By four:45 a.m., Thursday, October 29, 2009
PORTLAND, Ore. | With a lot of households all of a sudden struggling to feed by themselves, the major warehouse clubs well-known for king-size deals of steak and jumbo boxes of Cheerios are increasingly competing with grocery merchants for your 36 million Americans now on food stamps.
Costco Wholesale Corp. explained Wednesday that it might start off accepting meals stamps at its warehouse clubs nationwide just after testing them at retailers in New york. That is certainly a large about-face for any chain that has catered for the bargain-hunting affluent with its gourmet foods, including a reflection with the actuality food-stamp use has achieved new highs.
Costco joins warehouse-club competitor BJ’s Wholesale Corp., which started off taking foods stamps in April, and Sam’s Club, which began accepting them last fall.
Until recently, some wholesale clubs were skeptical that low-income persons would be willing to pay the $50-a-year membership fee or would be interested in buying foods inside bulk quantities for which the stores are famous.
But now, within the current economy, outlets are battling for every dollar and see a large potential market inside the growing ranks of food-stamp recipients. From warehouse clubs to supermarkets and mom-and-pop groceries, outlets are retraining their cashiers and hanging new signs to welcome such customers.
“Definitely, this economy was a wake-up call,” Costco Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti recently told investors.
The rolls of food-stamp recipients have grown by 10 million over the past two years. The U.S. Department of Agriculture stated nearly 200,
windows 7 32 bit key,000 retailers nationwide now accept food stamps, 20 percent additional than in 2005.
Most main meals chains - such as Wal-Mart Outlets Inc. and Safeway Inc. - have accepted food stamps and other public assistance as payment for a number of years.
Costco had refused to do so, arguing there would not be enough shoppers to make it worth the trouble of updating its electronic payment systems and that foods stamps would slow down the checkout lines.
In Could possibly, however, Costco began accepting foods stamps in Ny under political pressure, and the practice turned out to be a lot more popular than expected.
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