The Evil Galactic Empire

(The opinions expressed below are the opinions of us and us alone.  We were not paid for these opinions, and do not profit from voicing them.  All we ask is you read with an open mind!)

Ever fight for the little man?  If your answer to that question is no, have you ever wanted to fight for the little man?  I think most of us with a heart would say yes to at least that second question.  No matter how much we may claim to love the big guys, the bosses, the creme de la creme, deep down, somewhere, we all want that little guy to win once in awhile.

Most of the time, we all have something we're passionate about when we fight for the little man.  Maybe you volunteer your time at animal shelters helping animals who are unable to help themselves.  Maybe you're a die hard Pirates fan who truly believes this is the year they finally break this losing streak!  Perhaps you support local businesses and shun those big box companies that can make or break a community or town.  We all have that thing we fight.

For us at PSR, the thing we're most passionate is baking.  And as most of you know, we don't have some magic worm hole that delivers all of our baking supplies to us free of charge.  So we're forced to head out to the store for flour, sugar, eggs, and lots and lots of butter.

Unfortunately, we live in the North Hills, and as any North Hills resident will tell you, the only place for us do any major grocery shopping is Giant Eagle.  That's right, the closest Super Wal Mart is 30 minutes away in Cranberry, and the closest Shop N Save is 20 minutes away in Etna.  Long hauls for groceries.

We hate Giant Eagle!  Maybe that sounds a little harsh, but we've been frustrated with the company for years in terms of service, products, and most importantly, pricing.  We grew up in eastern Pennsylvania, and we lived in a town where there were multiple supermarket chains in one town, leading to competitive pricing, better coupons, and superb customer service.  Owners of each chain lived by one simple rule: they knew if their store didn't provide everything a customer wanted they could (and would) go somewhere else.

Here in Pittsburgh, the only major grocery store chain is Giant Eagle.  Nothing else is even close to competing in terms of size, locations, and products.  And it's hard to stomach shopping at a place that has such a stronghold over an entire city.  With little to no competition in some areas of the city, it's easy for Giant Eagle to set whatever prices they want, because if people aren't happy with it, they have few other options in terms of food shopping.  We're stuck with the high prices and no where to turn to.  Don't believe us?  Check out this Wikipedia link on Krogers.  Sure it's Wikipedia, but they have an entire section on the monopoly Giant Eagle has in the Pittsburgh area.

It annoys us that we're forced to pay unnaturally high prices just because Giant Eagle has cornered the market in the area.  As a new company, PSR has a careful tracking of all of our finances, and every penny counts.  Why spent $2 for a bag of powdered sugar when other places sell it for $1.29?

So we've fought back at Giant Eagle, one company against another.  Sure our employee list is one and only one, and our net profit last year was $-200, but as a business we like to think we have some say in where we spend our earned money to advance our company.  And for us, as a company, we don't spend a penny at Giant Eagle.

It's not always easy, because we also don't believe in supporting Wal Mart if we don't absolutely have to.  But we've become friends with the wonderful people at Aldi's, and have fallen in love with their products.  The powdered sugar prices we listed above: Giant Eagle sells a 2lb bag at $2/bag, while Aldi sells a 2lb bag for $1.29.  Seventy cents adds up when we regularly go through 8-10 bags a month.

What's surprised us the most is how comparable Aldi products are to Giant Eagle.  Who cares if it's not name brand if it tastes the same?  Finding that there's no taste difference has sealed the deal for us and our switch from Giant Eagle.  Our customers don't know the difference, but our bank account certainly does.

Again, please remember these are our opinions, and our opinions only.  Some of you may love Giant Eagle.  That's great.  But we encourage you to check out the prices of things you're buying next time you're there.  Is it any surprise that Giant Eagle's new advertising campaign is "New Lower Prices"?  There's new grocery blood being slowly breathed into the area, and the high prices are going to slowly have to come down if Giant Eagle wants to keep their cornerstone in the market.

For us, Giant Eagle's high prices, combined with their poor stores (have you ever been in the McKnight Rd Giant Eagle??) makes the switch to Aldis and online suppliers easy for PSR.  It's something we'll continue to fight for until Giant Eagle learns how to fairly price their items.

We'll be back next week with an all new baking story, and some fun new treats to share!  Have a wonderful week!!