Something strange is going on in the kitchen of the Stevens family home in Fair Oaks. Everyone gathers around the counter to check out the groceries as if they were some kind of major entertainment. Even their daughter Renee, at the who-gives age of 15, joins the marveling over hamburger buns and tomatoes. Since they started arriving as if by magic, delivered by Webvan. The Internet grocer wants to make such events everyday, but for now, just a month after starting service here, every delivery is a novelty act.
Neighbors run over to watch.
With the arrival of Webvan, Sacramento is on the cutting edge of a brave, new cyberlifestyle. We're just the third market, after the Bay Area and Atlanta, to be bagged by the e-grocer, before Chicago, before many larger markets. Our location has made us a bedroom community, or perhaps we should say a kitchen-pantry community, to Webvan's primary market. Some observers of the evolving e-world say we'll soon be doing almost all of our shopping like this as Internet delivery brings goods to our doors and gives us back our Saturdays in return. Orders can be changed until 8 p.m. the night before delivery.