Stop & Shop works for me.

It really does. Being a mother of 4 boys 4 and under, I can tell you whole-heartedly that Stop & Shop really does work for me.

I live exactly 4.3 miles from my Stop & Shop. My husband and I laugh because when you see some of the commercials for Stop & Shop… you know, the ones profiling real customers explaining why Stop & Shop works for them, and their personal stories… my husband can’t understand why I haven’t contacted them (yet) with my personal story.

After all, not many women find going to the grocery store nearly every day fun. But me? I absolutely love it. I literally trekked to Stop & Shop nearly every day with my 3 boys – ages 3, 2 and 1 throughout my entire pregnancy with my littlest guy, Henry. You should have seen the faces of people as I got closer and closer to my 9th month. Not to mention… the employees began to know me, on a personal level.

“Hi, Audrey… Hi William, Alex and Ben. How’s Henry feeling in there today?”

Now that felt good. You know the “Cheers” song… “You want to go where everyone knows your name…” Well, sometimes you do. And for me, it isn’t my neighborhood bar. It’s my grocery store. And I love it!

So you can imagine how excited I was when I got an email from Stop & Shop and 360 Public Relations inviting my mother, sister and me to a special lunch, at Rialto in the Charles Hotel in Boston on August 5th, to hear about the latest news from Stop & Shop.

“Jumping at the chance” would be putting it lightly.

An amazing lunch created by Rialto Chef extraordinaire Jody Adams?

A chance to meet and chat with other women in the Boston/Providence area?

The opportunity to hear about some new features from my favorite grocery store, Stop & Shop?

Oh, yeah. I was there. I was there like a lightening bolt.

The ladies from Stop & Shop and 360 Public Relations are about the smartest, nicest and sweetest women you will meet. They were not only oh-so-professional, they were the type of women I could go out with and have a few good laughs. You know what I mean?

And what I loved about this luncheon was that it spoke to me specifically. As a busy mom. As a wife. As a woman. As the shopper/cook/baker/chef in my house… the wonderful ladies at Stop & Shop spoke about finding time for family meals, ways to save time and money at Stop & Shop, and the easy features of Peapod.com – their amazing shopping online network. And ways to keep kids eating healthy.

All topics that cross my mind all the time.

I absolutely love family meal time. Each night – even though it’s difficult with the boys’ ages right now – we sit down and eat together. There are nights William wants to watch TV, Alex isn’t hungry, Benjamin wants nothing to do with his highchair and Henry is sound asleep… but it doesn’t matter. Eating together as a family is something that I feel is one of the best gifts I can give to my children. Talk. Laugh. Joke. Celebrate. Eat. These things matter. And having 30 or so minutes each night to do this means so much to Matt and me.

Saving time and money at Stop & Shop? Oh, yeah. Sign me up for these tips. Any way I can learn a tip or two about this topic, I’m all over it. And the presenters brought up some great tips. Things that I think of doing… but never follow through doing… until now –

1. Actually going to the market with (gasp!) a list. Makes shopping easy, fast and organized.

2. Check the circular for what’s on sale.

3. Coupons! What’s that, I say? Yes, coupons!

4. Buy store brands. Nature’s Promise Natural and Organic foods are my favorite. They are priced right and are absolutely-positively delicious.

5. Use the hand-held, personal scanner to speed up my check-out. My son William loves using the scanner. He feels so important and oh-so cool! So not only will I save time with this one… which I just started doing since my Stop & Shop lunch, but my kids love it.

And then there’s Peapod. Oh, my Peapod. This is how I should start shopping now. Instead of bringing all the boys to Stop & Shop, I should just bring Stop & Shop to us. Easy. Let the boys play, read, nap or watch TV. And give me some time to peruse my shopping online. Oh… how convenient!

But!

One of my favorite features that Stop & Shop is unveiling soon… drum roll, please… Family-Friendly Lanes. Loving this. Moms equal busy. Especially when we’re with our kids. And there’s nothing like the absolute despair of being done with your shopping and then seeing lane after lane busy and filled with other busy people. Waiting with my boys does not work. Let me repeat. It. Does. Not. Work. So “Smiles for All” will save you. Listen to this… a line for families only. No sugary foods to tempt away the kids. No tabloids dangling in front of you. There will be treats… but healthy treats like low-fat milk, organic juices, drinkable yogurts, cut carrots and celery, string cheese and rice cakes. And there will be magazines… but only age-appropriate selections for children and parents. AND! One thing my boys will love is the free activity sheets and stickers being passed out at check-out. Literally… my boys will do anything for stickers. Anything. They’re happy. So I’m happy.

All in all, the Stop & Shop lunch was amazing. I was honored to be invited. And I was so happy I was able to attend. Not only that…

On a personal note, I had to leave the event a bit early on the 5th because my Nana was in the hospital and we wanted to be able to visit her as soon as visiting hours began that day.

When I told Caroline of 360 Public Relations… she immediately made sure that we had seats near the exit so we wouldn’t have to crawl over people to leave early. They were so gracious. And I just appreciated this so much. And when my beloved Nana passed away three days later… I got a beautiful email from Caroline expressing her condolences. Now that meant so much to me.

So Stop & Shop. I loved the event. I love your new look. I love shopping at your stores.

You work for me!