Anyone who has ever prepared a Thanksgiving meal knows it’s a labor of love — and expensive.
As grocery prices rise, and with Nov. 27 approaching, WTOP wanted to learn where shoppers could find the best quality and value as they plan, purchase and prepare for their Thanksgiving Day feast.
“The good news is that there’s more competition than ever in the Washington-area supermarket scene,” said Kevin Brasler, executive editor of Washington Consumers’ Checkbook.
The nonprofit group just released its ratings of 32 grocery stores in the D.C. area. (Editor’s note: The ratings link will be active for WTOP’s audience through Dec. 15.)
“We have a list of 150 items that we used to shop these stores” with secret shoppers, Brasler said. “We also collect feedback from our members, asking them things like, ‘What’s the quality of fresh produce at these stores, what’s the quality of meat?'”
The overall choice?
“Wegmans wins again,” Brasler said. “Since it first moved into this area in 2004, Wegmans has gotten astonishingly high ratings from its customers for things like quality of fresh produce, quality of meat and overall quality.”
And at a good value.
“It’s not a price leader,” Brasler said. “It’s not the least expensive store in the area, but its prices are quite a bit lower than Giant, Harris Teeter and Safeway — its main competitors.”
As to how Wegmans provides quality and good prices, Brasler said the company chooses its store locations carefully, in areas with less competition, and has a smaller, more efficient distribution system than larger grocery store chains.
Where the prices are even lower
In addition to traditional stand alone grocery stores, Thanksgiving meal shoppers could get some of their ingredients in the same store while they’re shopping for home goods, clothing or mulch.
“Walmart has greatly expanded its grocery offerings in our area,” Brasler said. “Target now has a grocery store, basically, in every one of its stores.”
According to the Consumers’ Checkbook ratings, Walmart offers prices that are 13% below the all-store average, and with a large selection. Grocery prices at Target are 2% above the all-store average.
“Aldi and Lidl, which are these small-format grocery stores, those two offered the biggest savings in our latest supermarket survey,” Brasler said. “Aldi’s prices were 36% lower than all the other stores that we shopped, and Lidl’s prices were about 21% lower than the all-store average.”
The main drawback at Aldi and Lidl is that selection is limited, Brasler said.
“If you’re looking to buy ketchup, will they have Heinz ketchup? If they do, it may only be in one size,” compared to larger grocery stores, he said.
If someone is willing to accumulate grocery bargains over time, rather than doing one big shop, Brasler said “Amazon Fresh’s prices were about 15% lower than the all-store average — they were even a few percent lower than Walmart’s.”
In its smaller scale stores, “Amazon Fresh is really focusing on low costs and convenience,” Brasler said. “When you shop there, you don’t even have to go to checkout — you can just take stuff off the shelf, put it in your shopping cart, pack it up yourself and leave.”
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