Commissary Value Brands: Benefit helps Soldiers, retirees save money on groceries

By Nathan Pfau, Army Flier Staff WriterMarch 27, 2015

Commissary Value Brands: Benefit helps Soldiers, retirees save money on groceries
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FORT RUCKER, Ala. (March 27, 2015) -- When money is tight, the Fort Rucker Commissary has a way for Soldiers, retirees and family members to pinch pennies and take their savings to the bank.

Through the Commissary Value Brand Program, patrons can save an average of 30 percent or more simply by looking for the orange tags throughout the commissary with the word "Value," according to Jess Lira, assistant commissary officer.

"We're providing that 30 percent savings across the board with the value brands," said Lira. "With all of these different brands, there are significant savings to be made with not only off-brand products, but name-brand products, as well.

"When you go to some of the stores in town and you see that they have all of their generic items that will be on sale, but when you come into the commissary you'll see that we have a lot of the name-brand items on sale with the Commissary Value Brand program," he said. "I'm retired Army, so I shop here, and when I go shop (at another store), I notice the significant savings because I do a price comparison when I come back."

The Commissary Value Brand program was re-energized by the Defense Commissary Agency as a response to growing demand for private label and value-priced products that people find in stores off post, according to the DeCA website, www.commissaries.com.

There are currently more than 300 items across 33 categories that people can choose from, and unlike sale items in most competing stores, Value Brand item provide the low price for a minimum of six months that is equal to or better than private-label brands.

As an example, the commissary sells a box of name-brand nutrition bars for $2.50. The same brand at a competing store sells for $3.89, which is a $1.39 savings that can add up significantly when tallying groceries, said Bobby Ward, Fort Rucker commissary store director.

It's those kind of savings that Ward said he wants to get to people. And those savings will carry over into the new commissary, which is slated to be complete in July.

Most of the construction for the building is completed and the parking lot is finished, and now the process of installing equipment for the new commissary is going on -- cubicles for the offices, refrigerators and electronics, said Lira.

Shelving is due to arrive April 16, said Ward, and industry professionals will be coming from May 4-7 to work on setting the store. Shortly after, items to go on the shelves will be scanned and electronic shelf labels will be created to go into the store's database.

The new state-of-the-art commissary will be significantly larger than the current store, with a total of 85,302 square feet, 47,380 of which is designated for the sales floor. That's more than 18,000 square feet extra sales floor space than the current commissary.

It will feature extensive produce, meat, frozen, chilled and grocery departments, as well as an international delicatessen and bakery with a sandwich bar, a sushi-to-go area and rotisserie chicken.

There will be 13 regular checkouts and four self-checkout stations to handle the more than 45,000 customer transactions and serve the 30,000-plus authorized shoppers that visit the commissary every month.

With the layout of the new store, Lira said there is room for substantial savings in electrical cost with skylights providing light during the day, as well as many other sustainable and energy-saving design features that were incorporated into the new building.

With all of these improvements, coupled with the savings from the Value Brand program, shoppers are in for a treat when shopping at the new commissary, Ward said.

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Fort Rucker, Ala.

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