Arguably, the most important fact in this story is that there’s a grocery chain called “Schnucks.” It’s located in the Midwest, and Brandon and his fiancee shop there, employing a complicated credit-card-tab-splitting procedure that normally causes no problems. This time, it did, resulting in a double charge. Brandon wonders whether he’s justified in pursuing a chargeback, since he still doesn’t have his money back. Short answer: Yes. [More]
grocery stores
The Secret Economy Behind Free Food Samples
By 2.15.11
The next time you see free food samples at the local supermarket, take a closer look at what’s being served and how it’s presented. You could be on the receiving end of an elaborate and expensive offering cooked up by a clever retailer — or may be getting leftovers that are about to hit their expiration date. [More]
Washington, DC Safeway Store Introduces Receipt Checks
By 2.15.11
Know what American retail needs? More receipt checks. DCist reports that a Washington, D.C. Safeway store has traded uniformed security guards posted at the door for plainclothes Walmart-style greeters who politely block shoppers from exiting until their receipts are checked. There’s an almost literal escape hatch, though: for now, tipsters say that there are no receipt checkers posted at the exit to the parking garage. [More]
Wegmans Introduces Amazing Soda Fountain For Wine
By 2.15.11
Have you ever eaten in a food court or buffet and wished that you could get a glass of wine as easily as getting a Diet Coke from a soda fountain? At the food court in the Allentown, PA Wegmans grocery store, you can purchase from a vending machine a 5-ounce glass of wine, a half-glass, or a 1-ounce “sample.” A full glass costs $6 to $10. [More]
Study: When New Walmarts Open, People Get Fatter
By 1.19.11
Walmart is now the largest grocery store chain in the country, and a new study says that the more supercenters the company opens, the heavier the people living nearby become. [More]
Walmart Realizes Buying Local Produce Can Be Good For Business
By 10.14.10
Now that Walmart has become the world’s largest grocer, it has realized there are both economic and environmental reasons to purchase and re-sell locally grown produce. As part of its latest sustainability efforts announced earlier today, the retail behemoth detailed a plan to increase the percentage of its produce that it gets from local growers. [More]
Suss Out Fakers At Farmers Markets
By 10.12.10
As an undercover hidden camera investigation recently revealed, not every bearded and overall-wearing guy behind the stand at farmers markets is selling food he grew himself. Some of them just load up a local produce warehouses and sell it to you at a feel-good-about-saving-the-earth premium. So how do you tell who’s real and who’s shoveling you fertilizer? [More]
Los Angeles Farmers Markets Full Of Lies, Warehouse Produce
By 9.27.10
If you’re in California and need to make a little extra cash, why not buy a bag of baby carrots from the supermarket, throw some potting soil on them, and sell them at your local farmers market as fresh-from-your-farm organic treats? Okay, maybe technically that’s not permitted, but who’s going to stop you? An NBCLA investigation found vendors at several farmers markets were lying to customers about their produce, and sourcing it from local warehouses instead of their own farms. [More]
5 Poor Deals In Grocery Aisles
By 7.23.10
Ever-helpful scam watchdog Omie over at LiveCheap has scanned the grocery aisles and unearthed five tricks grocery manufacturers use to get you to pay more to buy less. [More]
New York Wants Grocery Stores To Sell Wine
By 6.27.10
Fresh off boosting cigarette taxes, New York is ready to give smokers a replacement for their beloved lung shredders: wine! The state’s latest budget gap killer would allow nearly 20,000 grocery stores to sell bottles of vino, hauling in up to $300 million. [More]
Publix Takes Moldy Garlic Even More Seriously Than You Do
By 6.24.10
Ian and his family love garlic, but he tells Consumerist that his favored Publix store seemed to have trouble stocking garlic that wasn’t either moldy or sprouted. Neither of these are good qualities for fresh garlic, so Ian e-mailed the chain’s corporate office about the situation. Eventually, he received a response with an almost Wegmans-like level of class and problem-solving. [More]
New Billboard Smells Like Steak, Sort Of
By 6.7.10
If you find yourself driving down River Highway in Mooresville, NC this summer and suddenly smell a vaguely steak-like odor, don’t worry, you’re not having a stroke. You’re passing by the billboard for Bloom, a supermarket chain that’s owned by Food Lion. The billboard went up last Friday and poots out a charcoal-and-pepper fragrance from 7 to 10 a.m. and again from 4 to 7 p.m. [More]
Which Food Brands Are You Most Loyal To?
By 6.3.10
I don’t know about you, but when I go to a diner and the ketchup on the table isn’t my brand — it rhymes with “Heinz” — or if it’s something calling itself “catsup,” I know I won’t be ordering anything that requires that particular condiment. The same goes true for mayonnaise: Nothing with the word “miracle” in the title is getting anywhere near my taste buds. [More]
5 Ways Grocery Stores Rip You Off
By 5.14.10
LiveCheap uncovers ways in which grocery stores make you pay more for less with subtle techniques you may not easily notice. It seems supermarkets can get mighty sketchy when it comes to arranging its meat section. [More]
Is Online Grocery Shopping The Future?
By 5.9.10
In the New York area, there’s FreshDirect. In Chicago, there’s Peapod. And across the country there are various Internet-based services, like NetGrocer or Schwan’s, that will deliver certain groceries and other household items to your doorstep, depending on where you live. But does the ease with which you can order up a case of Diet Coke or a package of organic grass-fed beef without ever leaving your home mean your local grocery stores are on the way out? [More]
Perhaps You Would Like A Delicious Ham For Your Passover Seder
By 4.1.10
If you’re worried that grocery store loyalty and discount cards let retailers amass a detailed profile of you and use your buying habits for marketing purposes….don’t worry. Safeway, at least, doesn’t actually seem to be paying attention. That’s the conclusion you can draw from the coupon that Steve says printed out during his shopping trip for his Passover seder. [More]
Study Finds Grocery Store Shoppers Are Honest Folk
By 3.24.10
The people on that People of Walmart website may wear some ugly t-shirts, but at least they’re honest when it comes to dealing with strangers. According to a new study that looked at how markets, religion, and the size of a community impact concepts of fairness and punishment, Walmart grocery shoppers in Missouri came out on top in terms of treating the other side fairly and punishing selfishness. [More]
