Wednesday, August 23, 2006

No, I Didn't Win The O'Malia's Shopping Spree

Let's put to rest one rumor. I did not win the $500 free shopping spree at O'Malia's in Lockerbie. Several people have congratulated me for winning the shopping spree after seeing me in the photo with Winner #4. The real Winner #4 is Mike Litmer, my best friend and housemate. Several of his friends and I were there for moral support this past Saturday when he had 5 minutes to shop for $500 worth of groceries and assundries.

After I did a number on the store in a post a couple of months ago, I'm sure people were wondering how I possibly could have won the shopping spree. If my name had been drawn, I'm sure they would have thrown it out after all the criticism I heaped on them.

People have asked how you can possibly fill your grocery cart up with $500 worth of goods in 5 minutes. Under the rules of the shopping spree, you can pre-order your meat so that it's already packaged and ready for you to load into your cart when the whistle blows. You are not allowed to purchase any alcohol or tobacco products. In Mike's case, his meat totaled over $300. He managed to fill 2 carts with well over $700 worth of groceries. He gave back some items and wound up paying $85 out of pocket.

A couple of the winners donated their food to the Wheeler Mission. Mike kept his and didn't feel the least bit guilty. I'm glad he did. The filet mignon I cooked on the grill was great.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think the Kroger on 16th St. is actually cleaner than the downtown O'Malia's sometimes.

The O'Malia/s store is the unfortunate victim of two instances of corporate greed: 1) Joe O. went to prison for skimming money from the pop machines and failing to report it to the IRS, which distratced the O'Malia boys big-time (they ultimately sold out to Marsh), and 2) big time GOPer Don Marsh ignored all stores in the chain except the huge beheemoths he was building in Hamilton County, which cost $20 mil a pop. Ultimately, those expenses, and failure to pay attention to core business, cost Don. And us. Because Marsh was a good grocer.

Downtown is itching for a good grocer. I heard the 16th Str. Kroger may expand and remodel. True?

Sir Hailstone said...

16th St Kroger being cleaner? NOT HARDLY!! I've been in there a couple times and the place is a dump! I'd go to O'Malias any day. Now if a Target would open up somewhere near there that would be sweet.

Marsh got caught up in American "laziness". Buying shoes, clothes, groceries, a big screen TV, and get eyeglasses all under one roof. Yes I'm referring to Super Duper Wally-World. I don't shop Wal-Mart, not because of their employee relations history, but because the stores are filthy and several employees there (north and south sides) are just plan rude. No thanks I drive by Wal-Mart to go to Target instead.

Anonymous said...

Yeah but Target's food isn't as good as Marsh's.

My point was, that as dirty as the 16th St. Kroger is, it's often cleaner than Joe O's downtown store. Sad.

The staff at Joe O.'s is great. Let's hope the new Marsh ownership will recognize the potential gold mie they have and spruce it up.

Anonymous said...

"gold mine" Sorry