Bargain or Discount Markets
After my discussions, over the past weeks, of different shopping venues, I have been asked, personally and by email, about “Discount” or” Value” markets and with good reason. At least two chains of these markets are raising their image, through flyers, which arrive with those of regular supermarkets in the weekly mailings and/or through T.V. ads. I confess I had very little general knowledge about this type of store, so I turned for information, where else, but to the internet. The first thing I learned is that though there may be many local independent markets, the listed regional, national and international chains are limited in number, and seem to have originated or to concentrate operations in the U.S. on the East Coast.
Although, I try to avoid specifically naming products or vendors, in an attempt to remain impartial, I can’t report what I learned, without talking about some of the largest chains:
1. Aldi Markets is the oldest, largest and most global of the “Value” food market chains. Started in 1913, in Essen, Germany by the Albrecht family it has 9,221stores in 17 countries, including 1,140 in the U.S. In 1966 the two sons of the founder divided it into Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud, which controls the outlets in the U.S and Canada.
A) In 1979, Aldi Sud acquired the California based Trader Joe’s chain, which now has 365 stores nationwide. Though not usually thought of as a “bargain” store, Trader Joe’s was founded with the intention of offering international foods at reasonable prices.
2. Bottom Dollar Markets was founded in 2005 by Food Lion LLC, which in turn is controlled by Delhaize a Belgian company. It has 49 stores located in several states along the central-southern Atlantic coast of the U.S.
3.C-Town Supermarkets was begun in 1975. Prevalent in the North Eastern U.S. it’s actually a cooperative of a group of independently owned markets that are supplied by Krasdale Foods. The principle is the same as that behind the box or warehouse markets. The savings made through volume ordering allow for discounting prices.
4 .Price-Rite Stores are the newest and fastest growing chain, founded in 2009, by the cooperative Wakefern Food Corp., which supplies ShopRite Supermarkets. Priding itself on being a wholly American company, it is centered in the North East U.S., but has already expanded to opening two franchised stores in Calif. These stores are bigger in area than those of the other chains, and have larger produce sections
5. Save-a-Lot, with 1250 stores, nationally, is the second largest value food chain in the U.S. It was started in Missouri in 1977. In 1994 Save-a-Lot became a subsidiary of Supervalu Inc. one of the largest wholesale retailers, and moved into Calif. opening 21 stores. It differs from the other chains in that it is based on a licensee structure rather than a franchise one. Save-a-Lot acts as wholesaler to its independent outlets and thus can negotiate with suppliers on a larger scale. It’s, so far, proven success model is to offer a limited variety of merchandize, concentrating on one size of each item, reducing accounting costs. Save-a-lot became part of a larger group in 2006, when Supervalu, along with other investors, including CVS, bought Albertsons Inc.
The one thing all of these stores have in common is a no frills approach to marketing. The stores are much smaller than regular supermarkets, averaging around 3,000 sq.ft. in less expensive locations, not in the prime shopping districts. The interiors are utilitarian, no bright walls, designer floors or decorations and the shelving is often metal racks. Merchandize is frequently displayed in open cartons. Keeping stock to one size per item reduces labor in pricing and in configuring the computers at check out. In fact, there are rarely more than 4 employees in a store at a time; a manager, a cashier, a butcher and a stock person, and all of them do double duty, save the butcher. There are no deli, cheese or fish counters, no salad bar, no bakery, no florist, no take-out, in fact, no store packaging with the exception of berries in season and, of course, the meats. You bring your own bags, or buy them at check out.
Occasionally, there will be a shipment of items carrying a name brand, but for the most part, the products bear unfamiliar labels. Some may be offshoots of famous makers, but more often, they’re from small, unknown companies. There will be only one brand per item. The variety is also limited; perhaps 2 or 3 flavors of jelly or 2 types of cooking oil. Fancy foods as for appetizers are missing and the crackers are only the most basic as are the cookies and other sweets in general.
I should state that my observations, thus far, have come from what I learned on the internet, and from several visits to a local Save-a-lot, the only one of this kind of store within several hours drive. My first encounter with the market was a few months ago, when a neighbor told me they had lemons on sale 6/$1.00—a real bargain! A couple of weeks ago their flyers started coming. With this posting in mind, I began to visit more and pay attention.
