Anyone noticed a pricing difference with “local” grocers? Obviously there aren’t many left and at least in my area they rely on a regional distributor that’s pretty consolidated. Just curious if they’ve been treating consumers any better.
The local grocers that I shop at are all Asian, but aside from the big Japanese one, they are all far cheaper than the big stores, especially when it comes to meat and produce.
Interesting. All the local shops here are far and away more expensive than the chains. I want to shop local, but everything looks to be 20-30% higher. I can’t justify it.
Do you have any local shops that cater to an immigrant community, such as Asian, Hispanic, African…? These tend to be so much cheaper than what I think of as “white people grocery stores” (Safeway, Albertsons, Publix, whatever is in your region). They might not have everything you’re looking for, but they’re fantastic sources for fresh food.
P.S.
To be clear, I don’t actually think that those big name stores cater exclusively to white people. I just go to a lot of Asian stores and I needed a way to easily communicate to my husband which kind of store I’m going to (he likes to ask for ice cream and frozen pizzas that they don’t have at the Asian stores), and that’s what evolved for us.
This pattern can sometimes be seen even in the same store when you look at things in other aisles vs the international aisle. Early in the pandemic, I was expecting food supply to get disrupted and decided to stock up on some spices while they were still available. A large bag of cumin (like 1kg) in the international aisle was about the same price as a 250g cumin package in the spice aisle, and both were cheaper than a plastic shaker filled with like 100g.
I’m not sure if that’s still the case though. I’m still going through that 1kg of cumin today, glad that I opted for the whole cumin seed instead of ground because the whole seeds last longer.
Imported goods do often cost more, and Japanese and Korean products tend to cost more to begin with. I’ll bet that Asian grocery had good prices for vegetables.
If the old Asian man who either couldn’t speak English or could speak English but with an accent so heavy I didn’t understand him didn’t insist on proudly showing me random products (I can’t blame him, his store had just opened and he was happy to see customers), I’d tell you, but it didn’t exactly give me a chance to browse. Thankfully I happened to see the Milkis in the middle of it and grabbed them before he took me somewhere else so I could nod and smile some more.
Anyway, I’m definitely going back. Hopefully he’ll be showing someone else around and I’ll actually get a chance to browse.
Not local, but I’ve been shopping at Lidl and Aldi for years and while their prices raised some with inflation, it was negligible compared to bigger grocery stores. I pay less than half at Lidl than I would at another store.
I’ve been seeing the horror stories of $9 milk for years but I’ve never paid more than $2-3 for. Gallon of milk.
the only one within an hour of here has very high prices. they basically feed off of walmart hate, and charge those customers a premium for the convenience of not having to drive an hour (each way) to get to the next nearest store that isn’t them or walmart.
We’ve got a local grocer, their prices tend to be even higher - probably because they have no negotiating power when everyone else is jacking up prices
Anyone noticed a pricing difference with “local” grocers? Obviously there aren’t many left and at least in my area they rely on a regional distributor that’s pretty consolidated. Just curious if they’ve been treating consumers any better.
The spouse does most of the shopping but I was in a Harps the other day and saw that a medium (shrinkflated) bag of Cheetos was $8.75 USD.
Harps isn’t super local but… Holy shit. Who can afford Cheetos at that price? I used to buy them as an occasional treat but fuck that noise.
EDIT: for fun I just searched Walmart and they’re $5.94 there. I’m still not spending that much for a garbage treat.
Don’t worry. They’ll be “marked down” to regular price (still overpriced) on the sell-by date so people think they’re getting a deal.
The local grocers that I shop at are all Asian, but aside from the big Japanese one, they are all far cheaper than the big stores, especially when it comes to meat and produce.
Interesting. All the local shops here are far and away more expensive than the chains. I want to shop local, but everything looks to be 20-30% higher. I can’t justify it.
Do you have any local shops that cater to an immigrant community, such as Asian, Hispanic, African…? These tend to be so much cheaper than what I think of as “white people grocery stores” (Safeway, Albertsons, Publix, whatever is in your region). They might not have everything you’re looking for, but they’re fantastic sources for fresh food.
P.S. To be clear, I don’t actually think that those big name stores cater exclusively to white people. I just go to a lot of Asian stores and I needed a way to easily communicate to my husband which kind of store I’m going to (he likes to ask for ice cream and frozen pizzas that they don’t have at the Asian stores), and that’s what evolved for us.
This pattern can sometimes be seen even in the same store when you look at things in other aisles vs the international aisle. Early in the pandemic, I was expecting food supply to get disrupted and decided to stock up on some spices while they were still available. A large bag of cumin (like 1kg) in the international aisle was about the same price as a 250g cumin package in the spice aisle, and both were cheaper than a plastic shaker filled with like 100g.
I’m not sure if that’s still the case though. I’m still going through that 1kg of cumin today, glad that I opted for the whole cumin seed instead of ground because the whole seeds last longer.
Was about to say this too! Seasoning in the “Hispanic foods” section is SO much cheaper.
I got a 6-pack of a Korean drink I enjoy called Milkis in an Asian grocery for about the same price as a 6-pack of Coke at a Kroger.
The imported Korean drink and the American drink are the same price except one’s in a local store.
Imported goods do often cost more, and Japanese and Korean products tend to cost more to begin with. I’ll bet that Asian grocery had good prices for vegetables.
If the old Asian man who either couldn’t speak English or could speak English but with an accent so heavy I didn’t understand him didn’t insist on proudly showing me random products (I can’t blame him, his store had just opened and he was happy to see customers), I’d tell you, but it didn’t exactly give me a chance to browse. Thankfully I happened to see the Milkis in the middle of it and grabbed them before he took me somewhere else so I could nod and smile some more.
Anyway, I’m definitely going back. Hopefully he’ll be showing someone else around and I’ll actually get a chance to browse.
He sounds delightful. Inconvenient to encounter, but delightful.
It was very sweet even if I couldn’t understand him. My daughter was not happy about it, which also made me need to leave sooner. Teenagers.
Walmart is still cheaper then local basic stores like Price Chopper and Hy Vee
Not local, but I’ve been shopping at Lidl and Aldi for years and while their prices raised some with inflation, it was negligible compared to bigger grocery stores. I pay less than half at Lidl than I would at another store.
I’ve been seeing the horror stories of $9 milk for years but I’ve never paid more than $2-3 for. Gallon of milk.
the only one within an hour of here has very high prices. they basically feed off of walmart hate, and charge those customers a premium for the convenience of not having to drive an hour (each way) to get to the next nearest store that isn’t them or walmart.
We’ve got a local grocer, their prices tend to be even higher - probably because they have no negotiating power when everyone else is jacking up prices