PITTSBURGH — Giant Eagle here dropped prices an average of 23% on more than 100 popular produce items last week, according to a report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The company estimates that the price cuts will total more than $32 million annually.
Giant Eagle's Pittsburgh-area circulars last week featured buy-one, get-one-free deals on bagged salads and California strawberries, as well as two-for-$3 deals on celery bunches and half-pound packages of mushrooms. A separate page of the ad emphasized “hundreds of new lower prices on fresh fruits and vegetables in our produce department every day,” and highlighted new, ongoing specials on popular items including bananas, baby carrots, stem tomatoes, and several varieties of apples and lettuce.
The produce price cuts are part of a broader campaign at the 220-unit chain. Recently, the company cut prices in other departments as well, offering generic antibiotic prescriptions for free in its pharmacies, and cutting the price of its rotisserie chickens from $6.99 to $4.99, for example.
“We cannot be higher priced” than competitors, Lisa Henriksen, vice president, marketing, own brands and new business development, told the Post-Gazette.
Henriksen said the price-cut program had been made possible by cost-saving measures including streamlined inventory management at the company's warehouses and elimination of several headquarter-level jobs.