Shopping at Tops

Ready to go shopping with some coupons? Wondering where the best place  is to use them? Well you can use your couponing skills anywhere that accepts coupons, but in my opinion you will get the most bang for your couponing effort at Tops Markets. Why? Because  Tops has promotions that no one else does.

Disclaimer- I am not an employee or affiliate of Tops Markets, Tops Markets does not compensate me. These are just my opinions and based on my experiences. Your best source of information regarding Tops is your local Tops Market and www.Topsmarket.com.  Please read my full disclaimer HERE, and feel free to contact me HERE with any questions

Tops has tons of sales and promotions that make it the best grocery store to coupon at locally. Here are some that are typically run:

Bonuscard Weekly Specials-these  are weekly advertised sale prices, and  include 10 for $10, BOGO, and % off

Double coupons to $.99 everyday-Tops will double manufacturers coupons up to $.99 everyday, both printable and newspaper coupons. The register will only allow 4 identical coupons per transaction to double.

Save Instantly-these sales usually happen one of two ways, Meal Deals and Save $ Instantly .

• Meal deals- Example: buy a jumbo pack of chicken breasts, get seven items FREE. The free items are deducted at the checkout before coupons. These are limited to one deal per transaction.
• Save $ Instantly- Example: Buy 6 participating products save $2 instantly. Instant savings are deducted at the checkout. These are limited to one deal per transaction, unless stated otherwise in ad.

ONYO or Cat/ Catalina  Deals-Catalina Marketing is a third-party marketing company that partners with manufacturers and stores to offer coupons that are to be used on your next order (ONYO)  at the register.  Some of the offers are advertised within the Tops weekly sales ad, and some are unadvertised national deals that you can find out about at Couponnetwork.com. The catalinas that print at the register are specific to you and are not to be transferred.

Dollar Doublers-(cue the heavenly harp music) Tops Dollar Coupon Doublers are a store coupon that are used in conjunction with manufacturer coupons. Tops coupon Doublers are awesome in our region because we happen to get a lot of coupons for $1 off of 2 products, an example would be the Planters Peanut Butter coupon, we got $1 off 2 Peanut butters, while the rest of the country (this may be a slight exaggeration) got $.75 off 1 Planters peanut butter. Tops will double every day up to$.99, so our $1 off 2 coupons are not subject to doubling until they roll out their Dollar Doublers.

Super Coupons-These are store coupons that  are periodically available and can be combined with manufacturer coupons, generally only one coupon is allowed per transaction.

E-bonus coupons- Coupons that are available on Tops Markets website, you print them out and redeem them with the rest of your paper coupons.

Gas Points-For every dollar you spend at Tops Markets, you earn a point on your bonus card, for every manufacturers coupon you redeem you earn 10 gas points on your bonus card. There are gas point earning and redemption periods, gas points are redeemed at Tops Gas Stations, and any unused gas points at the end of a redemption period expire.

Rochester Area Tops Markets that participate in GasPoint Promotions

• 1601 Penfield Road, Rochester
• 3507 Mt. Read Blvd., Rochester
• 1100 Jefferson Rd., Henrietta
• 1900 South Clinton Ave, Brighton
• 6720 Pittsford/Palmyra Road, Fairport
• 128 West Main St, LeRoy
• 1800 Lake Road, Hamlin
• 35 Franklin Plaza, Dansville
• 2345 Buffalo Rd, Gates
• 500 Elmridge Ctr, Rochester
• 27 Slayton Ave. Spencerport
• 98 South Ave. Hilton
• 710 Lake Ave, Rochester
• 1455 Ridge Road, East Irondequit
• 450 West Ave. Rochester
• 175 North Winton Rd. Rochester
• 2382 Route 19, Warsaw
• 285 Upper Fall Blvd. Rochester

Rochester Area Tops Markets that  DO NOT participate in GasPoint Promotions these stores typically offer save instantly deals or catalina deals in place of the bonus GasPoint deals

• 5150 North St at Rte 332 Canandaigua
• Rt. 5 & 20 Pyramid Mall Geneva
• 6272 Furnace Road Ontario
• 270 E. Main Street Avon
• 321 Liberty Street Penn Yan
• 1963 Kingdom Plaza Waterloo

What you need to know about couponing at Tops Markets:

It is so important to make yourself familiar a stores coupon policy, when you are planning on couponing there. Tops has a corporate coupon policy that is available on their website, this policy is applicable to all Tops Markets stores. Your best source of information is your local store’s management, you would be surprised how willing they are to talk with you and go over store policies! When I started shopping at Tops, it was a completely new experience for me, I had set aside a time to go check out my local Tops, I wanted to check out the layout of the store. I ended up running into the store manager, I introduced myself and told him I have been couponing for a while, at other stores, and Tops sales had caught my eye,  but I had never shopped at Tops before and just wanted to check it out. He really was great and went over the coupon policy and rain check policy, and showed me the shelf tags and ‘wall of savings’. I know it sounds dorky, but this was really time well spent, and I really recommend it to any one who may be new to shopping at Tops.

The secret to super savings at Tops:

Match your manufacturer coupons up to sales and weekly store promotions. Have fun!  Because of the variety of sales and promotions Tops offers some of the best deals.

Couponing a BOGO Deal at Tops Markets:

Tops recently made changes to their coupon policy regarding BOGO deals with coupons. The policy now states:

TOPS will accept only one (1) manufacturer’s paper or Click-to-Card coupon for an advertised Buy One, Get One Free offer. We will not accept a manufacturer’s coupon for the product that is received free as part of a Buy One, Get One Free offer.

It has been my experience the cash register will beep and decline the coupon if you attempt to use 1 $1/2 coupon and purchase 1- BOGO deal. Tops registers are set up to decline any coupon the attaches to an item you are getting for free.

I have adjusted my match ups to better comply with Tops Corporate Coupon Policy. Currently Arm and Hammer Laundry detergent is BOGO, we see this go on sale BOGO frequently so I thought it would be a good example.  Here is the sale listing in the Tops circular and the coupon we got locally:

Because Tops computers will not accept a coupon for a free item, to use a coupon on a BOGO deal you will have to purchase 2 BOGO deals (4 items). In my match ups  this is what it looks like when I match up this sale to the shown coupon:

Arm & Hammer Laundry Detergent NEW Power Paks, 16-20 ct. pkg. or Liquid 50 fl. oz. btl. BOGO 2 @ $5.79
Buy 4- and use (1) $1.00/2 Arm & Hammer Laundry Product, exp. 9/30/12 (SS 07/15/12)
Pay as low as $10.58 after coupon wyb 4!

This is an illustration of how the coupon attaches to the items you are purchasing:

	This is the “buy one” of the first Bogo deal, and the first item the $1.00/2 coupon attaches to.
	This is the “free” one of the first BOGO deal, no coupon will attach to this because technically you did not pay for it.
	This is the “Buy one” of the 2nd BOGO Deal, and the 2nd item the $1.00/2 coupon attaches to
	This is the “free” one of the 2nd BOGO Deal, no coupon will attach to this because technically you did not pay for it.