Twenty Dollars goes far at Once Upon a Child

For those who follow my blog, you might remember that I was chosen as fan of the month at the Stow Once Upon a Child. My prize was $20 worth of store credit. My growing three year old is in need of summer clothing so I was over the moon about this prize. I went over the weekend, determined to get at least a few outfits and not go over $20 so that my readers might see how far a twenty could go in this gently used children's resale shop.

The results: Five shirts, three pairs of shorts. They are all brand names like Gymboree, The Children's Place, Carter's, Kohl's and Target brands. Two of the shirts still had the original tags on them. That is quite a chunk of a summer wardrobe and my total was $20.77 which means I paid 77 cents out of pocket for all of this!

My little guy was overjoyed with his new clothes and demanded to try on his new Buzz Lightyear shirt immediately! Of course once he had a new shirt on, he had to try on a pair of new shorts and then model for us! (The mittens are a long story, one day he told someone he needed them because he got into a fight with a wizard and lost his hand. Most of the time he says that superheroes need them.)

I was able to get all of this simply for being a fan of the Stow Once Upon a Child Store on their facebook page. That means that one of you could be the next Fan of the Month. Simply go to their page, which is right here, and hit like! Not only will you have a chance at winning, you will also be kept up to date on all of the sales and happenings at the store. This month there is a 10% off coupon available! Good luck and be sure to let me know if one of our readers should happen to win!

Once Upon a Child Stow's Fan of the Month!

If you have children and you have yet to visit Once Upon a Child in Stow, you are missing out on a lot of great bargains for your growing offspring. I blogged back in the winter about their annual bag sale but there are always good deals at Once Upon a Child.

In addition to finding great deals, you can also bring in your gently used clothing (freshly laundered), toys, and baby equipment and leave with some cash. Or new stuff, I am going to say that you will likely leave with new stuff as I find it impossible to walk in there and not find some bargain that we need to have. You do not have to make an appointment, but I have found it best to call ahead and get an idea of what seasons and sizes they are buying, it is also a good time to check if they are in need of any larger pieces you might have.  The What We Buy page is also a great reference.

They have recently started a Fan of the Month contest on their new Facebook page and Dollars and Cents has the honor of being their first fan of the month! I am super excited about this. I get a $20 Gift Certificate for the store. I plan to update everyone on just how far my $20 will go! If you haven't like Once Upon a Child's new Facebook page, you can go here and do so. Maybe one of our readers will be next month's Fan of the Month!

You can find Once Upon a Child at 4272 Kent Rd Suite 10, Stow, OH 44224, it is in the same plaza as Giant Eagle and Target. Store hours are Mon - Fri: 10:00 am - 8:00 pm, Sat: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm, and
Sun: 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm. The phone number is 330-688-7176. You can also find out a wealth of information by clicking one of the links above!

Don't forget to like the Facebook page!

Happy Bargain Hunting!

Santa Claus is coming to Kent!

This Saturday, December 3, 2011 is the annual Festival of Lights celebration in downtown Kent! Beginning at 5:30 pm with musical entertainment from the Kent Roosevelt ACEs Choir, Santa will be arriving at approximately 6pm via a lighted train. I've yet to attend this event but last year we were lucky enough to see Santa's train on our way to something else. It was magical to even the eyes of the adults in our car!

Bring a camera to capture your moments with Santa! There will also be a letter writing station for those still needing to get a letter to old St Nick. And best of all, FREE hot chocolate will be provided!

Some of the local businesses will be staying open late in honor of the event so be sure to stop in! Kent is full of places to pick up unique gifts.

B&T Discount Grocery--worth a gander.

One of our goals with this blog is to find local bargains within the small businesses of our community. It's easy to find deals in the huge chains and easy to overlook the small places you drive by every day. A short journey down 59 towards Ravenna will take you to B&T Discount Grocery. Located at 3011 State Route 59, just into the Ravenna mailing area, the store would be easy to miss if not for the giant B&T sign and the scrolling AAA Homes sign just past it. A left into the parking lot and there you are. 

