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ShopRite store debuts online grocery pickup pod

Automated Bell and Howell system offers customers 24/7, self-serve option

Russell Redman

January 12, 2022

3 Min Read
ShopRite of New Rochelle-QuickCollect Go! Pod-Bell and Howell.jpg
ShopRite of New Rochelle's QuickCollect Go! Pod holds ambient, refrigerated and frozen foods, which customers retrieve via a unique code when their online order is ready.Shop-Rite Supermarkets

ShopRite has picked up a first in grocery click-and-collect on the East Coast.

The Wakefern Food Corp. banner said yesterday that ShopRite of New Rochelle, owned by Shop-Rite Supermarkets Inc. (SRS), has deployed a Bell and Howell QuickCollect Go! Pod smart grocery retrieval system in its parking lot, providing customers with self-serve pickup of online orders.

An outdoor, freestanding unit, the QuickCollect Go! Pod holds ambient, refrigerated and frozen foods and employs automation to enable secure delivery and retrieval of online orders at anytime, Keasbey, N.J.-based ShopRite said. Shoppers place their grocery orders at Shoprite.com and select QuickCollect as their pickup option. When items are ready, customers receive a text containing a unique QR code to scan on the pod’s console screen, which brings the order to the pickup portal, allowing customers to access their groceries.

“The QuickCollect Go! Pod will make it even easier for our shoppers at the New Rochelle store to pick up their online orders. It’s self-checkout and pickup for online orders that’s done right outside the store,” SRS President Steve Savas said in a statement. “We are excited to be the first grocer on the East Coast with this technology.”

ShopRite of New Rochelle-QuickCollect Go! Pod-Bell and Howell-night.jpg

Bell and Howell noted that the QuickCollect Go! Pod offers grocers a 24/7, unstaffed pickup service option.

The ShopRite supermarket with the QuickCollect pod is located at 8 Palmer Ave. in New Rochelle, N.Y. Edison, N.J.-based SRS operates 36 ShopRite stores in New Jersey and in the Hudson Valley and Capital Region in New York.

Related:Lowes Foods pilots grocery pickup lockers at the workplace

Retail and e-commerce automation provider Bell and Howell said the QuickCollect Go! Pod’s intelligent software and robotics technology prepare orders placed at Shoprite.com for pickup. The Durham, N.C.-based company noted that the system’s intuitive interface and consumer-focused design provides a convenient, contactless experience, with the first totes dispensing to the customer in less than a minute.

“Retailers like ShopRite recognize that consumer convenience and fulfillment efficiency are critical to the next level of e-commerce,” according to Larry Blue, president and CEO of Bell and Howell. “Our data shows that consumers enjoy the convenience of this new, individual automated curbside pickup with our QuickCollect Go! Pod.”

Bell and Howell unveiled the QuickCollect Go! Pod in August, citing potential 24/7 pickup applications for grocers, pharmacies and other retailers. The company said in late September that it fielded multiple orders from “leading American grocers.” Designed as a self-contained “store in a box” for outdoor, drop-in installations, the pod offers drive-up service for customers and seamlessly accepts orders from logistics hubs, automated centralized and micro-fulfillment centers, manual fulfillment operations and other sources, Bell and Howell said.

Related:Jewel-Osco tests self-serve grocery pickup kiosk

Albertsons Cos. began piloting a in-store locker pickup service, branded as PickUp, using Bell and Howell’s QuickCollect GL system at Jewel-Osco and Safeway stores in October 2020. And this past June, Carolinas grocer Lowes Foods started testing a workplace locker pickup option for its Lowes Foods To Go online service via QuickCollect GL units deployed outside Bell and Howell’s Durham headquarters.

About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

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