ALBANY – An agreement with Price Chopper that will require the grocery store chain to change the way it advertises and promotes its coupons in New York State and pay a $100,000 penalty. The agreement, which is the result of an investigation by the Attorney General's office, came about following complaints about misleading coupons issued by Price Chopper that failed to disclose restrictions. The changes to the grocer's advertising practices will help shoppers make informed decisions about purchases.

“In the current economy, it is more important than ever that consumers be presented with clear information about the terms and conditions of coupons and other sale offers," said Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. "Price Chopper used deceptive business practices to mislead price-conscious consumers and extract hard-earned money from them by hindering their ability to shop competitively and save on groceries. Today’s agreement ensures that consumers will be protected from misleading advertising at these stores in the future."

The investigation revealed that Price Chopper advertised that it accepted double coupons at its store locations without disclosing important restrictions that applied to that policy.

After implementing a corporate-wide policy that limited the doubling of coupons “up to 99 cents,” Price Chopper failed to disclose this restriction in its advertisements leading consumers to believe that $1.00 coupons would be doubled. Prior to this corporate policy, Price Chopper’s double coupon policies had previously varied from store to store. A number of stores doubled coupons up to $1.00 whereas others restricted the face value of coupons that could be doubled.