Now, I have to be honest, my first impression of the store was not a pleasant impression. I walked in with my toddler son and found a cart. We were audibly assaulted immediately by rather loud talk radio that seemed to be an angry type of station. Normally I can't tolerate shopping in places that choose to play this type of broadcast, but I was determined to check out the store. Two employees, who I assume were also the owners, were chatting with a customer. Some kind of verbal altercation occurred in which the female employee started swearing, rather loudly, at the other employee. I don't particularly shelter my child from such language but such unprofessional behavior is still shocking, even in a small business. I shook my head and went about my business, after all, there might have been great deals in store for me!

When I first entered the store, I noted the beverage cooler near the door was stocked with various alcoholic beverages as well as individual cans of non alcoholic beverages. The store also carries tobacco products and Ohio lottery games. I checked a ticket that I'd forgotten about when I came in, alas it was a loser but it allowed for some friendly banter with the male employee of the store. His pleasant attitude really helped me to get over the rough feelings of the other employee's actions when I entered the store. He also found us later in the trip to let us know that he was marking down some items that might spark our interest.

The first aisle I encountered was stocked with all manner of chip and snack foods, with brands both familiar and unfamiliar. They were arranged in a tiered stack of bins and the prices, while not amazing, were very decent.  That row was lined on the other side with coolers, I checked a few of the expiration dates on the dairy products and juices, both out of curiosity and because one of the Simply brand juices looked off color. The juices had expired in July, while the dairy products seemed to be right in date. As the store is a salvage grocery, it's not for those who are squeamish about expiration dates. A lot of products are still good well past their expiration dates, including milk and eggs. I'm not sure about juice that expired in July, however. 

To my delight, the first aisle ended in a selection of locally grown produce. The produce was very cheaply priced, much lower than you will find at a normal grocery store. The selection was small, but it was a Monday morning and I imagine that the delivery times on local produce varies. Across from the produce was a small freezer section with vacuum packed steaks and ground beef, sausages and other items. I noted that the frozen corn dogs that I purchased last week at Walmart were half the price at B&T. 

There is quite a selection of non perishables, as can be expected for any discount or salvage grocer. Some of the cans and boxes are scratch and dent, which means savings for you if you aren't hung up on the aesthetics. They had vast quantities of both Campbell's Chicken Noodle and Tomato soups, the Chicken Noodle was 75 cents a can and the Tomato was 65 cents a can. From what I could tell most of those cans were in pristine condition. Sprinkled in with the more familiar brand names were occasional foreign and specialty branded items. I looked at something labeled "Natural Sea Salt," and I will have to take their word on it because the rest of the packaging was in an Asiatic script. I like finding little items like that for bargain prices because my family can try new and diverse things. There was also quite a selection of beverages both familiar and unfamiliar. Dry cereals took up most of one wall, again a lot of these are near or past expiration but that really shouldn't affect the taste much since the packages are sealed. 

In addition to their selection of grocery items, they also carry necessities such as diapers, Depends, and health and beauty items. The diaper selection seemed to have everything from generic, off brand, diapers to Seventh Generation diapers. The prices on the diapers were not bad at all and comparable to some of the deeper discount sale prices you can find at chain stores. Although I did not go through the health and beauty items one by one (it would have brought my two year old to the end of his patience) we did spot check a few items. They had seemingly good prices on shampoos, body washes, and bubble baths.

All in all, the store seems to be a good stop for those who do not coupon, the prices are low enough to make it worth the trip, especially for things like snacks, canned goods, and food for bagged lunches. The store does not accept manufacturer's coupons, but they do accept Visa, Mastercard, and EBT. Bags are 5 cents each but you are encouraged by signage in the store to bring your own reusable bags along. As the inventory in a business of this nature revolves and changes rather quickly, regular trips will probably net you your best deals.

T-bone steak....on a budget?

