US shoppers hunt for deals at salvage stores amid soaring prices

ASHEVILLE • In a world where a jar of peanut butter costs a dollar more than it did last year and the price of a gallon of conventional milk has inched up to US$6 (S$8.30) in some cities, paying US$1.49 for a family-size box of crispy rice cereal seems like a good idea, even if it is August and the cereal is dyed red and green for Christmas.

At the salvage store, a deal is a deal.

With grocery prices 13.1 per cent higher than a year ago, according to the consumer price index for July, a new batch of customers has discovered the joys and pitfalls of shopping at salvage food stores, where a crushed box is never a problem and package dates are mere suggestions.

The stores, which traffic in what mainstream food retailers call "unsellables", operate in a grey zone between food banks and big discount chains like German import Aldi or Dollar General, which has grown to more than 18,000 stores.

With names like Sharp Shopper, the Dented Can and Stretch-a-Buck, salvage stores have long been a salvation for families on tight food budgets and the naturally thrifty. Now, the inflation-weary are joining their ranks.

Ms Maggie Kilpatrick, a food blogger and cooking teacher from St Paul, Minnesota, with celiac disease, visited a salvage store for the first time in June after the cost of her favourite gluten-free products skyrocketed.

"I was shocked," she said. "There were lots of gluten-free, organic, high-quality stuff you never thought you would find in this dumpy little store in Fridley, Minnesota."

A package of two baguettes from a company she loves usually sells for about US$6.99. She picked up three packages for US$5. Vegan butter was US$1.99, about US$5 less than she would pay at Whole Foods Market.

"I can see how people get hooked on it," Ms Kilpatrick said.

An analysis of 405,101 receipts submitted by consumers to consumer rewards app Fetch showed that the number of households shopping at salvage stores in the first half of this year was more than 8 per cent higher than a year earlier.

The manager of Dickies, a small chain in North Carolina, said sales were up 36 per cent from last summer. Other store managers have reported double-digit increases.

Mr Nicholas Duke, 27, who manages a salvage store called Uplifting Deals, said: "I've been seeing a bunch of people come in who haven't been here before."

In another twist, salvage food stores are drawing environmentally conscious consumers intent on doing what they can to reduce the US$161 billion worth of food that the Department of Agriculture estimates is dumped every year into landfills.

That is why Ms Lynne Ziobro started the website Buy Salvage Food two years ago. She maintains a nationwide map of salvage food stores and offers guidance on ways to reduce food waste.

"Most people visiting my site are looking for ways to save money on groceries, and I hope I'm able to raise their awareness of food waste while they're there," she said.

The idea came to her after she grew frustrated helping a friend find a retailer to sell his flavoured nuts, which Amazon was pulling from its platform as the best-by date approached. Visits to her site, Ms Ziobro said, have more than tripled since last year, and now hover around 11,000 a month.

A handful of new waste-conscious companies have taken the salvage store concept online, shipping out bargains on meat and dairy products, stock over-runs, and food from farmers that might otherwise get tossed out.

Ms Sarah Kaplan, 29, who manages her family's four Dickies salvage food stores in Asheville, said: "There's nothing wrong at all with salvaged food or something that's past the date.

"I've been raised on it all my life, and I'm not dead."

NYTIMES