Decades before Coupons.com and daily deal sites like Groupon, California consumers clipped their coupons from The Original PennySaver.
A coveted spot for local businesses to advertise their wares and bargains, the jolly typeface of the logo became the iconic symbol of a weekly go-to source for neighborhood deals.
But The Original PennySaver’s story isn’t so much about nostalgia as it is the endurance of tradition.
Celebrating their 50th year, the Brea-based company still distributes the largest direct-mail shopping publication in the U.S., circulating to more than 9 million subscribers in California.
"For 50 years, The Original PennySaver has been the expert in local classified, coupons and savings," Loren Dalton, president of PennySaver, said in a news release. "We continue to be an affordable and effective resource for local businesses."
In 1962, Bob DeMarco launched the Huntington Beach PennySaver, and the company, now owned by Hart-Hanks, eventually expanded to encompass more than 780 local editions in California.
Local businesses would scramble for space in the PennySaver’s print edition. Come the weekly noon deadlines, DeMarco would have to lock his doors to enforce the cut off.
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Now, that’s no longer a problem. The print publication’s iconic logo includes PennySaverUSA.com, the umbrella site for The Original PennySaver’s online savings endeavors.
Ever the resourceful product of the baby boomer generation, PennySaver has taken advantage of the expanding realm of virtual promotion.
The company continues to support small businesses with online resources like PowerSites – websites built and hosted by PennySaverUSA to give local businesses an online presence.
And in April 2011, PennySaver launched SaverTime.com, the hyper-localized daily deal style site featuring more than 30 deals per day.
A pop-culture staple, The Original PennySaver has appeared in movies like Juno, Miranda July’s book It Chooses You, and TV shows like Saturday Night Live and Two and a Half Men.
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