Early Can Can Sale at ShopRite brings good news and bad news

Golden Pineapples are on sale today for only $1.99 each at the Paramus ShopRite, 224 Route 4 east.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The good news is ShopRite isn't waiting for January to kick off its winter Can Can Sale, which usually brings deep discounts on hundreds of items.

The bad news is there aren't that many great deals, at least judging from the Can Can Preview Sale at the Paramus ShopRite.

And store employees seemed to suggest bigger price cuts are still to come.

This morning, I picked up two Golden Pineapples for $1.99 each, the lowest price I've seen at the Paramus supermarket.

Friendly's Ice Cream in a 1.5-quart package was $2.59, a discount of $1.49, but Turkey Hill was only 50 cents off.

BPA-free Ziploc plastic containers for storing leftovers also were only 50 cents off. Two 9-cup containers were $3.49.

The ShopRite-brand was less, and the label said BPA, a chemical called Bisphenol A, isn't used to make the plastic in the containers.

Smart Balance spreads are great butter substitutes, and sometimes they are half-price at the Paramus ShopRite.

But not today, when the price for Smart Balance in 15-ounce containers was cut by just 50 cents.

A 4-pound bag of California Navel Oranges was $2.99.

The Can Can circular that came with the newspaper included a Super Coupon for Poland Spring Water in 16.9-ounce bottles.

But at $9 for three 24-bottle packs, the savings per bottle over Costco Wholesale is less than a half-cent a bottle.

It's not clear whether the sale prices on pineapples and oranges are part of the Can Can Preview Sale, and you need a store card to get any of the discounts.

ShopRite sales, price breaks and other fine print

ShopRite's newspaper flier stated clearly the "sale starts" on Aug. 25, but there are "price breaks" on other items that don't go into effect until days later.

Nature's Reserve free-range, grass-fed beef from Australia was on "sale" starting last Sunday for $8.99 a pound. But there is a "price break" starting on Wednesday, knocking $2 more off each pound. Other items are covered by an "all-week price break" from last Sunday through Saturday.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

ShopRite's sales fliers are getting as hard to interpret as Manhattan parking regulations or the Talmud.

When "sale" appears in a ShopRite newspaper flier, it isn't the last word, and other items may be discounted through "price breaks."

But "price breaks" aren't always available during the full sale period, as I found out on Monday, when I went to my Hackensack ShopRite to buy Nature's Reserve Whole Beef Tenderloin for Filet Migon.

The sale started on Sunday, but the price break on the free-range, grass-fed beef from Australia doesn't start until Wednesday, meaning I'll have to return to the store.

Luckily, I also went to pick up 48-ounce containers of Turkey Hill Ice Cream for $1.97, a savings of $1.32; and Eggo Waffles for $1.47, a discount of $1.20.

Those items were discounted under an "all-week price break" (Sunday to Saturday).

A sign at H Mart in Little Ferry said this 15-pound bag of California-grown white rice is  "free" with a coupon.

H Mart is first stop

Of course, when meat-eating members of my family prepare Korean barbecue, they marinate the thin slices of Australian beef in bulgogi sauce, grill the meat, steam white rice and wrap everything in red-leaf lettuce.

We were out of white rice and red-leaf lettuce, so before I went to ShopRite on Monday, I stopped at H Mart in Little Ferry.

H Mart has been heavily discounting 15-pound bags of Kokuho Yellow Label California-grown rice, normally $14.99.

Last Wednesday, I saw it at the Englewood H Mart for $7.99, but the store had sold out.

At the Little Ferry H Mart, the rice was "free" with a coupon or $9.99 without.

I got the coupon from the customer service counter, but didn't read it carefully enough: 

The rice is "free" when you purchase $100 in other items.

I also picked up 2 heads of red-leaf lettuce for 99 cents each, and a bottle of B.B.Q. Bulgogi Beef Marinade for $2.99, because it had the least sodium.