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E-mail StoryCustomers flock to deals at closing Vons
| Wednesday, May 28 2008 4:29 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, May 29 2008 7:06 AM
Yvonne Gomez could hardly push her overstuffed shopping cart after a spree at a Vons supermarket that is closing at the end of the month. The $300 worth of groceries packed into every square inch of the overflowing basket were difficult to move, but everyone coming out of the store Wednesday had a similar load.
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Juanita Cater saved about $50 on groceries at the Vons on White Lane. The store is slated to close at 5 p.m. May 31 and is selling items at discount prices.
Nancy Grijalva, left, and Margie Hinojos leave the Vons on White Lane with a cart full of food after waiting in line for three and a half hours to take advantage of the big savings.
Located at 2100 White Lane between Hughes Lane and H Street, the 65,000-square-foot grocery store is closing 5 p.m. May 31 after after 13 years in business. Having waited as much as four hours to get in, shoppers were making the most of the supermarket’s going-out-of-business sale. Groceries there were half price at a time when food and gas prices are soaring.
Employees who declined to comment served as gatekeepers at the store’s two entrances, allowing in only one shopper for each person to exit.
“We have 150 customers on a normal day, and only seven check stands, so for customer safety we have to limit it,” said Daymond Rice, director of public affairs and government relations for Vons.
In spite of that, each door had a line up to 40 people deep, many of them chatting with each other or on cell phones to pass the time. Some thought to bring umbrellas to shield them from the sun. A few asked companions to hold their place in line while they dashed into adjacent stores in the strip mall to buy bottled water.
Gomez, 38, estimated she paid about half as much for groceries as she would have paid elsewhere, but to get those rock bottom prices she got in line about 9:30 a.m. and didn’t emerge with her groceries until almost 2 p.m.
“It was worth it pricewise, but I’m not so sure on time,” she said. “If I had known it was going to take this long, I’m not sure I would have come.”
Shirley Muhammad, 34, drove from the southwest to take advantage of the clearance sale after hearing of it from a friend.
She estimated her monthly grocery bill for a family of four was roughly $500, so it was worth the drive and the wait. After an hour in line, she didn’t look anywhere close to gaining entry, but vowed to stick it out.
“I’ve been here this long, I might as well finish. Some people are leaving, though. The lady ahead of me gave up. I took her cart,” she said, nodding at the two empty carts nestled together in front of her.
Kosal Bov-Quintero, 29, was so committed she returned after waiting in line that morning only to be told the store was closing for a few hours, so come back after lunch.
“We came back and discovered this line,” she said. “The kids are really bored.”
Bov-Quintero had her mother with her to help entertain her daughters, ages 6 and 17 months, but the girls were clearly ready to abandon the effort as they lobbied unsuccessfully for snacks.
Rice said he was surprised how long customers were willing to wait, especially considering what’s available. Almost all perishable food has sold out, so it’s mostly canned goods and the like.
“We don’t close stores often, but when we do we pretty much follow the same model of 50 percent off and it’s always busy and crowded,” he said. “But to have people waiting up to four hours, that’s unique.”
Vons Cos. Inc. has six other stores in Bakersfield and Oildale.