PRUDENT SHOPPERS FIND ADDED GROCERY SAVINGS

Prudent shoppers are finding some grocery bargains in Cape Girardeau.

With no less than three 24-hour grocery operations here, consumers are seeing a variety of food-buying incentives. They can expect more as two additional grocery operations are on the horizon here, one of them to open next week.

Shop 'n Save will open its doors a week from today. The Wal-Mart Supercenter, which will include a grocery department, is expected to open before the spring of 1992.

"I think the people of the Cape Girardeau area will be pleasantly surprised and pleased, with our operation," said Roger Riegel, president and CEO of Shop 'n Save, which is already providing grocery competition in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Shop 'n Save has 26 stores Cape Girardeau will be number 27. The bulk of the stores are in the St. Louis area.

The new store, located on Silver Springs Road between Route K and Bloomfield Road, is already offering "red tag" specials in anticipation of its opening next week.

In a brown-bag promotion package that was delivered in Sunday's Southeast Missourian, Shop 'n Save offered its prospective customers an opportunity to receive a courtesy card for check-cashing identification and about 20 "red tag" discount coupons.

"Cape Girardeau is certainly a consumer market," said Bob Uthoff, manager of Food Giant, a 24-hour supermarket at 201 Broadview. Dennis Marchi, Schnucks manager, and Jim Sturm, Del Farm manager, agree.

"Consumers will be seeing a number of promotional activities in grocery stores," said Marchi. "This is great for the customers, and we'll be seeing a lot of traffic in grocery stores."

Sturm said, "Things are good for the customers. With several large supermarkets in town, along with Wal-Mart next year, food consumers will have a wide variety of choices of where to shop.

"The grocery business is just like all business, it's highly competitive," said Sturm. "We advertise 60 two-for-one items in our latest advertising sheet, but this is nothing new for us."

The Del Farm circular lists savings ranging from two packages of $2.59 gourmet balogna for the price of one, to two 42-ounce cartons of Dove dishwashing liquid for $2.99, the usual price of one.

In the meat line, the Del Farm customer has a range of "certified Angus beef," in prices ranging from $1.69 to the top boneless sirloin at $3.39 per pound.

Schnucks' latest advertising circular lists 48 two-for-one items, including one that will mean a $5.69 savings. Customers can obtain a one-pound package of Oscar Mayer sliced cooked ham for $5.69 and receive a second package free.

Schnucks is also offering its customers an opportunity to receive a free turkey for Thanksgiving.

Consumers just have to save their store receipts, which reflect a $25 or more purchase, for seven of the next eight weeks, to receive an 18- to 20-pound turkey free.

"Our hefty steel sack trash bags are also a real deal for consumers," said Marchi. "They buy a $3.39 package of the bags and receive a second package free."

Schnucks is also offering some bargains at the meat counter. Catfish, usually $3.99 a pound, is going for $1.99 a pound; porterhouse steak is down from $5.19 to $3.98, and T-bone is down from $5.09 to $3.78 per pound.

"These are all Schnucks anniversary specials," said Marchi. "Our company is observing its 52nd year."

The Schnucks specials are in effect through Saturday night, said Marchi.

Uthoff sums it up for the grocery business.

"Cape Girardeau is a regional hub," he said. "We have shoppers from a wide area as far away as 50 miles. There's plenty of customers out there. We just have to do our marketing homework and be prepared."

One of the promotions by Food Giant is the "in-house" cash dividends program, where customers receive certificates good for food savings. The store also offers Temporary Price Decline (TPD) specials, where manufacturers pass along allowances to the store, which we pass along to the customer.