[UPDATED] The best thing to hit grocery shopping since self checkouts and electric shopping carts hits my local Stop & Shop. Now with pictures!

(Updated 20 November 2007 to add pictures – Peng)

My local Stop & Shop in Malden got a massive renovation over the summer, but today they added something that made grocery shopping even easier.

On my old blog I had mentioned the very nice online version of their weekly sales flyer, and they recently added an electric shopping cart that doesn’t require a key (something I need due to my bad back and knees),  but today they launched something that not only speaks to my geekdom, but also made my most recent shopping trip even easier. The new service is called EasyShop, and it’s a handheld electronic scanner that you use to scan each item as you put it into your shopping cart. You just have to scan your Stop & Shop card and take a scanner as you enter the store.  If you buy fresh produce they have a special scale you use to weigh the items and give you a barcode to scan as you go, allowing you to keep a running total of how much you’re spending. There are specials available in the EasyShop scanner that aren’t in the weekly circular, and the scanner will let you know when you’re near one of them. You can even bag your groceries while you shop, cutting down your time in the checkout line.

When you’re done shopping,  just hand the easyshop scanner to the cashier, or if you’re like me and use the self checkout lane you can simply scan a special barcode to let the register know you’re done shopping. The register will retrieve your purchases from the easyshop scanner and give you a chance to scan anything that you didn’t scan already. Then you will be asked how you want to pay and continue as normal, but if you’ve already bagged your groceries you’re good to go as soon as you pay for your purchases. Simply return the scanner where yo picked it up (or just leave it with the cashier if you don’t use a self checkout line).

I believe this is what was called the Shopping Buddy program on the store’s website, but I’m not entirely sure about that. Either way, if it’s available at your local Stop & Shop you definitely want to check it out. If it’s not available yet ask the manager when they expect to get it. We were a little disappointed at the fact that some of our product lines are no longer available after the remodeling, like some of the cheaper cereals and potato knishes (which would rock with out corned beef sandwiches for tonight’s dinner), but EasyShop makes it so much easier to shop that they have made sure they remain my primary supermarket (other than Costco). I do have to juggle my PDA, with Chris Antos’ HandyShopper program that I prepare my shopping list in, but I don’t mind it. The combination of the two mean that I can not only prepare my shopping list before I walk into the store (sorted by aisle), I can now go through the store picking up things I need quickly and easily, I can bag them as I go, and when I’m done shopping I can get out even faster. I only had to pick up five things today (including more half and half for our morning coffee and bread for tonight’s sandwiches) but I still managed to cut five minutes from my checkout, and that’s with having to see how to do the new system. My next shopping trip will let me checkout even faster now that I know once the register has gotten my purchases from the scanner I still need to hit Finish & Pay to pay for what I bought.

UPDATE: There’s also perks for using EasyShop. The first time you use it you get $3 off your purchase. The second time it’s $4, and the third time you get an extra $5 off your bill. Too bad that’s all the extra discounts  you get, other than the sale items that aren’t in the flyer, like 20 ounce bottles of Pepsi for $1  rather than $1.39. And we have a rule around the house, whoever  goes to make the groceries gets a bottle of soda for the trip home.