Grocery Outlet, ‘like a T.J. Maxx but for food,’ comes to Costa Mesa

By Caitlin Yoshiko Candil for the Los Angeles Times

Amid fierce supermarket competition, a new grocery store chain has come to Orange County, boasting of “extreme discounts” on brand-name items.

Grocery Outlet Bargain Market opened in Costa Mesa on Thursday — the first in the area since a shop in Fountain Valley closed in 2012 — and a store in Westminster will host a grand opening this month. By early next year, an outlet is expected to open in La Habra.

While Grocery Outlet looks like a typical grocery store — the Costa Mesa location sits in a strip mall near a CVS and a BevMo! at 1835 Newport Blvd. — its business model is completely different from that of most of its competitors..

Instead of stocking the same items month to month, Grocery Outlet hunts for bargains among food distributors and fills its shelves with whatever can be bought on the cheap that particular week..

“We’re like a T.J. Maxx but for food,” said Melissa Porter, vice president of marketing for Grocery Outlet.

See the full article here: Grocery Outlet, ‘like a T.J. Maxx, but for food’…