Grocery Store Charges $5 ‘Browsing Fee’

A specialty foods in Australia has imposed a $5 'just looking' fee on customers who visit their store without buying anything. Last month, Celiac Supplies instituted a store policy which imposed the fee on shoppers entering the store, a fee which is later deducted from any purchase.

The store's owners say they've been forced into charging the fee to combat what they call 'showrooming', in which customers check out the price of items in a store and then buy them at a lesser price online.

Celiac Supplies, which bills itself as the only gluten and wheat free store in Brisbane, says business has not dropped off since they began charging the fee in February.