Salvage Grocery Store Visit

A recent girl's weekend took us to Atlantic Beach for a fun stay at The Palms Retro which I did a post on recently.  We had so much fun and what a great place to rent for the entire family or a weekend getaway with friends.

We also visited Steinmart's 12 hour sale but the most important part of our weekend was a visit to S and B Salvage Store.

A few months back, I made a post here on salvage stores around the country when a friend told me about one she visits in Jacksonville. It has taken me this long to finally get to S and B but I don't think I will be so long before I make a return trip.

We were a little overwhelmed and surprised with all of the food choices. Click on photo to enlarge.  Most of the foods are name brand and high-end brands that you very seldom find coupons for nor do they go on sale very often -- foods such as olive oil, capers, olives, sauces, Asian and Thai seasonings, lots of organic foods, high end salad dressings and gluten free foods. Dickinsen's Purely Fruit Preserves that we normally pay $4 and $5 for were .75 to a $1.  Most everything is $1.00 or under, except some of the olive oils, walnut oil, and grape seed oil - these can run $2 - $3.  Just visit your high-end foods sections and look around at some of the brands and mostly likely you will find it at C and B.

I purchase a lot of the Pacific, Imagine and Wolfgang Puck brands and usually pay $2.30 per soup and very seldom do you find coupons on these products.  Some of these soups were .50 to $1.00.  Key West Key Lime and Lemon Juice that I normally pay $4.50 for sells for $1. Expiration dates were 2010 and 2011.

As for the location, the store is located not far from Steinmart on University in a warehouse type facility.  This is a no frills operation and it is a little dusty and not easily organized with a barrage of shipments arriving - don't expect it to be like your local supermarket.  Erase that picture immediately or you will be disappointed. What they lack in aesthetics, they more than make up for with their staff.  Joel one of the owner's helped us and was more than accommodating and was kind enough to load all our heavy boxes in the car.

Shipments arrive weekly.  You could spend hours going through all the items and those that are lucky enough to live nearby can stop in and visit weekly and pick up some phenomenal deals.  If you are planning to host parties and entertain family and friends during the holidays, now might be a good time to visit.  They did have a few refrigerated items and dairy items but I am not sure how often these products come in and you definitely want to check the dates on any refrigerated products.

I checked expiration dates on all the foods I purchased.  A couple items were due to expire by the end of the year but most of the items I purchased still had a shelf life until late 2010 and 2011.  If the product is already expired and you are not comfortable with purchasing it, leave it and move on.  There is so much to go through.  There is a difference between: Best By, Use By and Expired and Joel will be happy to educate you on the products.  For my own comfort level, I did not purchase any products with expired labels.

The product in the pic below sells for $5.99 at Pier One and we purchased  for $1.00 and no, they were not expired.  Matter of fact, they carried the same date of the one's we found a couple of hours later at Pier One.

Tip:  Make a list of some of the items you need prior to visit and maybe this will keep you from being overwhelmed and help as you look for products.