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Residents save on food via auctions |
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Friday, 17 April 2009 |
By ANGELA WEAVER
Staff Writer
ST. MARYS — Some area residents are trading supermarkets for grocery auctions, an event that has been in the St. Marys area for approximately 20 years.
"I've been doing grocery auctions for about 20-something years," said auctioneer Steve Schleeter who owns Schleeter Auction House, now known as the Nifty 50s Event Center, 3965 Celina Road.
The grocery auction takes place the at 6 p.m. on the second Saturday of every month at the event center, and Schleeter said he has his fair share of regulars as well as new faces.
"It's catching on," he said, estimating the grocery auctions usually see between 100 and 150 customers. "Our customers really love it."
Schleeter's auctions consist of everything from meat, candy, frozen food, canned goods and juice, and he and licensed grocer and distributor Marvin Mason recently started selling seafood items.
"Our new product is our seafood," Schleeter said. "We have a shrimp scampi that sells for $8 in stores and it went for $4 last week."
Schleeter estimated that customers can save approximately 30 to 80 percent on their food by buying through an auction.
"It's a fun time and you're saving," he said. "You get a chance to lower the grocery bill."
Schleeter noted that the auction only chooses good quality food to sell, adding that there is a myth associated with grocery auctions that all the items are out-of-date.
"We're picky about what we bring it," Schleeter said, adding that the items could be close or not close to the date or out of the date. "We do guarantee everything we sell."
He noted that some of the items they have are in date until 2010 and others are in date until 2012.
"They're just extremely happy," Schleeter said of his customers. "They know that we guarantee everything."
Schleeter said he has had people bring extended family members with them to the auctions and the group will buy items for the whole family and split them.
"It's a great way to come and spend an evening without costing you a fortune and have a good time," he said. "Like any regular auction, people come to the auction and see our stuff and are like 'Do they know what that sells for in stores?'"
Schleeter said he himself is also a grocery auction customer.
"I hardly every go to the store anymore," Schleeter said, noting there is one item he and Mason have a tough time procuring for the sale.
"I have trouble getting peanut butter," he said. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 29 April 2009 )
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