Getting the kinks worked out of my back at my chiropractor’s office last summer, Gloria Macias showed me a receipt from a Mexican grocery called Avanza.
Macias, my chiropractor’s assistant, didn’t understand it. Neither did her mother, who doesn’t speak a lick of English. Neither did my chiropractor, Dr. Gary Otto, who has an advanced degree.
Perhaps a guy from Dow Jones Newswires might get it, they figured, and handed it to me.
The confusing part of the receipt was a line that said “10% Plus” and added 10 percent to the total. It seemed to me like a sneaky little tax assessed at the cash register.
I went to the store, at 1320 S. Federal Blvd. in Denver, and quickly discovered one of the most cockamamie pricing schemes I’d ever seen.
“A new way to save — Plus 10% at the register,” signs in the store declared in both English and Spanish.
No, they don’t take 10 percent off at the register. They put it on.
Avanza, which means “advance” in Spanish, is owned by Nash Finch Co., a Minneapolis wholesale food distribution giant with more than $4.5 billion in annual revenue.
In August, I called its chief executive, Alec Covington, and asked him to explain the 10 percent tacked on to Macias’ bill.
Avanza tries to remain competitive with Wal-Mart, and cheaper than major grocers such as King Soopers, which is owned by Kroger Co., and Safeway, he began.
The Plus 10% pricing, he said, was similar to loyalty cards at other groceries or membership cards at warehouse retailers.
Many people who shop at Avanza are immigrants who have escaped dire economic circumstances in Mexico. Many of them, to be blunt, are uneducated day laborers. And they’re supposed to do percentages in their heads while they shop?
“Don’t underestimate the Hispanic families,” Covington said. “People that come to this country and learn a new language and learn a new way of business, they are not easily snowed.
“Whether you are Wal-Mart, a King Soopers or an Avanza, you’re always going to have somebody that doesn’t like some aspect of the store,” he continued. “That’s why there’s more than one place to shop. And that’s why there’s more than one way of doing things. . . . Customers vote with their feet.”
Macias cast her ballot after I was finally able to explain Plus 10% pricing to her. “I’m never shopping there again,” she said.
But customers don’t always vote with their feet. Sometimes they vote with their lawyers.
Denver attorney Craig Silverman last week filed two deceptive trade practices lawsuits, under the Colorado Consumer Protection Act, against Avanza on behalf of a handful of Spanish-speaking customers.
“Numerous Avanza customers have contacted Silverman & Olivas, P.C. and asked us to represent them in similar litigation,” he said.
The Colorado Department of Agriculture is investigating, and the company has said it is cooperating.
Company spokesman Brian Numainville said Nash Finch doesn’t comment on pending litigation, but gave me a prepared statement:
“Any suggestion that Nash Finch sought to confuse customers at its Avanza stores is false and demeans those customers to the extent it implies they would be unable to understand our pricing policies.”
The lawsuits seek to recover a minimum of $500 per customer. But the plaintiffs’ lawyers promise to be more straightforward than Avanza:
“When we submit our attorney’s fees,” Silverman said, “we will not be adding 10 percent.”
Al Lewis: 201-938-5266 or al.lewis@dowjones.com
