As you may know, all you savvy shoppers, many grocery stores have their ad cycles, department specific cycles and reduction cycles. Many of them have promotional offers like ad match, competitor coupon match and more. I'm sure you also know how important it is to know your stores well; from these changing cycles, promotional and coupon rules and even the lay out of your favorite stores.You probably already know the difference in each city, county, region and state there is a difference in pricing that don't really reflect on the competition in the area, and policies can vary under the same banner as well. The better the deals in stores, the more you educate yourself about those stores.I have had the inside look for 19+ years on one company, which has given me insight on most grocery/retail companies.
Giant Eagle in North Eastern Ohio has higher prices, yes it is true. The basis of their higher pricing is not only to blame on the fact that they came into the area and purchased a Union ran grocery chain (not sure if any of you recall Stop n Shop stores called Rini's, Rini-Rego, Rego's, Catalano's, Reiders etc) but their idea of total customer service. They wanted to be a higher standard of quality, not quite what Heinens is or as high priced as Heinens but not like the lower standard box stores out there.
If you know your sales and offerings than you know that Giant Eagle offers great deals as long as you know how to shop them. Not like the propaganda spin that competitors advertise; but this means you MUST educate yourself.
Giant Eagle offers couponing doubling up to .99 cents, though many times you can not stack coupons. I have argued, and won the case on some as their policy states they can not stack manufacture coupons (ie coupons that specifically come from or state that they are manufacture coupons as some catalina's at the register do); the booklet coupons you can find in the store in places like their Eagles Nest and their pharmacy do not state that they're manufacture coupons. Thus, they are to be treated much like the Eoffers- stackable coupons generated from Giant Eagle itself. Mind you, I am not trying to be a vulture but I am trying to get my best deal possible for my family or I can not afford to shop. On the
gianteagle.com website you can find their Eoffers (coupons generated from Giant Eagle/
Cellfire.com ) and you can also get the latest list of available catalina coupons that will generate with specific purchases in the store.
**
When I get their newest ad I evaluate what coupons I have available, what Eoffers are available to stack with sales of items we use or need for the week and also if there are any "rebate" offers from Ibota.com or savingstar.com.
THE most valuable coupons for Giant Eagle are obviously the ones that are .99 cents or less; I love the .75 cents off single items!
When Giant Eagle ad breaks on Thursday is usually a good day to hit the store and here the best time is no later than 9:00 AM because they mark down many of the meat items (this is how their dates run). I know I can usually find markdowns on select fresh produce as well, like mushrooms. Speaking of markdowns, many of the stores typically have markdowns of seasonal-holiday items following a holiday. Like the approaching Easter holiday that falls on Sunday March 31st. I know on April 1st they will send down the price changes for their file maintenance crew to scan, check and tag. While every store operates a bit differently, depending if they are still a 24 hour store or how their current store manager runs their schedules, their file maintenance persons are usually overwhelmed with work following ad changes and holiday change overs. What this means is that if you visit the store early enough (say around 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM) you will find a selection of unsold mark down items. Again, depending on how the current store manager operates, the holiday mark downs could be any where from 25% off to 75% off. Usually will depend on space available and if there are immediate holidays following (such as the change over of Thanksgiving to Christmas). Other departments to watch for regarding markdowns are the floral departments- Chocolates for Easter, Christmas, Valentine and Sweetest Day AND Produce- usually following Christmas. Other departments to watch just before a holiday for mark downs, usually the day before or the day of are Bakery, Dairy and sometimes Deli as they move out their product quickly to restock cleanly the day after a holiday. Seasonal items that you see for Summer, Spring etc will change prior to a new marketing need. Like Summer, which gets changed over at least by mid August for Back to School sales. Spring will change over to make room for Summer- usually before Memorial day with all the red, white and blue items to usher in the fourth of July.
Here is where it gets tricky- have you seen their mark down racks? They are usually in the very back of their stores and in my favorites to visit I know they are right by the customer rest rooms. These mark downs will be the remaining holiday/seasonal items and other close dated items they need to move. However usually about one time monthly they have their re-set crews in the stores changing over the shelves for manufactures newest items and the big manufactures who pay premiums for the best shelf space.
You have most likely seen them at any given time as they do not wear the Giant Eagle uniforms and there are several persons moving items into and out of carts in 1 to 3 isles on one given day. When this happens, they park the carts of items they pull from their shelves that Giant Eagle does not want to sell any longer and await for their file maintenance crew to mark them down for quick sale. This is usually at least 50% or more off their retail price and CAN have coupons out there you can use for additional savings! ALWAYS check and pay attention to your store and what they are doing!
LASTLY Giant Eagle has Fuel Perks which you can earn .10 cents off every gallon of gas with every $50.00 you spend on your groceries, at their GetGo gas stations! Giant Eagle was an innovator in this field and nobody has been able to match this offer with success. This is the icing on the cake of savings and I myself have us gotten 30 gallons of gas (their limit) for free! That's my truck and 4 gas cans for the 4 wheelers, tractors and more! lol
0 comments:
Post a Comment