3 On Your Side: Best Area Supermarkets
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- If you're like most people, you probably do the majority of your grocery shopping at one supermarket. But is that really the best store for you? In its latest survey of super markets, Delaware Valley Consumers' CHECKBOOK compares price and quality. 3 On Your Side Consumer Reporter Jim Donovan shares which supermarkets came out on top.
Non-profit Consumers' CHECKBOOK did secret shopping trips to compare the prices at one store versus another, and they also surveyed customers. Here is what they found out:
"When Checkbook.org does price comparisons, we use a market basket of 150 items, and go from store to store looking for the exact same items, name brand groceries and things like that, but also fresh produce and meats and so-on," says Robert Krughoff, President of Delaware Valley Consumers' CHECKBOOK.
When it comes to price, CHECKBOOK found Wal-Mart super centers were hard to beat. Krughoff says, "Wal-Mart looked very good on price, in fact their prices were about 20 percent lower than the prices at Acme, which is the biggest chain in the area."
For the same shopping cart of products that would cost $86 at Wal-Mart, a customer would pay $91 at Giant, $95 at ShopRite, $96 at Wegman's, $101 at Genuardi's, $102 at Pathmark, $107 at Superfresh, $107 at Acme and $136 at Whole Foods.
When it comes to quality, Krughoff says, "We asked ordinary customers what they think of the quality of those stores, quality of the produce, quality of meats, and the overall service they got from those stores, pleasantness of staff, you know, even how hard it is to park."
Wegman's took the top spot and was rated superior by 86 percent of customers. While Wal-Mart scored high on price, only 25% percent of its customers gave it superior rating for quality.
CHECKBOOK found that the average family that spends about $150 a week on groceries could save as much as $1500 a year by switching to one of the area's lower priced supermarkets.
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For more information about CHECKBOOKS' supermarket survey, CLICK HERE.
Reported by Jim Donovan, CBS 3
