BRODHEAD - Ruth Newkirk, Janesville, estimated she saves between $200 and $300 a month by shopping at the Bent and Dent store north of Brodhead on Atkinson Road, about a mile east of Wisconsin 104.
Newkirk, who also works at the store, shops there every week for bargains on groceries.
Ann Brown, Brodhead, estimated she spends a third of what she would spend for groceries at any other grocery store in the area.
The store, which has been open for nine years, has always been popular, store manager Char Ceder said, but has started to see an increase in the number of customers as the economy gets tougher.
"We probably have 100 people in the store every day," Ceder said. "We have a lot of regulars who shop here."
The store has a sign at both ends of Atkinson Road, one on County E and the other on Wis. 104. Most of the customers learn about the store from friends.
"Don't say too much or the place will be packed," Brown joked to Ceder.
The store, which is open Tuesday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., sells everything from cereal to deodorant, and all of the items are sold at a discount.
For example, the price for a box of stuffing was $1, and a can of soap was on sale for 95 cents. The food includes name-brand items such as Hamburger Helper and Campbell's soup.
Prices are low because the cans and boxes are slightly damaged. The damage doesn't affect the taste or safety of the food, but the items would be too damaged for sale at other grocery stores.
That doesn't matter to Brown.
"I've been coming here since it opened," she said. "I try to get as many groceries here as I can."
The store receives trucks loaded with items from other stores across the country, Ceder said. Sometimes the shipments of food come from California and sometimes from North Carolina. What comes in makes the store unique.
"We never know for sure what we're going to get in," Ceder said.
People who come to store might find things they didn't expect.
"Once we got a shipment of black caviar," Ceder laughed. "People find things here they might not find anywhere else."
Newkirk, who also works at the store, shops there every week for bargains on groceries.
Ann Brown, Brodhead, estimated she spends a third of what she would spend for groceries at any other grocery store in the area.
The store, which has been open for nine years, has always been popular, store manager Char Ceder said, but has started to see an increase in the number of customers as the economy gets tougher.
"We probably have 100 people in the store every day," Ceder said. "We have a lot of regulars who shop here."
The store has a sign at both ends of Atkinson Road, one on County E and the other on Wis. 104. Most of the customers learn about the store from friends.
"Don't say too much or the place will be packed," Brown joked to Ceder.
The store, which is open Tuesday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., sells everything from cereal to deodorant, and all of the items are sold at a discount.
For example, the price for a box of stuffing was $1, and a can of soap was on sale for 95 cents. The food includes name-brand items such as Hamburger Helper and Campbell's soup.
Prices are low because the cans and boxes are slightly damaged. The damage doesn't affect the taste or safety of the food, but the items would be too damaged for sale at other grocery stores.
That doesn't matter to Brown.
"I've been coming here since it opened," she said. "I try to get as many groceries here as I can."
The store receives trucks loaded with items from other stores across the country, Ceder said. Sometimes the shipments of food come from California and sometimes from North Carolina. What comes in makes the store unique.
"We never know for sure what we're going to get in," Ceder said.
People who come to store might find things they didn't expect.
"Once we got a shipment of black caviar," Ceder laughed. "People find things here they might not find anywhere else."