You had me at coffee.

Every year I find myself shopping the day before Thanksgiving, I’m not sure as to why exactly. I have even gone as far as trying to get everything the week before and then finding myself at the store anyway because of something that I had forgotten.

This year I decided to try something new. One of my local Meijer’s installed what is called a curbside pickup over the summer. I even watched them build it! Naturally I decided to try it today! Normally it’s only $4.95 for this service, however until December 1^st it’s FREE! They are even giving out freebies until then!

Last night, while watching Dancing with the Stars I was grocery shopping online! I just went to Meijer.com, logged into my mperks (which if you don’t have, you should totally get! It’s free!) and searched for everything on my list! You get the same sales as in store, and it automatically accepts your mperks coupons! The website allows you to buy the brands you want and everything that you would get in the store.

As you go to checkout you need to enter your credit card information, however they don’t charge you until you pick it up! Speaking of picking up, you also get to choose your pick up time! I had mine set for 2:00pm, however I got an email at 1:30pm letting me know that it was ready for pickup and that my food would be kept in refrigerators and freezers until I was able to pick up my groceries.

I rolled through the curbside entrance a little after 2pm. First you need to push a button, they ask for your name and ask you to pull through to pickup.  The pickup area has two spots under an awning. As soon as I parked a woman came out of a door and greeted me with a fresh cup of coffee with all of the fixings. As soon as she went inside another woman came out with options of cookies for me. I had just enough time to fix my coffee when the nice man with my groceries came out with a cart.

After I officially paid for everything; there is a computer thing on the cart itself, then he asked where I wanted them loaded. Given the fact that I had my truck and it’s winter he pulled the cart around and loaded everything into my passenger’s seat for me. He was very kind and knew enough to put the bleach on the floor instead of the seat. All of my bags were labeled with my name and if it was refrigerated or frozen. Things you would keep separate, like meat; was separated into separate bags.

I just sat there shocked. This whole encounter took less than five minutes where it would have taken me around two hours to get through Holiday shopping at Meijer! I absolutely loved it! They honestly had me at coffee!