As you may know, we periodically compare our prices to those of other local grocery stores. We want to ensure that our prices are generally as good as or better than theirs. We’ve been doing this more consistently the last few years and have made adjustments more frequently because of it. As we talk about in the survey results article on page 16, it sounds like you’ve noticed!
Below is a summary of our latest comparison of products that both we and other local stores carry. In all of them we compare the same brand and size of product, unless otherwise noted. (For example, not all stores had bulk products or grass-fed beef.) Each of the stores in the comparison is an actual local store. We generally don’t call out other stores by name, but you may be able to figure out which ones we’re talking about...
There are two tables: the first has some staple products that we’ll continue to report on every three to four months. You’ll see that we had the lowest price on four of the 10 products and, compared to the average prices of the others, our prices tended to be lower. If you bought all 10 products (if you were the kind of person who buys both grass-fed ground beef and organic tofu), you’d save $3.95 compared to the average prices of the rest. This shows us that we are succeeding in keeping our pricing in line with or better than that of other local grocery stores. Once in a while a customer will point out a particular product’s price that is higher at the Co-op than elsewhere. We really appreciate hearing about it so that we have an opportunity to improve it. If you notice such price discrepancies, please fill out a customer comment form either in the store or on willystreet.coop.
The second table shows 10 products that you may be surprised to find we have the lowest prices on. Because we sometimes hear that we’re more expensive than other stores, we couldn’t resist bragging a bit!
So: not only are we in line with or lower on price than local grocery stores overall (when comparing organic apples to organic apples, so to speak), we also give back over $100,000 to our community in donations and sponsorships, we are working on a livable wage, we use sustainable practices in our stores and kitchen, we collect for disaster relief and local Community Shares nonprofits, we pay our vendors a fair price for their products, and are owned by almost 35,000 Owners. On those occasions when you do have to pay a little more for certain products than at other stores, you can know that that money is doing a lot of good in your community. And, when you pay less than at other stores, you can feel good about the savings!
View PDF of chart here.
