Kroger Ad – January 28, 1963

Do you still buy most of your food at a grocery store or supermarket? Or do you shop at places such as Walmart or Costco that sell groceries in addition to many non-food items?

I still go to the traditional grocery store. In Vermilion, that means Giant Eagle or nothing. But I occasionally make the pilgrimage into neighboring cities to stop at Marc's or Apples.

But when it comes to old-time grocery stores, there aren't a lot of choices in our area like there were sixty years ago, when you could choose from big chains such as A&P, Fisher Foods, Kroger, Pick-N-Pay, and IGA stores; local and/or regional chains such as Meyer Goldberg, Eagle Markets or Food Fair; or the single, independent stores such as Bazley's and Fligner's.

With all those stores competing for your food dollar, it's not surprising that the big boys such as Kroger would launch contests to try and attract customers. And that's what we have below in this full-page ad that ran in the Journal back on January 28, 1963.

It's an odd ad. The contest theme is "Instant Bucks," but we don't see a sample image of a contest ticket. Instead, most of the ad is taken up with the stock photograph of a woman chef. The words ADULTS ONLY (reminds me of VL Cinema ads) and NOBODY LOSES add to the intrigue.

What's also strange is how you play the game. To find out whether your "Instant Buck" ticket is a winner, you have to "wipe off the 3 black squares with tissue or cloth using any household oil, butter or margarine." Sounds kind of messy.

So how is that nobody loses? I guess it's that fact that you could get 100 extra Top Value Stamps by asking the store manager for details. You could get another 25 stamps by purchasing one of a variety of specialty cakes or rolls, and yet another 50 by buying a twin pound cake. 

Hey, why didn't they put Toppie in the ad?

Anyway, sixty years later, contests such as "Instant Bucks" have been phased out by grocery stores. Customers now earn 'loyalty points' via rewards programs that offer dubious discounts on purchases.

Unfortunately, it's less fun than the zany contests offered sixty years ago.