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I’ve been shopping at Meijer most of my life — in Flint, Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and now Midland. As a student at Eastern Michigan University, a group of friends and I would occasionally go to Meijer Thrifty Acres — we called it Meijer Fifty Acres — at midnight or 1 a.m. to stock up on Ramen noodles, Lucky Charms, Doritos, Mt. Dew, some socks, a taillight for the raggedy Chevette and a tropical fish for the aquarium. They indeed had everything you needed under one roof. The retail chain of what are now known as “hypermarkets” originated in Greenville, Mich.,...

EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — A grocery store security guard was fired after he told the father of a 4-year-old girl that she would face criminal charges for eating from a dried fruit package, a TV station reported. The child's mother, Alissa Jones, said the father wasn't looking when the girl grabbed the package, ate a few pieces of fruit then returned it to a shelf at a Safeway store in Everett, Wash., KOMO reported Wednesday. Safeway previously faced widespread criticism when a Honolulu couple were arrested over stolen sandwiches and had their 2-year-old daughter taken from them briefly by state...

There’s a supermarket anomaly near my home. Two supermarkets, a block apart: King Soopers (a Kroger store) and Safeway. In my town, everybody shops at King Soopers. Safeway is deserted. There are literally more employees than customers. Consequently, I get tremendous prices at Safeway, including a large percentage of my groceries at 50% off. What’s up with that? For some reason, Safeway has made the corporate decision to keep the store open as a loss leader. Curious. They stock all the normal foods, but then they have to get the food out of the store quickly at 50% off while...

SAN FRANCISCO —Melody Studebaker stands solemnly outside the Fort Mason Safeway grocery store, along side her long term partner, Henrietta... Studebaker, 62, and her partner, 60, are picketing the Safeway store this beautiful morning to draw attention to a most ugly practice within it. After a lifetime of witnessing the use of grocery store checkout line dividers, Strudebaker and her partner have had enough...

<p>One of the nation's major grocery store chains is eliminating self-checkout lanes in an effort to encourage more human contact with its customers.</p> <p>Albertsons LLC, which operates 217 stores in seven Western and Southern states, will eliminate all self-checkout lanes in the 100 stores that have them and will replace them with standard or express lanes, according to published reports.</p>

The meats were like a bad joke gone bad. $7-10 for a small package of chicken breasts. I got enough food for a week and it was $107. The cashier lady told me some woman (when she noticed) milk at $4 a gallon asked if there was s milk shortage. Are people this stupid? I am truly afraid for this country in so many ways and as the cashier lady said she told the ditz lady it will get far worse before it gets better. And the cashier was in her 20's and she figured this out- so there is...

Wal-Mart tests online grocery sales, home delivery in San Jose, aims to compete with Amazon BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Saturday that it is testing home grocery delivery in San Jose, Calif., as the world's largest retailer ratchets up competition with online retailer Amazon.com Inc. With the new "Walmart To Go," customers can order up groceries, health and beauty products such as soap, shampoo and over-the-counter medicines, and household supplies like paper towels and laundry detergent from the company's website. Wal-Mart will then drive the goods over to customers' homes at their time of choice.

Vanity head up: This weekend one of the Discount club stores is having an open house - a good opportunity to stock up without a paper trail. “Spring Taste of Sam’s Club Open House is coming, 4/15-4/17, each day 11am-6pm. No non-Member upcharges during this event, so bring a friend! “ Sometimes it’s useful to buy in bulk, but typically you need to have a membership – this is one occasion when you can get those member prices, without letting everyone know you’re prepping.

http://cerealcouponsonline.blogspot.com/ Clipping cereal coupons is a great way to save money, but not everyone can find the time for it. For those of you that want to conveniently print coupons online. The breakfast cereal industry has gross profit margins of 40-45%, 90% penetration in some markets,and steady and continued growth throughout its history.Whether you love flakes, pops, or granola you can always find great money-saving coupons, right here. Stock your pantry with your favorite name brand cereals and enjoy a tasty breakfast daily. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day after all. Households that consume cereal regularly will...

