Grocery Stores cheaper than walmart?

[jc3900]

I must confess, I am a walmar fanatic. I love to shop there and i feel that they offer very competitive prices on a lot of items. My question is are there any other chains that are better than walmart all around in terms of price competitiveness. I don't really know about to many other discount stores. What I do know is that on Sunday, I bought a 12 ounce steak for 2.00$.

[rob62521]

I'm not a big Wal-Mart fan, but in all fairness, Wal-Mart does have some things cheaper. But, some grocery stores beat Wal-Mart for other items. For example, a 5 lb bag of flour (Wal-Mart brand) is a dollar more than the store brand at the grocery store I frequent. So, I think you have to price things out. I wanted to stock up on flour because wheat prices are going to go up and I'm doing a big baking project with my students at school. At $1 difference, it does make a big dent. I think the grocery stores are more reasonable on some things and Wal-mart is on others.

[TigerFan61]

What you have to take into consideration when pricing any products is the amount of volume that store sells of that item and when the last time they had to place an order to replace the item. It really doesn't matter if it is food, gas or whatever. In a rising market, such as when wheat is at high prices causing flour and baked goods to increase, Wal-Mart may have to place orders and replace the flour many times in a week. Each time they purchase there may be a slight increase in price, where a grocery store with less volume may order and replace that product once a week.
Same thing applies to gas, when gas prices is on the rise, the high volume gas stations pumping 10,000 gallons a day will be getting a delivery every day and will be paying the current price with all of the daily increases.
Go down the street and find a station that does less volume and purchases once a week and price may be slightly lower. Example: About a year ago I wanted to purchase some electrical wire and copper had recently jumped up in price. I went to the local big chain box store and found the wire close to $2.00 per foot. I drove down the street about 1/2 mile to a small hardware store that carried the same size and brand name wire. Purchased it there for $1.30 per foot. They did not sell the volume of wire that the big box store sells and had not ordered in a while, so I was purchasing it at an old price. Later when they had to reorder the wire the price was up.

[SnoopyCool]

I hear Aldi's is cheap, but they aren't here so I can't verify that.

[rob62521]

We have two Aldi's in our town and you can get some good bargains. It's like most places -- some things are more reasonable than others.

[LuxLiving]

jc3900, Save-A-Lot and Aldi's are two chains that are generally much cheaper than Walmart. They also have a more limited selection.

As the other posters have mentioned prices vary widely. That's why keeping a price-book on the items you buy regularly is a good idea.

[Aleta]

I used to keep a price book and am thinking about doing it again. I never knew of anyone who did it and I can remember people telling me that I was fanatic about shopping. I used to think that maybe they were right until I joined here and have found out how many of you think as I do.

I personally shop at different stores and get their loss leaders and buy them in bulk. Probably Walmart has lower everyday prices. Ours is too far away to make it worth it to me.

[cicy33]

as a huge coupon user and frequent grocery shopper, there are many grocery items that are cheaper at walmart than say at kroger. I say kroger cuz that is who we have here. 15 million bars and one main grocery store, go figure! I do shop a lot at kroger due to the double coupon and the sales. But I do shop frequently at walmart for items that either I don't have coupons for or can get a better deal. We have an aldi's and it has so went down hill lately. Couple of examples of prices:
hamburger helper: Kroger 1.89 (on sale) 2.29 regular
Walmart 1.29 (on sale) 1.69 regular
Pepperridge farm frozen bread Kroger 2 - 2.50 , walmart 1.60.
but then you have figure in coupons. Now in the bread situation I had $1 off so the cost was a lot cheaper at walmart. but if it was .50 would have been closer due to the fact that kroger doubles. This week they have had such a great sale that I have shopped at kroger exclusively. However, I don't like the meat at walmart. I have bought it and it just doesn't compare. I also bought bagels once there and I mean the good ones that are like $3 a bag, got them home and pulled one to find on the bottom it was GROWING! ick. took it back of course. But I can say I haven't found that at kroger. possibly higher turn around. or I just got lucky.

[Multima$tery]

I'm in Dallas, TX and there's a Walmart to the North, South, East and West of me! You can't go anywhere around here without running into Walmart. It's as if they OWN this city. But hey that's cool with me cus I LOVE Walmart. Yeah I may be able to bounce around at various places around town to shop & save a buck or two. But for EVERYDAY prices -- Walmart Wins hand down in my savings book.

