Published: June 29, 2008 10:01 am         

Extra stops worth it to save on meal money

GAYLORD -- Madge Smith and her friend Barb Allen wheeled into the parking lot at Purchases Sales Company in Gaylord for just one thing: a gallon of milk.

"It's cheap," Smith said.

The friends from Waters stop by the wholesale milk and ice cream distributing company each week for bargains on dairy products. They are part of a new word-of-mouth customer base at the warehouse on the northern end of Dickerson Road.

"The retailers have marked up the price so much, we thought we might as well try this," said Chris Busch, company president. "Help the locals, basically."

About two months ago, they set up an industrial cooler in the small lobby that's kept stocked with skim, 2 percent and whole milk. An ice cream freezer recently was added.

Their only advertisement is a wooden sign propped up along the road that reads "milk 2.75 gallon," but they manage to move about 300 gallons of milk each week.

"We've only got that beat-up old sign out there and people drive by a few times and decide to pull in and find out what it's about," Busch said.

Company officials did not extend their office hours to accommodate the retail customers, but anyone who stops between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. can get a dairy deal, he said.

Gallons of Dean Foods milk go for $2.75, chocolate milk gallons for $3.50, 16-ounce containers of cottage cheese for $1.50 and sour cream for $1.25. Half-gallons of Blue Bunny ice cream are sold for $2 and novelty ice creams for 50 cents more, all cheaper than offered by most stores.

The company turns a profit with the lobby window sales, but not any more than delivering the dairy items to grocery stores across the state, from Mackinaw City to Detroit, Busch said.

Smith stops to buy her wholesale milk at the warehouse after every trip to the grocery store, she said, where prices typically are about a dollar more.

"When I can save a dollar on a gallon of milk, I'm going to," she said.

Ditto for Dennis Marshall of Johannesburg.

"I've got to come to Wal-Mart anyway and it's just across the street," he said. "In an average month, between ice cream and milk, I'll save $10 or $12."

And there's no worry about legalities, as the company is properly licensed to sell milk from their location in Gaylord, approved by the Michigan Department of Agriculture, said Jim Padden, regional supervisor.