Giant Eagle kicks off $100 million strategy focused on lowering prices and improving quality
Giant Eagle is kicking off a new business strategy called "Because it Matters" that includes a $100 million investment focused on lowering prices, improving quality and remodeling stores.
Giant Eagle Spokesperson Dan Donovan said the company plans to remodel a dozen supermarkets and expand more than 60 in-store pharmacies.
"In the Pittsburgh area, we're looking at approximately a dozen supermarkets that are going to see various levels of remodel to go to brighten the shopping experience, and make sure we add a lot of products and services that our customers need. Separately, but in conjunction, we're also expanding more than 60 pharmacy locations," he said.
Under the new business strategy, Giant Eagle is launching a seasonal pricing initiative to reduce prices on many of the most frequently purchased items. Stores will also have themed promotions — starting with a one-week of $1 deals that started Thursday. More than 1,000 items will be dropped to just a buck.
Donovan said they're taking these new steps, in large part, in response to customer feedback.
"One of the things, whether you're shopping at Giant Eagle or another retailer, that you're hearing loud and clear is the need to help customers save. So, both through our weekly promotions, as well as seasonal pricing initiatives we're going to put in place, where we're gonna lower and hold prices on key items that are really important to customers, especially in this moment of inflationary period and tariff implications. We're gonna make a concerted effort to invest millions of dollars here in the short term to lock and hold a lot of key prices on key items for our customers," Donovan said.
Donovan said they plan to enhance employee training, and they're hiring. He added that they're adding hundreds more pharmacy positions in the coming weeks, including hiring former Rite Aid employees.
Giant Eagle is also looking to hire food professionals, like butchers, bakers, cake decorators, and cheese mongers.
"[This year] has been a milestone year for Giant Eagle. It started mid this year with the sale of our GetGo business. At the same time, we greatly expanded our pharmacy business, as we took on a lot of new Rite Aid customers and welcomed them into the Giant Eagle Pharmacy family. And now that all culminates with the reaffirmation of what it means to drive value to drive quality and to drive service for our customers," Donovan said.