Turkey Talk

It’s that time of the year again, Thanksgiving. The one day families across the country gather around the table and give thanks. Through November and December, everyone is getting ready for Thanksgiving and the holidays. Shopping and holiday preparation is underway during these two months.

At the centerpiece of these holidays is food. The Nutley ShopRite offers deals and promotions throughout the year. During Thanksgiving, the ShopRite turkey promotion is one of the most compelling and well known among customers.  The promotion is open to all ShopRite customers and is very easy to participate in. In order to participate in the promotion, customers must present their Price Plus Club card anytime they shop at ShopRite. The customers must spend more than $400 in total, from October 14 through November 22, to receive a free turkey. With this promotion, there is no need to save receipts, since the register will automatically keep the running total. The turkey promotion does not just offer turkeys but gives options to those participating. Customers can also earn a free ham, turkey breast, kosher chicken, lasagna, or Tofurky.

“We try to accommodate all needs,” says Mr. Vincent LoCurcio, owner of the Nutley ShopRite. “The customer has a choice of how they want to spend the value that they earned.”  

ShopRite’s turkey promotion started around 18 years ago, in 2000, as a chain-wide promotion. ShopRite’s free turkey program is an advertising program and a part of ShopRite's marketing plan. Throughout the years, customers who have earned their free turkey asked for ShopRite to donate it for them. ShopRite gives all those donations to the local food pantry which is run by the Nutley Family Service Bureau. “That's grown tremendously for the past five or six years. They do a good job of disseminating food for those in need in the local community,” said Mr. LoCurcio.

ShopRite keeps track of all the turkeys being donated.  During the 2018 Thanksgiving season, 181 donations were made. The customers donating the turkeys do not need to personally transfer them to the food pantries since ShopRite holds them in their freezers and then, later on, delivers them to the food pantry when needed. In addition to turkeys, every year ShopRite allocates $1,000 to the ten food pantries located in Nutley.

The turkey donations have not only been helpful for those in need, but it also has affected Mr.LoCurcio’s business in Nutley.“My family has been operating this business since 1932” said Mr. LoCurcio. “I was born and raised in Nutley. Nutley has always been good to us and our business. You can't just take, you to have to give back. That is an important part of us.”