BETHLEHEM TWP., Pa. — At this Lehigh Valley grocery store, operators say there's no need to wait in long lines, clip coupons or weigh produce and meats.
ShopRite of Bethlehem Township has introduced its smart Caper Carts, which it says offers shoppers an easy shopping experience thanks to artificial intelligence.
By syncing a ShopRite PriceClub Plus card to the touchscreen, shoppers can grab, scan, bag and pay for the items — with all the work being done via the cart.
Aileen Umholtz used the smart cart for the first time on Monday morning, the same day staff at the Madison Farms store off Freemansburg Avenue held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new carts.
During her shopping excursion, she took photos of the cart and sent them to friends and family.
"This is awesome. I'm a techie, so I love this," Umholtz said.
"Once I dropped the cherries into the cart, it automatically knew and weighed them, then a coupon came up when I put the bananas in."
Carts 'bring so much joy'
The Colalillo family-owned Bethlehem Township store is among five in Pennsylvania and New Jersey that have the new Caper Carts, powered by Instacart.
" They're at Yardley [Bucks County] and then they're coming to our other three stores in the next two months," Sam Colalillo said.
So far, at the Madison Farms store, which launched the carts on the floor in late June, the customer response has been fun for the staff to watch, he said.
"We've had people jump up and down," said Colalillo, a third-generation grocer.
"I never thought the carts would bring so much joy, but they have.
"We've had people from all different age groups use it, too."
Not replacing jobs
Colalillo’s grandfather, Joseph A. Colalillo, founded the family’s grocery business 65 years ago.
"My dad, [ShopRite of Bethlehem President Joe Colalillo Jr.] has always embraced new things and has been innovative," the younger Colalillo said.
"In the early 2000s, we were the first to have online shopping, where team members would do the shopping, and they'd pick it up.
"And before COVID, we used to have a Scrunchy's Playhouse in each of our stores where customers could drop their kids off, and they could play games."
Instacart first launched the Caper Cart in 2023.
Currently, the Al-carts are used at 180 ShopRite locations.
Sam Colallio said the smart carts are not meant to replace hundreds of employees.
"We're not replacing jobs," he said.
"This is just another way to improve the experience for customers."
How to use the Caper Cart
Colalillo explained that the process begins by adding your ShopRite PriceClub phone number to the cart.
Then, to add an item to the cart, a shopper scans the item on one of the four sensors.
Or, he or she simply places the item into the cart: The Caper's four sensors pick up the bar code, weigh the item, green lights come on, and the price shows up on the tablet.
When it comes to produce, a shopper finds the item's code on its sticker and types it in using the tablet, then selects the merchandise on the screen to add it to the tally.
The Caper Cart keeps a running tally of the order as a shopper maneuvers through the aisles, and the costs of items appear on the cart's screen as soon as their barcodes are scanned.
If the items are on sale, the smart card prompts a digital coupon, letting the shopper accept the savings.
Bag and go
It works in reverse, as well.
"Take an item out of the cart and it's removed from the list of tallied items," Colalillo said.
"There's a lot of built-in technology that makes it so you can't put things in the cart. It knows the weight of all the products.
"If you put in a stack of ribs that's $10 a pound, it knows the weight difference, even the difference between brands."
At self-checkout, you don't have to rescan everything individually. Instead, the cart will give you a one-time bar code.
To pay via the Caper Cart, link a SNAP EBT, debit or credit card to your PriceClub Plus account before checking out. Team members also are on-site to assist with questions about scanning and payment issues.
"The beauty of this is that you shop right here, bag your groceries as you go. And then you're done," Colallio said.