The typical modern American supermarket stocks 48,000 items, each battling for precious shelf space. How do they get there? Why are they arranged the way they are? Did you know that some stores use heat maps to track which aisles you walk down — and which ones you don't? Or that they put the milk at the end of the aisle so you're forced to pass a hundred other items on your way to get it? It's all done to gain an edge in a cutthroat business built on razor-thin margins. CNBC’s Tyler Mathisen goes behind the scenes for a...

While grocery shopping a few weeks ago, I ran across this sign in the parking lot of a well-known grocery store: “Reserved Parking For Low Emissions and Fuel Efficient Hybrid Vehicles.” As can be expected, the sign designated a spot near the entrance of the store, right next to the handicapped spots.

Marchetta could not find anyone who regularly cleaned their reusable bags. Marchetta brought the lab results to Dr. Michelle Barron, the infectious disease expert at the University of Colorado Hospital. "Wow. Wow. That is pretty impressive," said Barron. Barron examines lab results for a living. "Oh my goodness! This is definitely the highest count," Barron commented while looking at the bacteria count numbers. She admitted she was shocked at what was found at the bottom of the bags. "We're talking in the million range of bacteria," she said. Marchetta used swabs provided by a local lab to test several grocery...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- It could soon cost California shoppers at the checkout aisle if they forget to bring their own bags to the grocery store. Legislation passed Wednesday by the California Assembly would prohibit grocery stores, pharmacies, liquor stores and convenience stores from giving out plastic bags.

Has anyone shopped at a Salvage Grocery store? They sell dented canned goods, expired/best if sold by foods, slow/no sell foods. I've heard you can save a bunch. Is it safe to buy food from there? Just asking...thanks.

A recent poll of nearly 800 main household grocery shoppers which reveals that American consumers do not believe reports that the economy has improved.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc will cut food prices and mount a new ad campaign over the next six weeks, a threat to other U.S. grocers that sent an industry shares index down more than 2 percent on Friday. A Morgan Stanley analyst first reported the world's largest retailer's plan, calling it a major setback for other U.S. grocers, and the company confirmed the promotions in an email. "While this helps address Walmart's traffic woes, we view this as a major setback for the grocery stocks, which have been rallying on hopes of a return to more rational pricing," Morgan Stanley analyst...

Walmart’s Replace Brand Name Food with Their Brand “Great Value”. Who Will This Really Benefit? Published by diamondpoet December 4, 2009 What is Walmart really up to. Walmart is one of the biggest supermarket chains in the world. As of August 31, 2008, Walmart has as many as 100 food categories: United States 4,227 total units. Discount Stores (914)Super-Centers (2,576)Sam’s Club (594)Neighborhood Markets (143) International 3,210 total units Argentina (24)Brazil (320)Canada (309)China (Wal-Mart 108; Trust-Mart 100Costa Rica (156)Guatemala (149)Honduras (48)Japan (392)Mexico (1,081)Nicaragua (47)Puerto Rico (55)El Salvador (74)United Kingdom (347) This is a time where families needs to make every penny...

PORTLAND, Ore. - With many families suddenly struggling to feed themselves, the big warehouse clubs known for king-size packages of steak and jumbo boxes of Cheerios are increasingly competing with grocery stores for the 36 million Americans now on food stamps. Costco Wholesale Corp. said Wednesday that it would start accepting food stamps at its warehouse clubs nationwide after testing them at stores in New York. That is a big about-face for a chain that has catered to the bargain-hunting affluent with its gourmet foods, and a reflection of the fact food-stamp use has hit new highs.

Frugality. That's been the buzzword of the Great Recession.   Sliding home values, stumbling stock portfolios and a shaky job market brought with them a consciousness about spending that many of us misplaced during years of consumer overindulgence. Americans responded to the crisis by buying less, clipping coupons more and increasing savings to 4.8 percent of disposable income in December, up from near zero before the recession.   In the past year, blogs about frugality went viral. Everyone from Oprah to President Obama joined the frugality parade.   Now a new term is marching through the blogosphere: Frugality fatigue. But...

I want people to store food not only for their sake, but for mine as well. I don’t want to decide which of my kids have to go hungry when you and your unprepared kin come knocking on my door. Contrary to progressive-collectivist thinking, every individual who takes care of themselves and their families benefits society by not becoming a burden. So take responsibility now and start today. Don’t expect the Feds to come by to hand you your ration of government-rationed cheese. You could be in for a long wait. Wait too long, and you may end up with...