What’s not to like about low prices on the things you buy most often at the grocery store? Apparently Food Lion customers found plenty not to like. The grocery chain is ending an “everyday low pricing” test and raising prices – so it can have more sales instead. The East Coast chain, one of the largest in the country, has[Read More…]
If you’re going shopping this weekend, and paying with a credit card – watch out. Beginning Sunday, stores can charge you extra for it. Under the terms of a settlement reached last year, stores will have the option of adding a surcharge for credit card payments – passing the cost that they already pay to the credit card companies, on[Read More…]
Kevin the Meatbay Butcher is not amused. The personable, punny public face of the Florida-based Sweetbay grocery chain’s Facebook page fell silent today, so his platform could be taken over for a more pressing matter. The Sweetbay Facebook page became an impromptu counseling session, to help customers and employees take in the news that a third of the chain’s stores[Read More…]
Facebook would love it if you went online and never left Facebook – and, increasingly, so would companies that offer printable coupons. They’re making it easier to access, print and share coupons without ever leaving the social media site. And Facebook itself plans to make it easier to find out what deals your friends have discovered. Last year, Valassis unveiled[Read More…]
If everyone’s prices are low, are anyone’s prices really low? While you ponder that, consider this recent prediction from the retail consultant AMG Strategic Advisors: within three years, the vast majority of retailers will largely ditch sales and promotions in favor of everyday low pricing. Super-savers accustomed to collecting coupons and waiting for sales may shudder at the thought; Walmart[Read More…]
Sure, you like your local grocery store, but have you “liked” them? A roundup of the most and least popular grocery retailers on social media sites (see the full list below) can yield some interesting insights, though it also shows that “likes” aren’t necessarily everything. Florida-based Publix was recently criticized (in “Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer” magazine) for being “technology-challenged”: “Yes,[Read More…]
As more supermarkets expand their selection to include more wine, beer and specialty foods along with the usual staple grocery items, Harris Teeter is taking a different tack. The southeastern grocery chain is planning a brand new store concept that ditches many of the usual staple grocery items altogether, in favor of high-end items that you might need to entertain[Read More…]
Last week, we brought you the story about the growing popularity of “scratch-and-dent” discount grocery stores (read: Seeking Out Groceries That Are Dented, Expired, Discontinued – And Cheap.) Maybe we should have called them “scratch-and-dent-and-rotten-and-stolen from other supermarkets’ dumpsters” stores. At least in one particularly icky case. Rodney Sparks of Monrovia, Maryland was arraigned earlier this week, on charges that[Read More…]
All week, grocery shoppers in Hampton Roads, Virginia have been told that “exciting things are in store” at Kroger. Today, those “exciting things” have been revealed. “Announcing New Low Prices!” the store’s weekly ad blares. A store executive tells the Virginian-Pilot newspaper that Kroger’s seven local supermarkets are cutting everyday prices on more than 10,000 of the 28,000 items in[Read More…]