[SnoopyCool]

Wal-Mart will also price match if you bring in the competitor's ad.

[AuthorErica]

For Kraft MacCheese, for instance, I found it for $.78 cents at walmart (25% off of my grocery store) but at a new grocery program being launched nationally offers for $.39. Toilet paper not a big major brand, six rolls, two ply, unscented. $1.08. Goldfish by a small bag for the kids, $.98. The only problem is you can't buy fruits & veggies.

[cicy33]

Originally Posted by AuthorErica

For Kraft MacCheese, for instance, I found it for $.78 cents at walmart (25% off of my grocery store) but at a new grocery program being launched nationally offers for $.39. Toilet paper not a big major brand, six rolls, two ply, unscented. $1.08. Goldfish by a small bag for the kids, $.98. The only problem is you can't buy fruits & veggies.

I checked this out and apparently you have to pay $29.95 per month plus a yearly fee of 39.95. This must be put in a package or pay 39.95 retail cost. I would not find this a savings as whatever savings I may get would be eaten up by their fees. It may work for people who do not want to drive to get groceries but I don't think it would for people that are fine with going to the store.

[mom-from-missouri]

Originally Posted by SnoopyCool

Wal-Mart will also price match if you bring in the competitor's ad.

I still do better at Aldi--the closest Walmart to me will not price match the best grocery stores or aldi because it is not in a certain mile radius of the store, so I usually go to Walmart about 4 or 5 times a year at the most, and rarely for grocery.

Now that Walmart is no longer selling fabric, I may not go there at all as most my trips there involved buying fabric or notions.

[irmanator]

Originally Posted by mom-from-missouri

Now that Walmart is no longer selling fabric, I may not go there at all as most my trips there involved buying fabric or notions.

I noticed that too and thought it was just my area.... i dont know why they still sell sewing machines though

[disneysteve]

I don't think any store consistently has the lowest prices across the board. The other thing to keep in mind is that Wal-Mart prices are not the same at every store. We have numerous Wal-Marts in our area and shop regularly at 4 or 5 different locations depending on where we happen to be. Prices are not the same at every location. Prices can also vary from week to week based on market conditions.

Some things are cheaper at Wal-Mart one week but cheaper somewhere else another week. Some things are cheaper at one Wal-Mart location but not at another Wal-Mart location.

It makes it impossible to ever say one store is always best.

[Lori63]

Originally Posted by cicy33

as a huge coupon user and frequent grocery shopper, there are many grocery items that are cheaper at walmart than say at kroger. I say kroger cuz that is who we have here. 15 million bars and one main grocery store, go figure! I do shop a lot at kroger due to the double coupon and the sales. But I do shop frequently at walmart for items that either I don't have coupons for or can get a better deal. We have an aldi's and it has so went down hill lately. Couple of examples of prices:
hamburger helper: Kroger 1.89 (on sale) 2.29 regular
Walmart 1.29 (on sale) 1.69 regular
Pepperridge farm frozen bread Kroger 2 - 2.50 , walmart 1.60.
but then you have figure in coupons. Now in the bread situation I had $1 off so the cost was a lot cheaper at walmart. but if it was .50 would have been closer due to the fact that kroger doubles. This week they have had such a great sale that I have shopped at kroger exclusively. However, I don't like the meat at walmart. I have bought it and it just doesn't compare. I also bought bagels once there and I mean the good ones that are like $3 a bag, got them home and pulled one to find on the bottom it was GROWING! ick. took it back of course. But I can say I haven't found that at kroger. possibly higher turn around. or I just got lucky.

Ditto pretty much everything, except I have a Sharp Shopper instead of an Aldi.
Yesterday I got a ton of stuff at Kroger free or almost free with coupons. I will go to Sharp Shopper today (had to wait for payday) and stock up on whatever they have.
I go to WalMart for better prices on HBA and some other items, or if Kroger doesn't have a good sale because just overall things are cheaper at WM.
Milk is cheaper at Kroger, and I buy my meat and produce there.
I am a coupon fanatic no matter where I go (except SS doesn't take them).

[cicy33]

our walmart also does not sell fabric anymore, or ceramic figurines. you know the kind you could buy like for gifts and stuff. Lady at the counter said they were doing away with all that stuff. walmart is not being very smart as they are not the one stop shop anymore! I still do a lot of grocery shopping there as they are cheaper than kroger. But I don't spend the time there I used to.