Shop 'n Save - An Introduction

A Shop 'n Save recently opened up near me and over a week's time I've gotten several requests (like 5) from different people to start putting together coupon matchups for them too.

So, now I'm intrigued. I decided to look into Shop 'n Save some more.

1. I discovered there are two distinct stores named "Shop 'n Save." One chain is located in Missouri and the other is located in Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, and West Virginia. The chain located in Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, and West Virginia is the one that I am looking into.

2. Each Shop 'n Save is independently owned and operated. (So, each one can set their own coupon policies.  : )  This could be good or bad, depending on your store's management.) The Cranberry Twp. store (the one near me that just opened located at the intersection of Freedom Road and Haine School Road) is owned by Jim and Jeff Sorbara. They also own and operate five other Pittsburgh area stores including Bethel Park, Kennedy Township, Heidelberg, Wilkins Township and South Fayette.

3. Naturally, I called the Cranberry Twp. store (I'm guessing that most of the Shop 'n Save's have the same general coupon policy?) to figure out their specific coupon policy. Below is what I found out.
 

a. They accept competitor's coupons. Competitors include Giant Eagle, Foodland, Khuns,

and other grocery stores. This includes Catalina coupons. Whether or not they

will be accepting drugstore coupons (Rite Aid and Walgreens) is yet to be determined.

 

b. Manufacturer's coupons are doubled up to $0.99. (Store coupons, competitor's

coupons, and "do not double" (DND) coupons are not doubled.) That means that a $0.75

coupon would double to $1.50.

c. Internet printed coupons need to have a scanable barcode.

d. It is not yet determined whether or not they will be allowing competitor's coupons

to be stacked with manufacturer's coupons.

e. At the Cranberry Twp. store there is no limit as to how many coupons can be redeemed

in any 1 shopping trip, nor a limit on using like coupons. However, the associate I spoke

with said that this could change if they saw evidence of mom and pop stores buying for

resale - his words, not mine. In other words, don't take 50 like coupons into the store and

clear the shelves! It doesn't matter if you want all this for your own family or not, it would

not be seen in a favorable light.

f. Special orders can be placed on a case by case basis. Let's say you do have 50 like

coupons. Let customer service know the situation and they will try to help work something

out. The earlier in the sale that you can do this, the better.

g. If the amount of the doubled coupon is greater than the cost of the item, the customer

gets that item for FREE. The coupon will only double up to the actual cost of the item

(no overage).

h. It is not yet determined whether or not overage will be given for insert coupons

(the ones in the newspaper).

 

i. The Cranberry store (and I'm assuming that other Shop 'n Saves do likewise) run

"Manager's Specials." These are deals that are not advertised in the weekly flyer. They could

be put up at any time and taken down at any time. (When the store gets a special deal from

a supplier, they pass on those savings to the consumer. Let's say they get a special deal on

sugar and they get X flats/boxes/pounds of it. The store will put up a "Manager's Special"

sign advertising the deal. When those flats/boxes/pounds are sold, the deal is over and the

sign is taken down.

 

 

I hope that this was helpful information for those of you near a Shop 'n Save, especially those of you in/near Cranberry Twp, PA.

 

I look forward to your thoughts/comments about Shop 'n Save. If you know about any great deals, let us know. And if your Shop 'n Save has a different coupon policy, I like to know that too. I'm curious how the various stores within the same chain compare.