Turkey Price War Brings Good Deals For Thanksgiving Shoppers
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Attention shoppers: there's a price war going on for your Thanksgiving dollar.
Some 46 million turkeys will be consumed this Thanksgiving, but competition is keeping the prices relatively affordable.
This year, the wholesale price of turkeys which grocers have to pay is up over a buck a pound, but you can still get turkeys under a dollar a pound.
Why?
Because it's a bit of a loss leader. It's a way to get you into the store to buy your other foods for Thanksgiving.
Take Shop 'n Save with a frozen Honey Suckle turkey for 88 cents a pound.
"I think that's a great price, absolutely," says shopper Linda Potter, of Mt. Lebanon. "I can't imagine you will get it anywhere else that is cheaper."
Well, wait.
Giant Eagle is offering the same price on its own store brand turkey -- 88 cents a pound.
But both Giant Eagle and Shop 'n Save have a catch: you must spend at least $25 on groceries to get that price.
"Every year, everybody gets highly competitive in the market place, and we do our best to be there at the right price for the customer," Dan McNabb, the owner of the Shop 'n Save in Castle Shannon, told KDKA money editor Jon Delano.
Like giving a free turkey to those who spent hundreds of dollars at Shop 'n Save over the last few weeks.
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Price is important to many.
"I'm just looking for the price. I looked at one place that wanted 50 some dollars for the fresh, unfrozen, a little too expensive for me," noted shopper Roy Ingold, of Beechview.
Ingold liked Kuhn's' 99 cent a pound frozen Honeysuckle turkey with no strings to buy other products.
But not every store carries all turkeys.
"There are other brands out there, but they're not as popular as Honey Suckle or Butterball," said Austin Brewer, a Kuhn's meat cutter.
Walmart offers a Riverside turkey at 96-cents a pound but says it will match any competitors' lower prices on other brands as long as there are no strings attached.
Bottom line, check out a couple stores before you buy.
"There's always a turkey price war going on at Thanksgiving time," concluded Raeann Lindsey, of Castle Shannon.