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…]
If your store only doubles coupons up to $.50 – or worse yet, doesn’t double at all – maybe a change of scenery would help. Pack your bags and head on over to the scenic Tidewater region of Virginia, where a full-fledged super double coupon war could be about to erupt. Market leader Food Lion doesn’t double at all. But[Read More…]
First, there was relief – several troubled supermarket chains would get deep-pocketed new owners. Then came uncertainty – who are these new owners, and what do they really want with these stores? Then came the realization – they’ve likely rescued the stores from an owner that was running them into the ground, just for the value of the ground they’re[Read More…]
(1/11 update – read: “Bigger, Better, or Goners? What’s in Store For Your Jewel-Osco, Acme, Shaw’s and Star Market”) The troubled supermarket operator Supervalu has now confirmed what’s long been rumored – it’s selling off several of its chains. Chicago-based Jewel-Osco, Philadelphia-based Acme, Boston-based Shaw’s and Star Market, and Albertsons stores in California, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington[Read More…]
If you still have a hankering for a Twinkie, and you don’t want to pay hundreds or thousands (or millions) of dollars to buy one on eBay, hope you’re in the Chicago area, or can get there fast. The local supermarket chain Jewel-Osco today begins selling what it says “is believed to be the final shipment of Twinkies in the[Read More…]
Hostess may be no more, but what would you think about “Great Value Twinkies”? “Market Pantry Ding Dongs”? Or Kroger putting “Wonder Bread” labels on its store-brand bread? It could happen. As the snack maker goes through liquidation, and eager fans grab what few Hostess treats remain on supermarket shelves (read: “Twinkies Sell Like Hotcakes”), the company says there’s a[Read More…]
For all the talk of big-box retailers, drug stores, specialty grocers and dollar stores gobbling up a bigger share of the grocery pie, don’t count out the nation’s largest traditional supermarket. Kroger says it’s doing just fine, thank you. Kroger today reported its latest quarterly earnings, beating analysts’ expectations. For the year, earnings are up about 3%. “Not a particularly[Read More…]
If you’ve had a hankering for Twinkies after hearing about them in the news today – you’d better drop what you’re doing and get to the store, pronto. They’re flying off the shelves across the country. Hostess Brands, the maker of Twinkies and other iconic snacks like Ding Dongs, Ho Ho’s, Sno Balls, Drakes Cakes and even Wonder Bread, announced[Read More…]
There’s a range of reaction to the news this week that Supervalu is closing dozens of Albertsons, Save-a-Lot, ACME and Jewel-Osco supermarkets (read: “Supervalu Sheds More Stores”). “I’m really upset about it,” said one customer of a soon-to-be-shuttered store. “Just a sign of the times,” sighed another. Only four ACME stores are on the list. But news of the impending[Read More…]
The good news from troubled grocery chain Supervalu is that the company isn’t going under, at least not imminently. The bad news is that your local store might be. Supervalu announced today that it will close about 60 “underperforming or non-strategic stores” over the next few months. Southern California will be hardest hit, with 19 area Albertsons locations on the[Read More…]
