grocery store landscape is certainly a competitive one. In fact, grocery store sales in central Pa. So, we decided to do some secret shopping and conducted an unscientific survey from July We wanted to see how prices measure up at six popular central Pennsylvania chains — Aldi, Giant Food Stores Karns Food Stores, Weis, Wegmans and Walmart.

We have done similar surveys in the past including one in October with Giant Foods coming out on top. This was the first time we included Aldi in the survey since the chain is rapidly expanding nationally as well as making inroads in the Harrisburg region.

We selected grocery staples as well as some popular summer items and scanned prices on the following items:. File photo by Dan Gleiter, dgleiter pennlive. We recorded sale prices and factored in club cards, but did not use coupons.

We stuck to store brands for items such as chicken, ground beef, hamburger buns and milk. Obviously, in the case of Aldi, the chain does not sell most of the popular food brands, one of the reasons the prices are so inexpensive. It's important to remember this is just a snapshot of randomly selected products.

In the end, the final tallies were fairly close, indicating competition for grocery sales continues to be extremely competitive in this market. So what do you think? Where do you shop for the best grocery deals? We recorded the price of a pound of bananas. Baby Carrots. We recorded the price of a small package of baby carrots.

We priced large watermelons. We priced pre-washed bags of spinach. We recorded the price of one dozen large eggs. Gallon of milk.

MORE SULLIVAN'S SMART SENSE. We shopped for milk, eggs, shredded cheese, orange juice, and bread and looked up online prices at H-E-B, Joe V's Smart Shop, Fiesta Mart Walmart, and Kroger. However, keep in mind, supply chain issues mean stores don't always have the items they normally would, and that can affect prices for what they do have.

Fiesta Mart would have come in second place on several items on our list. To find the store with the lowest prices for the foods on your particular shopping list, there are a few apps that can help. One is called Basket. You can plug in your shopping list, and it lets you compare both in-store and online prices at many local stores.

The savings were honestly even bigger than I anticipated. Here's the full breakdown and how much you might save shopping at the beloved discount grocer. For more price comparisons, check out how much you can save by shopping at Costco , if it's cheaper to buy meal kits than groceries , if shopping for groceries online is less expensive than in the store , and how much you can save with streaming services vs.

First things first. In understanding the potential cost savings of shopping only at Trader Joe's, it's important to know where TJ's products come from, whether we're speaking of flour and butter or Unexpected Cheddar and Butter Chicken.

Having previously brought you an analysis of store brand versus name brand products and finding massive potential savings in the grocery receipts, is it simply a matter of Trader Joe's only selling store brand items?

That is: Trader Joe's more or less only sells products under its own brand name, with few exceptions. Trader Joe's is definitely cheaper than the average grocery store, but you might have to wait in a longer checkout line to take advantage of them. Trader Joe's isn't actually a manufacturer unto itself, and unlike some store brands, which are just name brands in disguise, Trader Joe's relationship with its vendors is a unique point in understanding its pricing structure.

Turns out there's actually merit to the "trader" element of Trader Joe's, which, according to its website , deals directly with manufacturers and growers, and cuts out the brokers and distributors, contributing to its lower-seeming prices.

Which exact vendors make those Trader Joe's items with cult-like followings is a closely guarded secret. It also has an organic store brand line called Nature's Promise. Both the SB and Nature's Promise brands offer a wide variety of products in every department.

Using grocery shopping templates available online, I generated a list of 48 basic grocery items representing a wide range of price points from nearly all food and drink departments in October I tried to find equivalencies in terms of the sizes of each product but noted where one store or the other was offering a larger size.

Stores that cater to lower-income shoppers tend to keep prices lower, while supermarkets that have a lot of variety may have higher prices as a The cheapest grocery store in the U.S. might be a surprise to some shoppers! It's not Walmart, Sam's Club or even Trader Joe's Trader Joe's is another one of those super-popular, more affordable grocery chains that customers tend to flock to on a regular basis. If you

Low-price supermarket prices - What is the cheapest grocery store? Check out this massive price comparison of the 4 biggest chains to find the best budget grocery store Stores that cater to lower-income shoppers tend to keep prices lower, while supermarkets that have a lot of variety may have higher prices as a The cheapest grocery store in the U.S. might be a surprise to some shoppers! It's not Walmart, Sam's Club or even Trader Joe's Trader Joe's is another one of those super-popular, more affordable grocery chains that customers tend to flock to on a regular basis. If you

We priced ounce boxes of Cheerios. We priced Oscar Mayer Center Cut bacon, with exception to Aldi which carries a store brand. And, the final tallies:. No surprise, Aldi came out as the cheapest in the survey. If you don't mind buying non-brand name foods, Aldi is the place to go for significant savings on your food bill.

Giant came in second followed by Wegmans. Both Karns and Weis were on the higher end but it is because many of the items priced in the survey were on sale at the other stores during the time of the price check. Prices were collected at the following stores:.

Editor's note: Sticker prices on two items at the Karns store we visited did not accurately reflect corporate pricing during the research period. Prices have been updated.

In addition, the price of chicken at Wegmans was incorrectly recorded and has been updated. All rights reserved About Us. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local.

Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Ad Choices. Skip to Main Content. Who has the cheapest grocery prices: Aldi, Giant, Karns, Walmart, Weis or Wegmans? Published: Jul. By Sue Gleiter sgleiter pennlive. Footer Navigation. About Us PA Media Group The Patriot-News Advertise with Us Career Opportunities PennLive Contact Us Send Us a News Tip Community Rules Accessibility Statement Subscriptions PennLive The Patriot-News Newsletters Already a Subscriber Manage your Subscription Place a Vacation Hold Make a Payment Delivery Feedback.

