Schnucks kicks off curbside pickup

Building on its online grocery delivery program, Schnuck Markets Inc. has introduced curbside pickup at four stores in the St. Louis market.

Schnucks said the click-and-collect service — an expansion of its Schnucks Delivers home delivery partnership with Instacart — got under way yesterday at four supermarkets in St. Charles, Town & Country, Richmond Heights and St. Louis (5055 Arsenal St.), Mo. The retailer noted that it’s the first traditional grocer to offer the service in the St. Louis area.

Another four Schnucks locations are slated to begin curbside pickup in January, including in Creve Coeur, Kirkwood, Florissant and St. Louis (4333 Butler Hill Rd.). Plans call for the service to roll out to stores across greater St. Louis, including the metro east area, and other geographic areas served by the chain.

“We know our customers lead busy lives, and curbside pickup allows them to easily shop online for groceries and pick them up at a time that’s convenient to them, whether that’s around their daily work commute, while transporting kids to or from school, or while running other errands,” according to Ted Schnuck, vice president of marketing at St. Louis-based Schnucks. “This is another way for Schnucks to continue to meet the changing needs of our customers and their families, by delivering to their home, office and now to their car.”

Related:Schnuck Markets goes bigger in digital

To use the click-and-collect, customers order groceries through Schnucks Delivers online or via the retailer’s mobile app, choose the pickup option and select a time. After completing their purchase, they get a text message that indicates where to park at the store and provides a phone number to call upon arrival. The grocery order is kept in a designated area of the store, with temperature-sensitive items placed in refrigerators, freezers or hot bags. When customers arrive at the store and call the provided phone number, a Schnucks associate brings their order to their car.

Curbside pickup is available from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Processing fees on orders of more than $35 are waived for Schnucks Delivers Express members and are $1.99 for nonmembers. For orders under $35, the fee is $5.99.

Schnucks added that it now offers home and office delivery in all the market areas it serves. The chain operates 119 stores in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa, including a new location that opened Wednesday in Warrenton, Mo.

Schnucks launched Schnucks Delivers with Instacart in the St. Louis area in February 2017. The addition of curbside pickup is part of San Francisco-based Instacart’s national rollout of click-and-collect at leading grocery chains, announced earlier this week.

Related:Instacart Pickup set to go national