and quail eggs along with fake money and massive woks.

I was particularly impressed with the price of wasabi-coated peas (about $3 less than the price at other grocery stores), the incredible bamboo shoot selection (at least 20 different brands to choose from) and the chopstick collection.

I also picked up a much-needed and attractive indoor / outdoor rug for my front porch for $12. I looked at something similar that cost four times that amount last summer at a box store and passed on it. 

Rhino is the largest Hmong-owned grocery store in Milwaukee. It’s owned by Pai Yang and located inside a former engine and transmission shop.

Although I live on the near South Side, Rhino Foods on Milwaukee’s Northwest Side is my new Asian market of choice.

Shopping habits are changing, and as Milwaukee's retail landscape continues to evolve OnMilwaukee.com is pulling out the credit card for a full week of retail, shopping and commerce content. Stories about local stores, national retailers, online shopping and more. OnMilwaukee.com "Retail Week" will highlight shopping through a creative and diverse lens.

As the new Pfister Narrator, I have been spending time at the beautiful Pfister Hotel. Consequently, I invested in a few items to spruce up the wardrobe.

I buy most of my clothing second hand, but I decided to try a few affordable new-clothing stores, too. So I asked around. Multiple women suggested H&M, Target and Kohl’s Department Store.

I don’t like malls or shopping, so I decided to check out these stores in one swoop to get it over with. I started at H&M. Indeed, I found some items I liked. And the prices were pretty good.

I was excited to find slightly upscale attire that still had edge. Like dress pants with a subtle skull print and black, vaguely Gothy tops.

But my enthusiasm waned behind the dressing room door.

Ninety-eight percent of my wardrobe is a size 6, and so, naturally, that’s the size I grabbed at H&M. However, I could barely pull the pants above my knees. So I got an 8. Better, but still too small. 

I thought about grabbing a 10, but then I got annoyed. It’s not that a size 10 is upsetting to me – it’s an average size for a woman – but I realized that if scrawny ol’ me needs to try on clothing that’s two sizes or more larger than her usual size, what does this mean for women who are a 10 or a 12? Do they grab a 14 or 16 at H&M?

Does H&M even carry a 16?

I ran this by a couple of other women and both agreed that the sizing at H&M runs small. A male coworker said he noticed the same thing in the men’s clothing.

I’m not suggesting vanity sizing where I miraculously fit into a size 0, but H&M’s sizing seems unfair. Especially for women who already struggle with body…

I have a strange fascination with PETA. I’m not even a vegetarian, and I find many of their practices completely ridiculous, and yet, they have my attention. Their latest stunt is no exception.

The hardcore animal rights organization launched a national billboard campaign last week in Kansas City and it went up in Milwaukee this week.

The "Got zits?" billboard was prompted by a recent study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that claims there is a connection between acne and dairy products.

Hence, the billboard shows a teen with a pimple-covered face, a milk mustache and the words, "Got zits? Studies Show: Milk and Cheese Trigger Acne. Ditch Dairy."

The billboard is located on the south side of West Lisbon Avenue at 52nd Street.

"Teens care about animals, and they care about their skin – so ditching dairy is a no-brainer," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "PETA encourages people of all ages to help cows and stay healthy by choosing the delicious and cholesterol-free plant-based milks, ice creams and cheeses that are widely available in grocery stores."

A previous 47,000-person study by the Harvard School of Public Health also concluded that the consumption of milk and other dairy products significantly raised the incidence of acne.

A dairy-free diet can also lower the risk of cancer, heart disease, and obesity in adults as well as allergies, ear infections and juvenile-onset diabetes in children.

However, I think a campaign that makes teenagers any more weirded out by food or drink consumption is just short of emotionally negligent. And yet, the other side of me once again commends PETA for their ruthless ability to cut through the clutter and get us to respond. Including this blog.

PETA's billboard is also headed to Cincinnati and Baltimore. 

Shopping habits are changing, and as Milwaukee's retail landscape continues to evolve OnMilwaukee.com is pulling out the credit card for a full week of retail, shopping and commerce content. Stories about local stores, national retailers, online shopping and more. OnMilwaukee.com"Retail Week" will highlight shopping through a creative and diverse lens.

Tonight, while hand-washing my dishes like I have for the past three years, I checked in with myself for the umpteenth time about buying a dishwasher. I have a minuscule kitchen and yet, there is room for one.

But I decided to try life without one a few years back and now, it’s strange, but I find washing dishes rather relaxing. I also feel that, if memory serves, a dishwasher is a fair share of work, too. Just different work: scraping, loading, unloading.

The key to hand washing dishes, however, is to use very warm-to-hot water, something not everyone can do. But I can. My family jokes with me that I’m impervious to heat – it’s weird and true – so I feel I wash my plates and such with germ-killing water.

Here is some other stuff I don’t have, nor do I want.

A microwave. Haven’t had one of those in three years and I don’t miss it at all. Except when baking and I need to soften butter. Or on the rare occasion that I crave microwave popcorn. Ninety-nine percent of the time, now that I bought a double-boiler for warming up leftovers and a Stir Crazy popper which is just a lot of fun to have, I don’t miss the nukebox. And I like the extra counter space in my afore-mentioned minuscule kitchen.

A television. Having a laptop is plenty for me and my TV needs. Between Netfix and Hulu I am able to check in with shows and watch entire series. I prefer the aesthetic of my living room without a television and lots of bookshelves instead. I also own a digital projector to connect to my laptop and for family movie nights we watch movies on a roll-up screen. Once in a while, I remember my Sunday night routi…