As a small celebration tonight, dinner was grilled T-bone steak and some side dishes. Every time I have cooked T-bone steak, which is a very recent development, I have pondered the good deal I found on this meat. The steak was on sale for $3.99 a pound; I paid $24 for a multi pack of steaks and was able to make 4 meals out of the pack for two adults and a toddler. This came out to roughly $6 a meal for the meat alone. Frugal? For special occasions, I think so. In a normal grocery, you would pay a lot more for less quality meat.

By now, you are probably asking yourself where this magical meat store is located and I am prepared to give up my secrets. It's in Edinburg. Edinburg, Ohio. A couple of exits east on 76 from Kent, you will find the Edinburg Corner Store. They do not have a website, I have never seen any advertising for them, and to be honest, the store itself, inside and out, isn't that impressive of a sight. However, their prices make them worth a trip. They feature an in house butcher shop and a large deli along with a small grocery store. The aisles are close together, the organization can be confusing and their prices on some items are not that spectacular...but the butcher and deli make it worth the trip. 

The variety in the meat department seems to vary by time of day and chance--from the point of view as a customer. The butchers are usually in sight, or within calling distance and are absolutely amicable. If you want something that you can't find, just ask them. A special cut? Ask away. As far as I can tell, the beef and pork are cut in house, the chicken, hams, and sausages are brand names. The ground beef is typically less than $2 a lb and the same price whether you buy a single pound or ten. They have had a lot of chicken specials lately, whole wings for $.99 a pound, legs for $.89 a pound, boneless, skinless, breasts for less than $1.50 a pound. I always take the meat home and repackage it into smaller quantities to suit my family and freeze it.  I have yet to have a complaint about the meat, other than the fact that there are days when they are completely sold out of most cuts but early evening.

The deli is fantastic. All orders are cut to the specifications of the customer and the deli is popular, it is best to stop at the deli and place your order before exploring the rest of the store. They carry a lot of the same brands of lunch meat that you will find at Giant Eagle or other groceries stores but there prices are markedly less. As with the butcher meat prices and availabilities, the deli is the same. Some of their items, like the Cajun Roast Beef, seem to sell out so fast that if you happen to be there on a day when they have it in, you get a glow about you as if you won a prize. It's that good. There always seems to be a ham deal that is $3.99 or less per pound and if you are a fan of bologna, my family swears by the Emerdale bologna which is regularly $1.89 per pound. They have an amazing variety of cheeses, all of which are as reasonably priced as their lunch meat. My recent favorite is their Brick cheese, it has kind of a swiss tang to it but it somewhat buttery as well. The store gets quite busy on the weekends and evening hours, but deli orders can be called in ahead of time if you are in a hurry. 

Other areas of the store worth a glance are the produce department, which features good deals on in season produce, and at times, amazing deals on potatoes and onions. Between the produce and the potato and onions, is the PIE section. Repeat after me, Friday is pie day. Every Friday they get a large variety of Amish made pies shipped in. They are very reasonably priced, cheaper than you would find in a regular grocery, and the variety can not be beat. There are also various cakes and rolls available, the pumpkin roll is always worth a try. I don't peruse the frozen section a lot, but my mother has a few favorites within, that section is always worth a look. Down the various aisles they feature items that are hard to find or not as mainstream such as packets of country gravy and pearl barley. The entire left wall of the store, as you come in, in almost entirely devoted to beverages, in the mix, however, they have Amish roll butter, some in store packaged deli items such as potato salad, and smoked meat sticks.

Although it is a tad out of the way for the average Kent resident, the Edinburg Corner Store is worth a trip once in a while simply to stock up on meat, lunch meat, and the other special items they carry. The savings seem to outweigh the extra effort and gas spent to travel to the store. Maybe we won't be having T-Bone steaks on a regular basis around here, but the continued existence of places like the Corner Store ensure that we won't break the bank for small celebrations.

Oh, this was in no way, a paid advertisement, given what little I can find of the establishment on the internet, I am not even sure the owners are aware of the existence of the internet. Don't let that stop you from the deals, though!

 

The Edinburg Corner Store

6792 Tallmadge Rd
Rootstown , OH 44272  

330-325-7718