Dear Customers,
Some three months ago – way back in March, when it was still cold, blustery and wet – either in the form of rain or sometimes snow – our store manager traveled to Connecticut to attend the food show held by our warehouse.
When we were affiliated with Olean Wholesale, several years ago, they also held bi-annual food shows, but they were usually staged in Olean or in later years, Ellicottville. They were a one-day affair and much smaller in scope.
These food shows are important because they provide the person in your store who does the bulk of the ordering to become familiar with new products, often at introductory prices. In addition, they offer incentive pricing on many of our old staples. You might wonder why we have to travel clear to Connecticut to attend this event when everything can be ordered on the internet.
In a rather coercive fashion ( if you ask me ), many of the items carry a much better cost “if ordered in person at the food show!” The items are still available on line, true, but they’re cheaper if ordered in person! Since we are a relatively small outfit, we can’t afford to send all our department managers to New England for three days. So meat, produce, deli and bakery order their needs and convey them to our store manager who is actually on site. In that way we secure the best pricing possible for our customers!
Those deals have begun to trickle into our store on a weekly basis and will continue to do so throughout the summer. Shop our aisles, our end-caps and our special displays (carboard shippers) regularly to take advantage of these special prices. Some stores absorb the extra profit even though they were able to purchase more cheaply. Not so at Costa’s. . . we pass the savings on to you in the form of hotter prices through TPR’s. (Temporary Price Reductions) These TPR’s are often dated to run on sale from the day they arrive in our store through the last day of this year!