$5 off @ HomeGrocer.com

[INeedAVacation]

www.homegrocer.com

I hope this happens! Hve any of you heard/seen anything about this yet?

[INeedAVacation]

so.....umm...why do I feel like I'm the only one anxious about this?

[k28la]

LOL... uh, didn't they go out of business??

[INeedAVacation]

Not exactly, they were bought by Webvan.com and THEY went out of business. How I understand it now is that the creater of Homegrocer.com, Terry Drayton, would really like to see it succeed and seems pretty intent on giving another go at it. If you had clicked on the link at the beginning of this deal you would have seen the goal of Homegrocer.com is to re-launch in Southern California. My guess is that this would mean the Los Angeles area as I think that is the first service area Homegrocer.com was able to break even. I have hopes that it would be in San Diego though since that's where I am and I would like to work for the company.

[kimchicowboy]

man, i'm surprised they're going to re-launch. 3 years ago, i worked for a dot.com (www.egrocer.com) up in san jose and it was tough to see how difficult the web-grocery sector is.

[glagic]

this is that order groceries online and they deliever it right? kinda like pink dot, the thing they had couple years ago in so cal? anyone have any experience with these? im at school in irvine and am really lazy in going to the market.

[k28la]

oh that's right, it was webvan who bought them and eventually went out of business... hope for the days of 1/2 off groceries again

[INeedAVacation]

glagic,
I have used Homegrocer, Webvan, and Whyrunout. All three got/get the job done but I most liked the way Homegrocer presented/conducted themselves. They also all have/had great promotions for first orders, refering a friend, etc. Homegrocer and Webvan offered free delivery if your order was over $50 (sometimes they required a $75 order for free delivery). Prices for the actual products were comparable to the off-sale prices of items in a grocery store.
Whyrunout is still operating and is making money. They partner with existing brick and morter stores where they actually do the shopping for your groceries. They charge a delivery fee of $9.99 (plus $1 for any addition store you shop at for that delivery (i.e if you have them pick up your laundry at the dry cleaners they partnered with).
I am not sure of the extent of their service areas but I do know that they are expanding.

[caribiner23]

Here in Chicago, we had both Webvan and Peapod for a while. I used both pretty regularly during 2000.

Peapod is owned by Dutch behemoth Ahold, who also owns Giant, Tops, and Stop & Shop (chains we don't have here in Chi). Supposedly, they're doing okay-- at least, I still see their trucks all over the place.

I liked Webvan much better. Their online interface was nicer and there were always tons of coupons available (hmmmm, maybe that sped their demise :-). They always seemed to have the brands I wanted, too.

I used to be in the marketing end of the grocery industry, and it's a really tough business. If someone can make a go of online grocery shopping, more power to them.

[k28la]

Now that Albertsons (and soon ralphs) deliver groceries, I really dont know how they intend to relaunch successfully... Oh well :rolleyes:

[IWANTBOBA]

I order from them once, got great deals out of them. The drivers didn't even take tips. I hope they relaunch, I live in the Los Angeles Area. So it would be great to order during traffic hours, ops, which means all day long.

[welfareloser]

*sigh* it'll be at least ten years before anything like that shows up in a town of 100,000 in the midwest. i'd pay a premium for not having to drag three kids to the grocery store or pay a babysitter for two hours...