A&P announced the opening of its first Food Basics store in Connecticut:
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc. (A&P) (NYSE:GAP) today debuted the first ever Food Basics store in Conn., located at 1700 Park Ave. in Bridgeport, bringing customers quality products at unbeatable prices. The savings never stop at the Bridgeport Food Basics with aisle after aisle of all the products you need at prices you can’t believe. Food Basics boasts the lowest prices of the week — guaranteed. We won’t be beat on all of the items featured on our circular’s front page — see for yourself.
The new Bridgeport Food Basics store will allow shoppers to maximize their shopping budget by getting high quality products at low, affordable prices. Shoppers will also enjoy great values on fresh foods such as meats and baked goods. Customers can also find their national brand favorites as well as an extensive variety of private label brands, including America’s Choice and Smart Price — all at phenomenal prices.
Compare Food Basics prices with our competitors and you will be amazed at the savings. In fact, shoppers can save up to 27 percent over other supermarkets everyday with the unmatched prices that Food Basics has to offer!
The Food Basics chain has performed very well in the pricing studies conducted by Pundit sister publication, PRODUCE BUSINESS. In our Wal-Mart Pricing Report of chains in Detroit, Michigan, when A&P had stores there, the concept actually outperformed Wal-Mart in pricing, coming in with a basket priced at 17% under Wal-Mart. We did point out, however, that we had to restrict the items in the basket to accommodate the limited assortment Food Basics offers.
What we saw of particular interest is that Food Basics offers a strong low price guarantee on certain items:
Food Basics also offers triple difference price guarantee on these 10 most-needed items:
• Fresh Bananas (1 lb.)
• Milk (store brand, one gallon)
• White Bread (store brand, 1 lb. 6 oz.)
• Eggs (store brand, dozen large)
• Butter (store brand, 1 lb. quarters)
• Lettuce (iceberg)
• Sugar (store brand, 5 lbs.)
• Tomatoes (1 lb.)
• Potatoes (russet, 5 lbs.)
• Huggies Diapers (jumbo pack)
Note that 40% of these items are fresh produce: Bananas, lettuce, tomatoes and potatoes. Add in milk, eggs, butter and bread — and 80% of the items are perishable.
It shows where the leverage exists in retail today. But with a triple price difference guarantee, it also shows how difficult it is to build a business just on low prices.
