Category Archives: Grocery

Citizen grocery: H-E-B opens made-to-order store

by Sarah Barker WHAT’S HAPPENING Fresh, local produce? Aisle 1. Curbside valet service? Done. Organic beef and poultry? Sure thing. Grocery chain H-E-B incorporated customers’ requests in building its new 68,000-square-foot market in Dripping Springs, TX (BlancoCountyNews.com 7.21.10). If they don’t carry a product, they’ll order it. Some other shopper-generated features include a sushi bar, [...]

Stay in the car: Convenience-centric retailers test the drive-thru format

by Nissa Hanna WHAT’S HAPPENING Chicago-area shoppers can spend a little more time in their cars and less in stores. Retailers around the city, including Wal-Mart and Meijer, are borrowing from the fast-food playbook and testing drive-thru lanes (ChicagoTribune.com 3.30.10). The remodeled Wal-Mart store in Mount Prospect added a drive-up lane but hasn’t drawn much [...]

Groceries are going once, going twice — sold!

by Tim Barlow WHAT’S HAPPENING From frozen meats to breakfast cereal, cost-conscious shoppers are bidding on heavily discounted items at grocery auctions, with average savings of between 50-90% (ABCnews.com 4.2.09). Sprouting up at auction halls across the country, the gatherings put leftover and slightly damaged groceries on the auction block. Arriving from supermarkets, distribution centers [...]

Signature Dish: List Making

by Charlotte Beal A colleague recently alerted me to Real Simple’s online series, “Time-Saving Tips for Busy Parents,” specifically the Supermarket Strategies story. It’s a mix of fairly “duh” tips like digging back in the produce and dairy sections for the freshest items and stooping to notice that the cheaper items are shelved on the [...]

Best of 2008: Switching language = switching personality?

by Derek Reveron WHAT’S HAPPENING A study shows that people who are both bicultural and bilingual may change their personality unconsciously when they switch languages. Bicultural Latinos who speak English and Spanish change their cultural self-perception faster and easier than bilingual people who live in one culture, according to a study by researchers from Baruch [...]

Extreme Clippers

by Stefania Revelli Coupon clipping: a new American pastime for a new America? With deal-hunting a newfound hobby for many consumers, bragging about bargains has not only become cool, it’s practically a new consumer sport. Deal seekers, coupon clippers, bargain hunters: By any name, consumers are busily BeehivingSM in the name of helping one another [...]

Yeah, baby: Site helps organize meals for new parents

by Nina Elder WHAT’S HAPPENING There are online bar/bat mitzvah registries, divorce registries and even eco-travel registries. Why not a meal registry? Enter MealBaby.com, a free online service that lets consumers coordinate meals for new parents, people recovering from surgery or anyone else who needs some good home cooking. Here’s how it works: Log on [...]

Grocery stores flaunt their money savers

OBSERVATION by Nissa Hanna WHAT’S HAPPENING With rising food prices and a sinking economy, grocery stores are battling for budget shoppers by showcasing their sweet money saving skills. At Stop & Shop’s “Affordable Food Summits,” local politicians and economists enlighten shoppers with insights on edible savings. Consumers have been responding well, so the program is [...]