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The store is similar to Aldi in that it doesn't offer many brand-name products, instead stocking its own unique offerings. Some of these products have become cult favorites amongst Trader Joe's shoppers , so you're not sacrificing much in terms of quality by shopping at this store.

Additionally, the chain keeps its operational costs low by building smaller stores that require fewer staff members to manage. Since it doesn't offer coupons and run ads, you're not paying for all those extra incentives and advertisements.

Rather, customers know that they're almost always getting a pretty decent deal when they decide to shop at Trader Joe's. There are currently locations in 42 states plus Washington D.

and if you live in an urban or suburban area, chances are you've got a Trader Joe's somewhere near you. Walmart has long been known as a place where it's possible to snag cheap groceries.

But why are the store's products so cheap compared to other, similar stores? There are a variety of factors that contribute to the cheaper-than-average prices. Low operational costs are one such strategy, but so is lack of competition.

Often, you'll find Walmarts in places where there aren't many other retailers to compete with. In smaller towns and more rural areas, Walmart may be one of the few places in town where it's possible to snag groceries. Because the local population depends on the store, Walmart has a reliable customer base.

This customer loyalty means that they don't have to charge quite as much for its food and other products. However, some of the chain's affordability factor comes from the fact that it doesn't pay its employees very much. Human Rights Watch has outlined major issues with Walmart's labor practices , including encouraging employees to work off the clock and refusing to grant overtime.

Lidl is a grocery chain that was founded in Germany but can now be found in various towns and cities across the U. Like so many of the other chains on this list, this store keeps its prices low by limiting its name brand offerings and providing customers with store brands instead.

Additionally, it tends to stock products that people use on a regular basis — think pasta, canned tomato paste, and produce staples like cabbage and carrots — that often move in and out of the store pretty quickly.

There aren't many products that are going to sit on the shelf for a long time, which means that the company isn't waiting around for a return on investment. Plus, it takes less labor to run a Lidl than it would to operate a larger, more expansive grocery store.

Fewer products means less need for a ton of workers, and the fact that the store displays its products in the boxes they're shipped in is just one of the ways the store cuts its labor costs. For those with big families or just a lot of roommates , shopping at Costco seems like a no-brainer.

The chain cuts down on costs by keeping its stores relatively simple — you'll notice the bare-bones design that's more about utility and function than it is about style and ambiance.

Meat and protein plus many prepackaged items are cheaper than average at Costco, even when you're opting for brand name items over the in-house Kirkland brand. If you know you're going to use these products anyway or you just remember to freeze them before you use them , doing a monthly shop at Costco might just save you some of your hard-earned cash.

Of course, we can't forget about the membership costs — you have to have a Costco card to shop at the retailer. But the savings you'll accumulate throughout the calendar year should more than make up for that cost. If you're lucky enough to live in the Northeast, you may just have a Market Basket near you.

The regional grocery chain is a fan favorite for those who love to save money on their grocery bill because of its surprisingly low prices.

One of the main ways the company keeps its prices so low is by making sure it stays debt-free. While this may seem like a logical move, it's one that most companies — including most grocery chains — don't stand by.

Another way Market Basket offers such competitive prices is by offering pretty much the same goods at all of its locations. Because of this strategy, it can buy in bulk, ensuring a lower wholesale price. It can then pass those savings on to its customers, who keep going back to the store to take advantage of those low prices.

One of the main benefits of shopping at Market Basket is the fact that you can get a lot of your favorite name-brand products for significantly cheaper than you would find them at other grocery stores.

If you've never gone to a Market Basket before and you happen to live near one, you have to check it out — you may just be shocked at how low the prices are. Since Lidl is an international grocery store, they bring in lots of products from other countries: pasta from Italy, chocolate from Germany and cured meats from Spain.

They also carry familiar brands like Jif and Coca-Cola, but availability will vary and name brand product availability won't be consistent. Lidl also has an award-winning wine department that has won more than industry awards.

Most of the stores offer about 80 wines at any given time. When shopping at Lidl be sure to bring your own bags, otherwise you'll have to pay for them or go without. Save-A-Lot keeps their prices low by selling only the most purchased items and selling their own brands. In the words of Save-A-Lot communications manager Dan Kimack: "We carry one size and one variety of each item.

If it's a can of whole-kernel corn, it's going to be one size and one variety — and it's going to be the most popular size and variety. Price Rite Marketplace is a chain of supermarkets found in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.

Owned by the same corporation that owns Shop Rite stores, Price Rite is a limited-assortment, deep-discount supermarket meant to compete with no-frills grocery stores such as Aldi, Lidl, and Save-a-Lot.

The older Price Rite stores don't have the service departments found in most conventional modern supermarkets, such as Deli, Bakery, Meat, and Seafood — these departments are replaced by pre-packaged offerings prepared at centralized facilities which reduces costs.

Walmart is the largest food retailer in the US, with over 3, supercenters across the country. You'll find the best deals on items sold under its Great Value brand, name brand cereals and snacks, frozen produce, paper goods, pantry staples, toiletries, laundry detergents and cleaning supplies.

According to Consumer Reports, Walmart consistently ranks toward the bottom of their listing of supermarket chains in terms of the quality of fresh foods and vegetables, meats, store-prepared foods and baked goods.

Marc's Stores is a discount drugstore and grocery chain with stores in northern and central Ohio. Marc's targets the value conscious family shopper. Marc's closeouts is one of the store's most popular departments and features the best buys that Marc's buyers can find worldwide.

The chain has over 60 stores in the Cleveland, Akron, Canton, Youngstown, Columbus, and Dayton areas. SAVE MONEY. SAVE FOOD.

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