Big Savings at Salvage Grocery Stores

ARVADA, Colo., Aug. 28, 2009 — -- From the outside, it doesn't look like grocery stores you're used to.

Tucked in the back of an industrial complex, Palumbo's Friday Store has a plain brick front and black security bars covering the windows.

And on the inside, you will not find prices you're used to.

"We have people of all walks of life come in here for the sole purpose of saving money," said owner Martin Palumbo, noting that in the last year business at his store is up anywhere from 30 to 50 percent.

Palumbo and his wife, Jo, run a "salvage" grocery store in Arvada, Colo., near Denver. They take in damaged, dented or discontinued products that grocery stores won't sell -- everything from baby food to bug spray, cereal to salad dressing -- and offer them at huge discounts.

As the economy has tanked, frugal customers have been flocking to so-called "scratch-and-dent" or salvage grocery stores.

"I notice that a lot of people are coming in and saying, 'I just got laid off, and I'm so glad I found you,'" said Jo Palumbo, herself laid off in December from her job as a paralegal.

There are hundreds of these types of stores spread across the country, and a growing number of Web sites are dedicated to finding them. Anderson's Country Market, a discount store located in Madison Heights, Va., maintains a state-by-state list.

Palumbo gets his products from supermarket reclamation centers. The packaging is often crushed or torn; cans are often dented. Some items are near or even just past their "sell by" dates.

But the deals are great.

Click here for a full directory of salvage grocery stores.