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Show Page 2 Holiday Shopping Guide Sanpete County Messenger Grocery shopping expedition is revealing project blades at I ood4I ess xxere double If you want to liae an inter- the next highest puce, and they didn't haxe my pieferied btand. esting experience, los leader is an item that is try this comparison shopping excursion. Make a shopping list of piised below cost to attiact you the items you normally buy for into the stole An example of a loss your family for one week. Include leader xxould be Maeey s price on the laundry and cleaning, personal ceieal at $2.50 per box exery other store has that same sie box hygiene and medication that normally eat up that "giocery budtanging fiom $ 3 50 to $4.39. most get. Then make a grid so that you ax ei age 4 19 per box. Maceys can surxey four or fixe stores. also had grape jelly cm sale for 99 Chances are, the pi ices on each centN. I 2 xx hat other stoies. initem will he within four or fixe cluding Muxum Plus offered the cents of each other and the totals pioduct. Other examples of loss within two percent. leadei s could include bananas and I Last year, I xxent on a comoiunges o.s leaders are based on parison shopping expedition what the grocer belies es about xxhicli items through nine stores; the results you. the shopper xxere rexealing. I wanted to find aie more likely to bring you in to out if it xxas truly a haigam to shop get youi entue shopping list are in Ltah County. I found the the items he she xxill price to atresults on a hi item shop tiact you. IT RSONAL NOTE: My ping list: habits may differ from youis AnManti Grocery SI 68.80 other shopper could do this exact food Lor Less SI 72. 5 Terrels same surxey and come up xxitli SI 75.05 e Albertsons $177.03 slightly dilleiing results. I exGunnison Ihriftway SI 77.51 on or $10 any onestoie. I SI 79 67 Maceys ample; since couldn't just grab Kents an item, but ha J to pause to write SI 8 1. 91 it down. learned an interesting fairs iexx Hestway SI 82.25 about Smiths SI 88.4 my shopping habits. I thing This y ear Smiths refused to let haxe a thieshhold of patience a I xxill time that me base a cash register receipt of amount specific unless I actually "bought" the grolook for the best pi ice. beyond I ceries. guess the ex idcnce that which. I giab the item I think is xxas in last year's aiticle made its the best puce and moxe on. Call "hate to xxaste me the l ype A xxay up to the poxxers that be in Smiths chain of command. So I time" my shopper. After xxoiking made my self a grid chart xxitli the eight oi nine hours and commutsame 63 items for the same nine ing three hours. I haxe to squeeze in time to play xx ilh my son. exerstores and headed off to the market! The cise. picpaie the meals, clean house, do laundry . and ti y to study SI 69. 16 $172.01 my home-stud- y Maceys college course. I don't haxe all day to shop! I liroxx Gunnison I hriftway $ 74.54 in any number of factors such as: Terrels SI 75.56 Kents $ 78 08 hunger, a fussy child (or spou .e). Albertsons SI 78.5 money anxiety or illness and that Manti Grocery $180.92 impatience factor increases expoSmiths $185.53 nentially. I airxiexx Mkt. $189.62 Because of this patience Some items on my grid are the threshhold play ing such a big part Editorial by Tricia Call - gie-or-tak- I - results-LoodlLes- same price almost all the say across; baby formula and diapers xaried less than 50 cents. Dramatic price differences xxere in produce oranges at one store cost '2 xx hat they cost at another Razor -- dis- in my shopping experience. qualified the grocery store that is closest to my house because it a result more came in lower due to likely my familiarity xxitli actual loxxer prices. than the store I - anticipated a price increase on exery store's total. After all. gasoline lias gone up by at least ten percent since last year. Dairy-hagone up by about 5 at the store I regularly frequent (butter has nearly doubled). With all this in mind, I xvas astonished when I tallied my nine column grid to find ex ery body in the same $20 range as last year. While Manti Grocery xvas up by I 1 7, almost Terrels xxas only 51 cents more this year than last. Kents was lower by $3.83; Gunnison Thrift way was doxxn by $2.97; and the guy s up north were lower too. except Albertsons; they were up by $1 .48. Last year's high was only exceeded by $1.21! I started studying the reasons for the differences and lack of difference. found some "keys to smart grocery shopping. One: the store that frequented at least once per xxeck came out the lowest -the reason being that my patience threshhold doesn't get challenged as often. Although Food for Less came out loxxer in total, I felt like 1 1 their store layout constantly pushed my budget and my patience threshhold. It took me 20 minutes longer to complete my shopping list there than any other stuck to my shopping list, though there xxere many other things to tempt me at this store, as well as Smiths and Albertsons. Know ing my oxxn shopping habits and impulse buying propensity. I xxould end up spending about $30 more at any of these three stores than my "list' xxould have cost. store. I By frequenting the same store, there are at least txvo benefits: one is the familiaritypatience factoi. The second advantage is the rapport gained xx ith the checkers and The second key the manager. to smart grocery shopping is to check the ads. If you shop exery xxeck at Gunnison, but one week you notice that Manti is having a sale on lean ground beef, that makes it xxorthwhile to drive 15 minutes out of the way for the ad-- x smarter than the second: check the ads of all four grocery stores before making out the menus for the xxeek. That xxay, you get the maximum benefit out of the sale prices. The fourth key is to check build our schools and roads and shopping list. puts them into another economy Above all, consider your time - the political xvheels of that to be the most important currency economy possibly contribute to the road rural disasters like the new nay ou hax e. Three hours on their store first for items on one's -- to sax e $3.00 is not the xx isest use tional monument. Consider all the your emotional state before you of time. It also takes money out ot costs before you shop for that get in the car to go shopping. If the local economy that goes to "bargain up north. y ou're out of food, but y ou're hungry and tired, go to the closest Like lUaij Vour Back store and buy only enough for the meal at hand. Thisxxay you'll only Back spend $ 0 more than y ou planned or budgeted instead of $30 or $40! The fifth key, which is the feels? the Dont ...See Relax the Store single most important reason for frequenting the same store is to monitor y our time inside the store. Consumer studies hax e slioxx n that for every fixe minutes a shopper is in the store ox er 30 m inutes they spend $5.00 more than they planned. That can be an expensix e thirty minutes! A sixth key that Sanpete shoppers can now take adx antage of is the discount stores. Nedras in Ephraim has handled freight damaged merchandise for sexeral y ears - "discount'' inx olx es goods xx hose containers haxe been dented, or factory irregulars, or items that hax e not mox ed fast enough on a retail shelf and becomes considered "close-outNow a grocery outlet for this kind of merchandise has opened in Ephraim, called "Maxum Plus. While Maxum certainly doesn't boast itself of being a complete grocery store, it is an advantage to check their ads. and check out Mark Eaton Partner Owner -- DID...AND LOVED I Back Rclaxers Personal Head Size Pillows Recliners Reduce Body Stress & Pain ". HUNDRCDS OI PRODUCTS I OR Rn.IIF&PRt.VmiON OF BACK PAIN 560 East 1300 South 221-022- 2 e mail: Orem 1 Utahbackix.netcom.com j A V storeX RELAXQn THE BACK Your One Holiday Franklin Bcti 4S7 S Xt.nii I plir.nm. I Kill 2X1-4- ) antage. The third key, xxhicli is exen 2( 9)lcrtQC of S(jnHriQitHitQ. For the blessings of friendship, goodwill, health, and safety... We are grateful for all of these We hope you enjoy this season and more of giving thanks with your neighbors in Sanpete County. Gunnison Valley Bank IF mmsmm |