Grocery Stores and AMEX
 

I am struggling with the local grocery chains in my area not accepting AMEX for purchases. Has anyone had any luck in getting a merchant to accept AMEX? To all the EU members on the site, Royal Ahold is one of the conglomerates in question. Do they allow you to purchase groceries in UK, Netherlands, etc with AMEX.
Any insights from the FT community would be appreciated. Thanks...

Hmm, many grocery stores here in Jamaica accept AMEX.

I would have thought that you would be able to find a grocery store in Harrisburg, PA that accepts AMEX.

The following PA chains accept AmEx:

Acme
Redners
Genuardi's
Clemmens

Giant does not accept AmEx.

Thanks for the insights. Giant and Weis are the two majors in my neck of the woods. Time to try the Merchant Relations at Amex and maybe Corporate with Giant. I don't know about the parent (Royal Ahold) letting loose of the additional 1 1/2 % fee versus Visa.
Thanks again.

I believe Kroger (King Soopers et al) takes AMEX but Safeway does not.

I will be making a trip to Paris, France in December. Do supermarkets there (Monoprix??) accept AMEX?

Is this a recent change? I always used AmEx at Giants (FYI, Giant is not my primary grocery store).

Harris Teeter accepts AmEx and I think Fresh Field does too...

------------------
ValueConsumer.com Home of Tripple Dipping Online Shopping

Most of the large chains in the UK accept Amex ... Tesco, Sainsburys ... though one noteable exception is Waitrose ??

FYI, there are two chains in the mid-Atlantic area with the name "Giant." One is PA-based ( http://www.giantpa.com ) and the other is MD/VA-based ( http://www.giantfood.com/ ). Maybe this is the source of confusion. I'm familiar with the PA giant, and they don't take Amex.

Now the PA Giant is expanding into MD. I wonder how long before they need to either merge or separate their brands somehow?

I never had problems using Amexco in Paris.

The following stores in Florida accept Amexco: Publix & Albertsons. I am not sure about WinnDixi.

Gandalf - Royal Ahold also owns Stop & Shop (which is New England based supermarket). Stop & Shop takes AmEx (but I think that was only after their main competitor here, Star/Shaw's supermarket was taking AmEx), so I know that it isn't a Royal Ahold thing.

I bet you that it is more of a local competition thing - if it will not generate any more income (or loss of customers to a competitor), why shell out the extra commission to Amex?

I can confirm this point : all Monoprix stores accept Amex.

Also all department stores : Galeries Lafayette, Printemps, BHV, Samaritaine, ...

(Amex is not accepted in Auchan, Carrefour and smaller supermarkets)



[This message has been edited by ahrz (edited 11-18-2002).]

In the Charlotte, NC area, Harris Teeter, Winn-Dixie, and The Fresh Market accept Amex. Bi-Lo (our local Ahold store) and Food Lion don't. We're also now getting Lowe's Foods (no relation to the hardware store), but I don't know their Amex status.

During my trips to the Long Island/NYC area, I've found that Waldbaum's (an A&P-owned store) is an 'Amex friendly' market.

In the New York City area,
Pathmark supermarkets accept AmEx (this only started about a year or two ago.)

The Giant I shop at opened a year ago and only accepts VI/MC/Discover. I hadn't realized that there were two different operators of Giant. Actually, I am not a big fan of Giant becuase there service is horrible. Fortunately, their prices and bakery have kept me coming back.