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Wegman’s Food Markets President Colleen Wegman on the supermarket’s decision to freeze prices on many products until April.
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Search -- shoppers wegmans food market is once again freezing prices -- more than fifty Staples and essentials.
No matter how much it costs the supermarket to buy.
When you add up all the different flavors and varieties of those products to fifty separate items.
Whitman says the prices for everything analysts will stay the same until April.
Even though it cuts into their bottom line with me now is the president wegmans Colleen Wegman Colleen welcome to the show thanks for coming on.
Thank you Melissa for having me so -- you doing this because your business owner you know you've got to stay in business and make money it seems like this would definitely -- Bottom line.
Well.
We thought about this kind of a price freeze for.
About three years now it began by.
In 2009 economic downturn where we realize that.
People we're gonna need help there was a lot of uncertainty and we wanted to get people from that they could count them.
And so we thought that this was one of the best ways that we could help people.
And at that time we developed.
List for a year.
And since then we realize that we could be more flexible and more relevant if we had -- -- in place.
So that's what we're announcing today.
Is I went through a list.
Yeah but we do you stay in business is by employing people so I have I -- -- -- -- you help people is by employing people and staying in business exactly right so I have to worried that if you're cutting into -- -- bottom line I mean you're not a public company so it's not about.
You know paying back your shareholders but if you're taking -- less revenue in the price of those items are going up.
I have to wonder you're gonna have to lay off people.
Well our goal is exactly the -- -- Where family investments in -- -- -- the opportunity to make decisions that are best for the long term and for the future of our best math.
And so actually what's so important to us is that we continue to stay busy.
And driving sales and growing so that we can keep our people in place.
And that's really our number one priority.
And so we believe that this kind of an initiative hopefully it's helping customers.
We definitely believe it's helping our employees.
And hopefully.
It will improve our business.
-- wheel drive traffic has more people will show the store because they want the low price items so overall do you think you could end up making money off this which.
I mean this is a business network we would celebrate that this is America profits are great right did you end up making money as a result of this.
That's never -- harmful but if that's the result of course that's a great thing what and our our.
Our mission as a company -- to help people.
Make great meals -- -- affordable.
And so this is very important for us in order to accomplish that mission and -- strategy what has the reaction been like so far from your customers.
Well fortunately it's been really go ahead.
And today's a great example we sent out applied to our customers and -- in a few hours we've got over 600 comments back.
So clearly this is important to people they're saying that it's a helpful way.
For them to plan and budget their family meals and that they're identifying with -- items things like ground beef chicken.
There's a lot of Prodi is on the last bananas potatoes broccoli things like that that people are gonna want to make great meals -- And they'll be able to do that at prices that they can count on being in place for a lot of period of time are coming -- -- works out for -- -- -- -- Thanks for having me take care.
