Happy Father's Day

Paia, Maui boy makes good.

On this Father's Day I thought of my father-in-law, who passed away 23 years ago, and his fondness for a good deal.

When Fred visited us in Fremont in 1976, he chanced upon a small supermarket that called itself "Canned Foods." They sold canned, packaged, and frozen goods that were produced by recognized manufacturers but were priced at a huge discount from comparable products; this was because the items were discontinued, overstocked by retailers, or new-product introductions that failed.

Over the next 25 years his and our station in life improved, but he would always stop at Canned Foods (renamed Grocery Outlet in 1987) to see what bargains he could find. We enjoyed having my in-laws visit because they always cooked, cleaned, gardened, and baby-sat for us; the only downside was that we had to drink a lot of $2 wine and eat a lot of 59¢ canned chile from Grocery Outlet.

Scenes from the Oakland Grocery Outlet (SFGate)

In 2024 Grocery Outlet is a lifeline for inflation-embattled consumers. Its business is booming.

While Grocery Outlet provides an unorthodox shopping experience, those willing to take a chance on it have the opportunity to not only save hundreds of dollars but also bring home anything from pantry staples to high-end organic oddities. And as prices continue to rise and pandemic-era assistance programs grind to a halt, discount retailers are becoming more important than ever for millions of Americans who are struggling to put dinner on the table.

Originally a military surplus, Grocery Outlet was founded in San Francisco in 1946 by Jim Read. Though it was once a modest outpost, by 1973, the company signed its first independent operator agreement and began slowly introducing refrigerated goods, meat and produce over the next three decades. Once Grocery Outlet reached $1 billion in sales in 2011, it expanded its presence to the East Coast and Southern California shortly after...

Now, it has over 500 locations that serve millions of customers each week, easily making it one of the largest “extreme discount” stores of its kind in the state. Hundreds of them are concentrated in Northern and Southern California. In its 2023 fiscal year, Grocery Outlet unveiled 28 new locations, and though it has a presence in Oregon and Washington, more outposts are slated to open as far east as Ohio, Maryland and Philadelphia...

The way it works: When a company is suddenly left with 20,000 extra cases of frozen entrees, for instance, it’ll summon Grocery Outlet’s buying team, which purchases them at a reduced price and resells them to customers at a steep discount. Often, this will happen when a product’s packaging changes or a company can’t get rid of enough inventory by the expiration date. Once these items sell out, [CEO R.J.] Sheedy explained, chances are, they won’t return.

My last trip to the Grocery Outlet in Redwood City, 8 miles away, was to fill a box for a local food charity pre-COVID. Now that charities are welcoming gifts-in-kind again, not just monetary donations, I am going to pay another visit.