Locals shopping around for groceries
Alicia Robinson
The grocery workers strike and lockout, now in its sixth week, has
been a blessing or a curse, depending on whom you ask.
Some local shoppers said they’ve been victims of price gouging,
while others said their shopping habits haven’t changed at all since
picket lines formed at stores in October.
United Food and Commercial Workers union members last month
rejected a new contract offer that would cut workers’ health
benefits. After they went on strike at Vons and Pavilions on Oct. 11,
workers at Albertsons and Ralphs stores, which have been bargaining
jointly, were locked out.
“I’m just shopping here because I can’t shop at my regular
stores,” said Shirley Davidson, of Corona del Mar, after shopping at
the Stater Bros. on Newport Boulevard on Friday. “I’m a coupon
shopper.”
Davidson said she misses the double coupons savings she gets at
other stores and she thinks prices at Stater Bros. have gone up since
the strike.
Stacy Cohen of Costa Mesa, shopping at the Baker Street Stater
Bros. on Friday, said she shops the store regularly and hasn’t
noticed any price changes.
Since the strike, some stores are more crowded, she said, but “I
think Stater Bros. is a lot less expensive than Vons or Ralphs. ...
I’ve been really happy with Stater Bros.”
After a trip to Mother’s Market and Kitchen on Friday, Diane
Colvin of Corona del Mar said her shopping habits haven’t been
affected by the strike.
“I’ve always been a Mother’s shopper,” she said, but added, “I do
avoid the stores with the picketers.”
Colvin hasn’t noticed any price changes, but she said sometimes
store stock runs out and most stores she goes to have been more
crowded.
Local stores not involved in the strike have seen a boost in
business, but store officials were guarded in their optimism.
Mother’s has extended its store hours, a move chief marketing
officer Sharon Macgurn said the store was already considering.
Increased business because of the strike was just “the added
incentive,” she said.
The store has been selling more dairy products, bread and frozen
food, but it may not be drawing as many new customers because it
doesn’t sell alcohol or meat, Macgurn said.
She expects most new shoppers to go back to their regular stores
whenever the strike ends.
“If you’re used to shopping at a store, it’s like a second home to
you,” she said.
The Trader Joe’s on West 17th Street has increased its employee
hours, store manager Marie Janssen said, but that was partly in
anticipation of added holiday business.
Susan Atkinson, Stater Bros. vice president of corporate affairs,
said about a third of the chain’s stores saw business pick up after
the strike started, but it has died down since union members pulled
their pickets from Ralphs stores Oct. 31.
She sought to allay customers’ suspicions that Stater Bros. is
taking advantage of the strike by raising prices.
“We have not increased any prices because of the strike,” Atkinson
said.
While a resolution to the strike has yet to be reached, there has
been at least one happy ending.
Lucille Forde of Irvine found shopping bliss at Trader Joe’s in
Costa Mesa.
Her first time shopping there was Thursday, and she pronounced it
“excellent.”
“Actually, I’m quite surprised,” she said. “I didn’t think it
would have this much variety, but it has everything, and the prices
are good.”
While she thinks she saves more money using coupons at Ralphs, “if
you are selective and you have a good list, you probably can do just
as well,” she said.
* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.
She can be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at
alicia.robinson@latimes.com.
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