GORE BAY—Shoppers at Dean’s Valu-Mart in Gore Bay were anticipating a chance to win a barbecue, maybe a nice $50 gift certificate and a nosh on free hot dogs and ice cream cones, but what the first 30 shoppers in line got at the stroke of 4 pm this past Monday, May 2 was up to $250 in free groceries.
“It’s amazing, awesome,” exclaimed Barbara Head as she pointed to the cash register screen. The ecstatic shopper’s grocery receipt read $251.04. “All I had to pay was $1.04,” she beamed.
Certainly there was plenty of free ice cream, hot dogs, cookies, pop and small free tokens that were given away by store staff bearing gift baskets during what was advertised in The Expositor as a “customer appreciation day,” but the big excitement was up at the cash registers as a battery of confetti cannon filled the air with coloured cellophane as the announcement was made. “Because it was confidential, we couldn’t tell anyone what was happening, that’s one of the rules,” said store manager Shirley Mandoshkin. “Monday isn’t always the busiest day at the store, so we decided to hold a customer appreciation to help draw people in.” It worked, as customers dropped by to put their names in the draws and to sample the free food and cake.
“We are not only celebrating our customer appreciation, but we are also celebrating the Market Moments program and today, we want to thank you for your loyalty and making our store an important part of your community,” said Ms. Mandoshkin as she made the announcement. “To celebrate this special occasion, Dean’s Valu-Mart and Loblaws would like to say ‘congratulations shoppers,’ this is your market moment. Everyone in line has been selected to win all their groceries for free. You heard me, free groceries up to $250. Cashiers will begin to ring you through thank you, enjoy your Market Moment.”
“This is great,” said a beaming Dean Moss as he helped an elderly customer through the line.
The day proved very emotional for both customers and staff. “One of our cashiers was telling me that when I made the announcement that they were getting their groceries free, the lady in front of her started crying and the cashier started crying too,” said Ms. Mandoshkin. “This was such a big thing for Gore Bay.”
“We didn’t know that Loblaws was sending a film crew until they arrived here,” she said. “They told me that they have done this at 15 stores across Canada and that this was the best one. It was pretty chaotic, but they said that was the best part.”
Videos of the announcement and ensuing excitement at stores across the country can be found on YouTube by searching the hashtag #marketmoments. See this Friday’s Recorder for the names of the winners of the customer appreciation prize draws, as well as on this newspaper’s Facebook page.
