50% off Certain Perishable Items at Woolies/Coles on Xmas Eve?

John Kimble on 25/12/2018 - 10:46

We went you our local Woolies around 6:30pm to 7pm last night to get some last minute items. I stayed in the car because kids were sleeping.

When wife came back, she said she noticed an unusually long queue at the Seafood section, but they weren't buying anything/being served. Wife kept walking. A minute later, an announcement was made over the PA system that seafood was 50% off…by the time she walked back, the queue had grown substantially.

Is this common knowledge? Is that why there were people queuing before the announcement? Does this happen every year before Christmas day? I assume would happen before every public holiday then? What else is discounted?

I know everyday around 10pm or close to closing time a lot of bakery items and roast chickens are discounted too.

Food & Grocery

Comments

  • jjjaar on 25/12/2018 - 10:54
    +1

    It’ll be within an acceptable period of time before closing. What time did the store close?

    Seafood usually closes an hour early to clean up. Chances are they just had too much stuff and because they aren’t open today they couldn’t keep it any longer. Hence, discounting it a bit earlier than normal to ensure they didn’t have to throw anything out.

    My local Woolies sometimes has roast chickens for about $4 around 7pm when they close at 10, if they still have some by 9pm they go down to $1.

  • elgrande on 25/12/2018 - 10:56

    I used to have the fun job of clearing out the seafood. I accidently started clearing through all the new stock in the coolroom.

  • ihbh on 25/12/2018 - 11:01
    +1

    I know everyday around 10pm or close to closing time a lot of bakery items and roast chickens are discounted too.

    Usually earlier depending on store. Roast chickens have to be within 4 hours of roasting.

  • silverrat23 on 25/12/2018 - 12:27

    Is this common knowledge? Is that why there were people queuing before the announcement? Does this happen every year before Christmas day?

    Yes to all questions.

    I assume would happen before every public holiday then?

    Nope, only before Christmas. It's one of two days Coles is closed for the whole day, the other being Good Friday (varies by store).

    What else is discounted?

    The usual al year round - milk, some dairy, some fridge-based meals (single-serve pasta, lasagna, etc.), pre-packaged F&V, some Deli products (cheese and salads). Seafood only before Christmas.

  • Halo375 on 25/12/2018 - 14:33

    My parents used to always wait until the last minute for Christmas hams to be reduced in the last hour of trading. Not sure if they still do that or not.

  • marieviv on 25/12/2018 - 15:05

    Yes, this happens at some woolies. I did this myself last night.
    It is always best to try and clear as much old stuff out of your freezer the weeks before. Last night I was at my local woolies at 5:45 pm then hung around for half an hour. They kept saying that they weren’t discounting the seafood until the very last minute, then suddenly announce that it was half price. I stayed close to the seafood area and managed to get third in line. Got 2 kilos of salmon, a lobster and a kilo of cooked tigers. The bakery goods were also marked down by half. I recall one xmas when big prawns were $5 a kilo, though…

  • onetwothreefour on 25/12/2018 - 19:08
    +1

    We once paid 19c per kilo for some bananas on xmas eve in Aldi. That was about 10 years ago but my wife and I still talk about it every xmas.

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