Pak'n Save
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Pak'n Save is a budget supermarket chain in New Zealand operated by the Foodstuffs cooperative. Their key policy is to provide low cost food by offering a no-frills environment and asking customers to pack their own bags[1].
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[edit] Format
The name probably originates from the cost-saving practice of requiring that customers to pack their own groceries. Pak'n Save provides the cardboard boxes used for shipping products to the store, or plastic supermarket bags can be purchased at the checkout for 10 cents at North Island branches. South Island branches will not charge for plastic bags until early August 2009, when it will be 5 cents.) Customers are encouraged to purchase longer-lasting bags or to bring their own.
The stores are laid out as supermarket aisles, but with minimalistic design. Extra products that are not on shelves are stacked above the shelves on the pallets they were delivered in. This means that the floor space can be used for retail and storage. The stores are supplied daily from their co-operative distributor Foodstuffs.
Pak'n Save supermarkets are usually open until 10pm, with some major stores open to midnight.
Some stores have self scanning facilities, where the customer scans each item as they put it in their trolley. This reduces waiting time at the checkout, as payment is the only thing that occurs. Conventional checkout operator scanning is also available.
[edit] History
Pak'n Save was developed as a result of a trip by a number of Foodstuffs executives to the United States in 1985. On that visit they saw Cub Foods, operated by SuperValu, Pak'n Save operated by Safeway, and a number of other box warehouse supermarkets. Foodstuffs then copied this format in the New Zealand market. The original Pak'n Save format was almost an identical clone of Safeway's Pak 'N' Save chain in Northern California.
The first Pak'n Save opened in 1985, at Henderson, Auckland in the North Island, and the South Island in 1988 at Invercargill.[citation needed] The biggest Pak'n Save is Lincoln North Pak'n Save in Auckland, which opened in 2004.[citation needed] Stores were opened in the Auckland suburb Mt Wellington in early August 2006 in the new Sylvia Park shopping mall, and on 5 December 2006 in Hawera.