When a man is exposed to high risk professions with exposure to chemicals, radiation, extreme heat, etc. click this store viagra cialis online it can cause sterility in men, so one can freeze their sperm.3. It should be cialis tadalafil online djpaulkom.tv understood that many people who have others around all the time, are still lonely. The lack of “bigness” in Obama’s support made it, I believe, much easier to attack from the Right. tadalafil overnight djpaulkom.tv There have also been numerous herbal and other nontraditional ED treatments that have attempted to ride the coat tails of viagra online price . I always advise reading the supermarket flyers to stay aware of pricing across the board. Comparative shopping skills are especially important when encountering the words “bargain” or “discount”. Just because these stores are built on the premise of offering them, is no reason to let down your guard. I found the prices on name brand products to be equal to or only slightly less than they were in the regular markets’ sales and in the case of one muffin mix, a bit higher than the box store’s. This was true of most of the packaged mixes, and bottled condiments, even in their store brands as opposed to the generic brands elsewhere. The basics, flour, sugar, rice are cheaper, as are pasta, tea and coffee, but these are very generic with no variety, yet their prices do remain stable until there is a general price hike. The same is true of the canned goods. They are of excellent quality and run about $0.25 to $0.35 lower than other places, as do most of the dairy products. Of the frozen foods, I’ve only tried a box of chopped spinach, but the quality was there, and I would think it carries through the department. The pricing of the vegetables is similar to that of the canned goods and the pricing of the other frozen products to that of the packaged goods.
On the plus side, as I said, the items in the dairy department, though very basic, eggs, milk, sour cream, a few cheeses, are bargains. So much so that when I was baking a cheese cake recently, I went to Save-a-Lot for the ingredients. The produce department, though also limited, is on a par with most supermarkets for freshness. The specialty seasonal things, like melons, cost equal to the supermarkets, and the usual bagged ones, like potatoes and onions are regularly less. As with any market, the other items are constantly changing as are their prices, which are sometimes equal to the other places, sometimes less, but rarely more, with the exception of deep sales. Occasionally, there will be a “can’t miss” offering, like the lemons, or green peppers a couple of weeks ago 4/$1.00. The flyers, T.V. ads, and web sites for several of these chains make them easy to track. For anyone who prepares meals on a regular basis, it pays to watch for them.
The meat department pattern is similar to the produce one. The prices are reasonable or competitive. There are fewer “family” sized offerings, and those weigh, max, 3lbs, which for me is great. The cuts are well trimmed, neatly packaged, and fresh looking with good color. I confess I have only bought a Smithfield ham, which is a name brand and was the same price as the previous week’s sale at a regular supermarket and a package of pork chops. The ham was as expected, and the chops were quite good, but I don’t feel qualified to give a fair assessment of the meat department as a whole because I can’t comment on the tenderness or taste of the other cuts or kinds of meat. I will say that I’m willing to give them a try. Here again, choice is limited, I’ve not seen anything other than pork, beef and chicken, no lamb or veal. There’s frozen goat meat though, which lends an ethnic appeal.
Each of these “Value” chains has its own policy concerning returns, refunds and methods of payment they accept Since many of the stores, within the chains are independently owned, the policies may even differ from one to another within a chain.
I’m glad I explored Save-a-Lot, and would be interested in visiting one of its rivals for comparison. In the future, I’ll read their flyers with the same attention I give the ones from the regular supermarkets, and keep their general pricing in mind as an option if I want or need an ingredient. Before occasions and holidays, when I do a lot of cooking, especially extra baking, I will probably make a special trip to recheck the prices of the items on my list.
Actually, hearing the latest projections of the Department of Agriculture, I may be visiting discount markets frequently in the months to come. The drought has caused major crop loss which, in turn, has caused another culling of herds and flocks, due to lack of feed. This means that not only will bread and cereal products cost more, but meat and poultry prices will steeply rise in the next few months, and remain high until the animals can breed their numbers up again, with an expectation of having enough food to carry them to maturity. That could take quite awhile because this is the second culling in 18 to 24 months and the herds were depleted before the drought. Of course there’s also the problem of many farmers facing economic problems.
The official forecast is that food venders probably will feature some sales with prices equaling last year’s as the meat from the depleted herds comes to market, but once the supply is gone, the prices will shoot up. One expert has said as much as $1.00 per pound across the board. I think, at the least, the better cuts will go higher. In my area, Labor Day 2011, strip steaks were $5.99lb. By this spring they crept to $6.99lb. July 4th they were advertised as a special at $6.99lb, regularly $7.99lb. When food prices are on the rise, they usually jump right after a holiday. (I think retailers are convinced people forget in the flurry of activity, what they paid for goods a couple of weeks before.) I fully expect those steaks will be $7.99lb in September and, quite possibly, $8.99 right after the New Year at the latest. Stocking up is only a temporary measure, exploring new recipes is the best solution to the problems ahead.
Meanwhile, if you have one of these discount chain stores near you, give it a try. The expirations dates are safe and the quality of the products quite high. After all, they aren’t fly-by-night ventures. They’re backed- up by huge conglomerates whose memberships contain some of the world’s biggest names in retailing. You might find a couple of bargains. Just stay in “smart shopper mode” and keep both eyes open as to comparative prices to find the real values and savings.
