Discount vs. Overrun

Boy, do I hate to go shopping for groceries, especially on Saturday and Sunday afternoons due to the crowds (maybe you do to?). But lucky for me I live in Las Vegas where most of the big chain grocery stores are open late (1 a.m.) or they open early (6 a.m.). Although I use most of the chain stores for emergencies. The other stores that I shop at are usually open 8am until 9pm.

I don't think that I've told you that I do my grocery shopping by bus, so I do have to plan several days in advance to do all my shopping. The reason? Well, I always need something somewhere. When you live on a budget like my roommate and I do, you're always looking for bargains.

I just found out that there is a difference between Wal-Mart, Save-A-Lot or Food4Less and my 99cent Only Stores, Dollar Tree, etc.. Do you know what that is? Ok, don't feel left out. The difference between these is that Wal-Mart, Save-A-Lot, Food4Less, etc. are discount stores and the 99cent Only and Dollar stores are known as over-run stores. We all know what a discount store is, but an over-run store needs some explaining (I think).

If you grocery shop at your 99cent Only stores (or Dollar Tree, Dollar King, or similar stores) they are the over-run stores. You probably noticed that sometimes they don't always have your favorite snacks, veggies, etc. every time you go there. They receive the "over-runs" from the manufacturers. Sometimes the manufacturers don't have an over-run of that product that week.

These over-run stores are used by suppliers to relieve their inventories of excess merchandise. The benefit to you is that you can get groceries and other items at a much lower price, sometimes as much as 80% less.

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