No Frills Vs. Full Service Supermarkets: Who Saves You The Most?
Posted January 22, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Do you prefer the no-frills approach to grocery shopping or the bells and whistles supermarket that offers more selection and more services? And which ones really boast the better bargains?
With your weekly grocery bill regularly amounting to a good chunk of your monthly income, it’s a good idea to take stock of who gives you the best value for your buck.
There’s no shortage of places to test your theories in the GTA. The supermarket industry, like so many others, has divided itself into specialty operations. There’s the usual grocery outlet, carrying most of the major brands, the no-frills type that may not have everything and makes you bag your own goods but purports to provide better value and the so-called Superstore that not only carries products you can’t find anywhere else, but will also let you buy anything from a new TV to clothing, along with your bananas and broccoli.
So which one should you use to save the most? To find out, CityNews went shopping with Kimberley Clancy of Frugal Shopper, an expert in the field. We bought basics like bread, English muffins, orange juice, meat, cereal, milk and a few other staples at each kind of store to test the overall prices. So who ended up being the easiest on the wallet?
“The cheapest was Real Canadian Superstore,” Clancy reveals. The offshoot of Loblaws came to $63.61. Wal-Mart, which has only recently entered the grocery arena, was next at $66.88. But the biggest surprise was the store that claims to be no frills and no big bills. Food Basics wound up costing $13 more than its competitors, despite its promise to keep your bills down. The tally there: $76.40
Add in the fact that Basics doesn’t carry a lot of prepared food and charges 5 cents a bag and many are surprised by the totals. But they don’t really raise eyebrows with retail consultants, who blame the so-called Wal-Mart effect for the changes.
“As Wal-Mart starts to expand, the mainstream like Loblaws, like Sobeys, are very aware that they just have to be very sharp on price or else they’re going to lose the consumer,” advises Maureen Atkinson of the J.P. Powers Group.
And Clancy explains there are other differences, too – and they can be from stores of the same chain. “There’s changes region to region but there’s even changes store to store. You might be surprised that one Food Basics might be different than another Food Basics, so it’s really important to pay attention to your stores.”
All the items in our test were compared to the regular prices. And it wasn’t a completely fair comparison. Some stores had specials on items that others didn’t, and if they happened to be the ones on our list, they scored points and we saved money. Shoppers with coupons are another cash saving factor.
And while it’s important to pay attention to flyers that advertise their specials, keep in mind that spending $5 in gas to get to a distant store where you can save $1 on an item winds up costing you more in the long run.
To see Consumer Specialist Jee-Yun Lee’s blog and spreadsheet on her shopping trip, click here.
Here are some resources you can use to help you get started on your supermarket savings.
50 ways to save on grocery shopping
How to slash your grocery bill without coupons or discount stores
