Ukrops ~ Whats the low down?

[YouPdWhat]

I'll be moving from Florida to Virginia :sad: in approx. 1 - 1 1/2 months so I am having to learn how to shop all over again & deal with a whole new set of store policies, cashiers & managers . Can you tell I don't want to leave Florida . All my stores know me & I hate starting over again & not to mention my access to stores in quantity is going to be greatly reduced. I know I know I'm working on trying to suck it up & put on my .

Anyway; I was just looking over the Ukrops site & didn't see anything regarding their coupon policy so I have contacted them so I will have upfront info on what their policies are.


In tbe mean time any tips seasoned Ukrop shoppers may have would be appreciated.

• Do they take competitors coupons
• I see they are having double coupons up to $.50 this Wednesday is that a frequent thing
• Do they have Ukrop store coupons & if so can they be combined with a Manf.
• Is there a $ limit or # limit on coupons used
• Have you seen WT's or Blinkies
• Do they have pretty decent prices
• How often do you get decent deals

TIA & reps for any info you have to share

[Joanne]

Ukrops is a nice store, but it is a little higher in price than Kroger or Food Lion. Rumor is they are up for sale. They are very customer friendly. They are not open on Sunday or other major holidays (Memorial Day, Labor Day etc.) and they do not sell wine or beer. It is a family owned store. They do double manufacturers coupons on Wednesday up to .50, but even with the double coupons they are more expensive then the other stores.
Hope this helps.

[judeshoney]

Welcome to the area!!

Joanne pretty much summed it up. I moved here 9 years ago and I can count the number of times I've seriously shopped in Ukrop's on one hand.

Ukrop's is basically about customer service. I've heard that if you don't have your checkbook/money with you, they will let you take your groceries and come back to pay. The baggers will take your groceries out and load them in your car and will not accept tips for doing so. They have a large ready-to-eat section and the pizza is actually quite good.

I know that some of the Ukrop's do have kiosks in front to print q's based on your shopping habits. I'm not sure if they can be used with manu q's or not. It's also where you can find the Richmond Parent's Magazine if they ever decide to put out the x/xx CVS q's again (they didn't again for October...boo!!)

Since they're not open on Sunday, sometimes you can find really good prices on baked goods/meat/dairy that are reduced on Saturday nights because of upcoming expiration dates. Like Joanne mentioned, they don't sell wine or beer, so no winetags or MIR.

They do have a program that if you buy $50 in groceries (maybe it's $100 now, I don't know), you get .10 off gas at local gas stations. That would be a decent deal because the cents off accumulate, but the gas stations are also among the most expensive around. I stick to the Kroger gas which is a crappier program but gives a better price IMO.

Again, welcome! Fall is the best season to be in VA!!!!

[rockinrob]

Welcome!! If I may ask, where in VA are you moving?

Here's my 2 cents: a couple of months ago, Ukrops started their "daily" specials. This is what you saw at the bottom of a flyer - bread, bananas, up to .50 on coupons, eggs, bread, ... They run extra specials on Sat, but they don't advertise these till Fri. eve. These specials have not changed. They are trying to be more competitive, but, ... you have to know what to buy (like any other store). Most of the stores have a nice selection of organic products and have the Mambo Sprouts booklets. The kiosk in the store gives manuf. q's - these cannot be stacked. You can only scan your card for goodies either 2 or 3 x/week. If you scan it more, you will get just 4 generic q's (vs about 10 q's). They do not take competitor's q's. They do have blinkies (and sometimes tearpads). So far, there are no limits on # of q's, but ... I just learned yesterday that they will not take IPs for free products or if the value is over $2 (I had 2 - .50 and 1 - BOGO, they wouldn't take the BOGO). They are trying to compete a bit more with the other chains these days. Lots of their regular prices have been lowered, but, ... The quality of their products is wonderful - meats, deli, produce, ... It's an extremely clean store, always busy, ... I do shop there for a few items, but ... If you're pregnant or have young children, it's the place to shop - they have special parking spots saved and a couple of the stores have a Tot Spot area - you can drop your child off (supervised daycare) for up to an hour (maybe 2, it's been years for me) while you shop.

