When most of us think of salvage and shopping, groceries don't usually come to mind. However, salvage or discount grocery stores offer a second home for food and other merchandise, resulting in substantial savings to the consumer.
In the metro Atlanta, there are two fairly large salvage grocery stores: Bell's Discount Grocery, 11377 Brown Bridge Road, Covington, 770-787-8800 and Wilson's Salvage Grocery, 830 E. Broadway St., Griffin, 770-229-9154.
Both have active, up-to-date Facebook pages. You can easily check to see which one is offering large ready to bake pizzas for $2.99, or which is selling T-bone steaks for $3.99 per pound.
Yes, salvage stores have fresh meats. In fact, Bell's offers a three-day meat sale once a month. A recent sale touted NY strips that regularly sell for $5.49 marked down to $4.99 per pound. And the store includes other items from different departments during the meat sale.
These stores specialize in items that traditional supermarkets won't or can't sell any longer. Products you might come across at a salvage grocery store could include:
- Outdated holiday items
- Products in ripped packaging or dented cans (which are fine unless the dent is along the seam)
- Manufacture overstock
- Merchandise with label changes
- Closeouts
- Foods that are nearing or even past expiration dates
Some of these come from big name supermarkets that send merchandise to reclamation centers or liquidators. And, when possible, salvage grocery stores buy a load from a tractor trailer that was in an accident and has damaged goods. The good news for consumers is that, many times, they can save 50 percent or more at a salvage store.
Note that damaged doesn't mean bad. All the merchandise you'll find at a salvage grocery store is still good -- it's not spoiled or contaminated in any way -- even if it's past the expiration date.
"I'd like people to look past the crushed box because inside that box is a package, and the damaged box doesn't mean that the item inside is damaged. You'll pay at least twice as much in a regular store for a perfect package. Let's face it, it's going in your pantry," says Kimberly Reed, one of the store's managers, whose aunt and uncle have owned Bell's for more than 25 years.
Contrary to what some consumers believe, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not stand in the way of the sale of food that's past the expiration date on the label -- with one exception -- infant formula. In fact, according to the FDA, the organization doesn't even require food companies to place "expired by," "use by" or "best before" dates on food products. This information is entirely at the discretion of the manufacturer.
"At Bell's, we put expired products on a closeout aisle and we place big orange stickers on them to let customers know what they're buying. A lot of that merchandise is dirt cheap. We have customers who fill their carts with them," she says.
According to Reed, crackers, cereals, cookies, organic and gluten-free items make up the bulk of expired products.
You can buy more than food at salvage grocery stores. It's not unusual to find some furnishings, coffee makers, pallets or cases of paper goods, as well as health and beauty products and pet supplies. Like other deep-discount outlets, the merchandise is fluid. That jug of ranch dressing you bought last month might not exist on the store's shelf this month. If you like it, buy two.
As for those health and beauty products, at Bell's you'll find well-known brands, including Revlon and L'Oreal. It's not uncommon to spot a L'Oreal foundation that sells for $13 at your local drugstore for about $3 here. You'll come across salon quality hair products at times, too.
Reed says that her customers come from all walks of life; businessmen who snap up a stack of steaks for the weekend shop alongside those seeking bargains so that they can keep the lights on.
"When I was a single mother struggling really hard, places like these helped me put food on the table for my family," she says.
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