A new direction

www.stopandshop.com

We were loyal customers of Shaw's Supermarket until last weekend. Not wanting to ignore the strike at Shaw's distribution center, we decided to do our weekly shopping at the Stop and Shop in Milford. Boy, are we glad we stumbled into this store!

Stop and shop has a brand new way of food shopping that we adore. Upon entry, you scan your loyalty card at a large display of scanner guns. Once your card is processed, a scanner lights up for you to take. Game on! Now, as you walk through the store making your selections, you scan the item and bag it right in your cart. The scanner logs your groceries, tracks the prices, and offers coupons not advertised. If you make an error, simply remove the item from your cart and from your scanner log. When you are done shopping, you go to the check out line, enter your scanner, and suddenly every item you purchased rings up with the cashier. You can then hand over additional coupons and the cashier will enter them for you as the scanner can't read paper coupons. You pay and out you go! Perfection!

How much fun will shopping be for our technology loving 8 year old when we let her control the scanning? No more begging to be left out of the boring grocery run! And I should also mention that prices were cheaper on a lot of every day items. A can of soup at Shaw's is typically $2.19 for the brand I purchase. At Stop and Shop, the price was $1.79. That's a savings that can't be ignored!

At at our local (Milford) Stop and Shop, the customer service was also shockingly fabulous! A shout out to the young stock-boy who saw us questioning the price of an item. He recognized a chance to pitch his store positively and he went for it. He is the sole reason we are now Stop and Shop customers. At that moment, we had no idea this scanning system was in place as we had walked right by the display. This young man was so friendly and so thorough in his explanations that we went right back to the display and got our scanner. When we passed him a second time, he waved and asked if we were enjoying the experience. Well done! And our cashier was patient as we stumbled through the new check out process with the help of her kind guidance.

Nice work, Stop and Shop! We look forward to exploring this new relationship.