Buy for Less than Wholesale!

Customers are realizing grocery savings of up to 40% on brand name items at the new Priced Less Foods in Middleburg Heights. Here’s how they’re doing it.

By: Ken McEntee
Date: 04/02/2009
If you think local discount and closeout stores offer some great prices, just imagine what kind of deals you might get from the people who sell products to them. You can see for yourself by shopping at Priced Less Foods, a brand new Middleburg Heights grocery store that offers brand name groceries at less than wholesale prices.

Priced Less Foods, which opened in March across the street from Southland Shopping Center, is a family operation co-owned by manager Crystal Hladky and her father, Josh. He operates several Great Freight Outlet closeout store locations in the area.

“At Great Freight, we specialize in closeout merchandise and carry some food items,” Josh explains. “With Priced Less, we’re flipping that concept around. We have great prices on brand name food, and have a couple aisles of closeout merchandise for the convenience of our shoppers.”

Josh says Priced Less not only can save you 30- to 40-percent on most grocery items compared to supermarkets, but they also can beat the prices offered by WalMart, Aldi and other discount stores. He does it by beating the bushes for excess inventory, items from liquidated stores, and other low-cost merchandise that he can buy for less than wholesale prices.

After 20 years in the freight salvage business, Josh knows where to find a bargain.
For example, he says, “WalMart is very strict with their suppliers. If they miss a delivery time, their shipment is rejected. I can get rejected shipments at a very low cost. This morning I bid on a whole truckload of Palmolive products.”

The result is 28,000 square feet of bargains on everything from canned goods and deli products to health and beauty aids—just about everything on your weekly grocery list, including refrigerated dairy products and frozen goods.

“We carry the essentials,” Josh explains. “We might not have the selection that you’ll find at a supermarket, but if we can save you 30- to 40-percent on 80-percent of your grocery shopping, that is a substantial savings.”
An example of the deals available at Priced Less: A case of 24 bottles of Nestle bottled water is $2.99.

“People are coming in and buying 30 cases at a time,” Crystal says.

Offering a tour around the store, Crystal points out bargain after bargain.

“I shop around at all of the grocery stores to make sure that we have the lowest prices,” she says.
Pointing out the Priced Less deli counter, Crystal notes that the roast beef she sells for $5 a pound is going for $7 to $8 a pound in other stores. Pepperoni that sells for $1.99 for a half-pound in other stores costs $1.99 for a full pound at Priced Less.

“We have great prices on cheese,” Crystal says. “The same Bleu cheese we sell for $3.99 a pound is selling at $10.99 at some other stores.”

Soon, promises Josh (who once worked in the cattle industry in North Dakota) the deli counter will expand into a full-service fresh meat department.

“We’re going to buy cows and pigs at cattle auctions and have butchers on-site to carve them. The beef is going to be Ohio-raised, farm-fed beef, which means they are not going to be loaded with hormones. I would never eat meat from a supermarket,” he says.

A bakery section that will offer fresh-baked bread and cookies, and a produce department also are in the works.

“We’re still filling the shelves and we’re already getting a lot of people in here,” Crystal says. Many of them are loyal customers of Great Freight, who know a bargain when they seen one.

“We have a great following,” Josh says. “Star Trek has its trekkies, but we have the Great Freighters. They couldn’t wait for this store to open. People are coming from all over the place. We are worth the drive.”

Priced Less takes cash or credit, but no personal checks. The store is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Priced Less Foods is located at 6880 Pearl Road, across from Southland, in the former Kronheim’s Furniture location. You can call them at 440-888-3030.

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