11 Grocery Stores Offering Free Pickup

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to change our lives, many people remain afraid to shop in grocery stores.

Fortunately, they have another option for getting essentials while remaining safe. Many grocery store chains now offer free pickup for shoppers.

Generally, you order and pay for your groceries online or through an app, and then a worker gathers and bags the items you purchased.

When you get to the store, all you have to do is grab your bags and go. Or, you often can avoid setting foot in the store at all by parking in a designated spot and calling or texting the store so a worker can bring your purchase out to your car.

The rules differ from chain to chain. Some require you to purchase a minimum order amount before you are eligible for free pickup. You also may have to schedule your pickup in advance. So, check with your favorite chain before trying to take advantage of this perk.

Here are some chains now offering free pickup:

1. BJ’s Wholesale Club
2. Fred Meyer
3. Giant Eagle
4. H-E-B
5. Hy-Vee
6. Kroger
7. QFC
8. Sam’s Club
9. Target
10. Walmart
11. Whole Foods Market

Getting the most from your grocery shopping

Free pickup is one way to make grocery shopping more convenient and to save time. There are also plenty of ways you can actually cut costs when you shop for groceries.

One important way to save money is by knowing what you should not buy in the grocery store. For example, buying diapers there might be a mistake, as we have noted:

“Buying them from a grocery store is easy, but you’ll pay a lot less per diaper by using Amazon's Subscribe & Save service. It gives Prime members up to 20% off diaper subscriptions — which are basically just recurring deliveries — depending on how many items they subscribe to.”

For more, check out “Never Buy These 19 Things at a Grocery Store.”

Thinking outside the box also can save you cash. We run down some overlooked ways to save in “13 Unusual but Effective Ways to Save on Groceries.”