Grocery store gets creative in face of rising prices

By Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield

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    ST. PAUL, Minnesota (WCCO) — A St. Paul local neighborhood grocery store, Tim and Tom’s Speedy Market, is getting creative to ride out the highest prices the business has ever known.

The namesakes started the neighborhood mission over 30 years ago.

“It creates a feeling of community,” Ted Spreigl said.

No one knows these aisles better than Spreigl, a second-generation owner.

“You can sit back and see the changes that have happened, ‘Oh this used to be like this, this used to be like this.'” Spreigl said.

But the biggest change is that groceries are higher than they’ve ever been all the way around.

Spreigl says the last thing he wants to do is raise prices for shoppers.

“Not at all. In fact, that it is the last thing we want to do. We are just trying to find the happy medium of still maintaining affordability while still being able to remain open,” Spreigl said.

Spreigl and the team have been getting creative.

“There’s over 350 sales going in the store right now,” Spreigl said.

He’s buying more private labels so he can have those sales which he says are what moves merchandise faster — and he buys less.

“We don’t have as much overstock,” Spreigl said.

Because it’s a small business he can also buy local, which has allowed him to dodge a common plight. He buys eggs from a local Amish farm in Wisconsin and has had no shortage. Spreigl is focused and says in the end, his goal is to charge less.

Spreigl says with prices higher than normal, he’s selling fewer sweets and snacks as shoppers are sticking more to the staples.

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