Oh yeah, as Heidi mentioned, their gas program has changed, but for every $50 spent (after q's), you earn .05 towards gas. Many Exxon stations and others have the program. You just swipe your Ukrops card and it asks if you want the discount (the .05 accumulates - but is only good for 3 months).

As Joanne mentioned, there have been many rumors that Ukrops is for sale. HT put in bids, but was said a private equity co. (I think) outbid them, so who knows. :shrug7: More q competition would be great.

Any other questions - feel free to ask. Will you be in Richmond, Petersburg, Henrico, Chesterfield, Hanover, ...?

Welcome.

[YouPdWhat]

Thanks & reps to everyone for your posts they have been a great help.

I've actually been in Ukrops a few times for a quick grab & go when I would go up to visit at Christmas time. It seemed to be a very nice store.

Yeah, more grocery stores would be great as there sure isn't much in the area. Some Super Targets sure wouldn't hurt either.

I grew up in Va. & moved to Florida in 1982 so 2 1/2 years short of being in Florida 1/2 my life ( Age ~ don't ask ). To be honest I hated VA. & really am not looking forward to going back. I have been trying to have a positive attitude about it; looking upon it as a new start / adventure but some days it is harder than others to maintain that positive attitude.

Will more than likely end up in the Prince George, Dinwiddie, Chester or Tri-City area ~ not sure as of yet.

Thanks again!

[rockinrob]

Not familiar with the Prince George, Dinwiddie, Chester or Tri-City area - good luck on your decision on where to move!

I have a Ukrops update for you. I had a q issue at a store yesterday (Wed), and called one of the larger stores for the answer. DND is basically cashier discretion. If the q scans, she should put it thru. I had the rare Ukrops cashier who read every word on my q and refused to scan it. Long story short, from my bad experience, I found out something wonderful. On Wed only, instead of doubling up to and including .50, Ukrops is beginning to double up to and including .99 - woohoo! This was NOT mentioned in their flyer this week and is very new for the Richmond area. Hope it continues!! Maybe Kroger will start to double more than .50 too. One can dream. :)

[anncnumcv]

Like it has been said Ukrop's is a family owned store that is not open on Sundays, and does not sell beer or wine. I work for Ukrop's so it never gets old when an out-of-towner ask you what aisle the beer is on. :) They are labeled as being more expensive, but if you stay with sale cycles they really aren't. They just last week started doubling MQ's up to 0.99 on Wednesdays only. They only double coupons on Wednesdays. They also have other daily specials that are on their website for meat and produce.

The fuelperks! program is a good program because the $50 is not per purchase it is cumulative, so $5 here $25 here until it adds up to $50. There are expiration dates on your fuelperks! - they let you know by putting it on the end of your receipt.

I sent an e-mail to the help desk regarding their coupon policy a while ago. They pretty much told me that they don't really have printed policy. There is a limit on how many like coupons they will double - it is 5 per transaction. I have been told they limit you to 30 coupons a day, but I think I have pushed that limit. They do not accept IP for more than $2 or anything that is a free item because of coupon fraud in the area recently.

I do the majority of my shopping at Ukrop's and routinely save 40-60%. (They do not offer employees a discount.) I have a blog where I try to post some of the sales and match-ups, but I do show what I got and paid. If you are interested send me a PM and I'll be happy to share the link with you.

Good luck with your move - :)

[anncnumcv]

One other thing - the kiosk that prints out the coupons is called the coupon spot - sometimes the coupons are manufacturer coupons sometimes they are store coupons (like when they got an extra order of an item and need to unload it) - you can stack those. You just have to look to see which ones you get that day. I think they have also changed the limit to printing only 2 sheets a week.