Local News

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, June 10, 2007 Price check: Where to find the best grocery deals By Eric Fetters / Herald Writer And the winner is ... Fred Meyer. That's the chain grocery market in Snohomish County that had the lowest prices during Herald shopping trips in May. We took a grocery list of mostly staples, our clipboards and pens and hit the aisles to provide a snapshot of prices at eight local supermarket chains. To do so, the survey was conducted by visiting different stores in the chains twice over a two-week period. The stores were in Everett, Marysville and Mill Creek. For some chains, we visited two locations, though that was not the case for chains with limited local outlets, such as Cost Cutter and Wal-Mart. The average prices are shown in the chart above. When there was a sales price offered to customers with a loyalty card, we recorded that price. When prices differed between the repeated visits, we calculated the average price for an item. Our shopping list was compiled with the help of Washington State University's Cooperative Extension Service to reflect a variety of commonly bought items. As much as possible, our survey stuck to a rigid shopping list to compare apples with apples - the price of a pound of Millstone coffee or a 18-ounce jar of Jif peanut butter at each store. Not all stores carry the same brands of milk, however, so for our survey we used each store's own brand for comparison, such as Lucerne milk at Safeway. Since The Herald undertook a similar price survey in November 2002, there are two new players in the market. One is Wal-Mart, which has a grocery store at its Tulalip Reservation location and is planning more in the county. Wal-Mart, known for its low prices, was No. 2 in The Herald's price check. WinCo Foods, a low-cost grocer from Idaho, opened its first store in Snohomish County last week and was not part of the survey. Since 2002, some items have risen noticeably in price. For example, the price of Orowheat whole grain bread topped out at $3.15 four years ago. This time around, bread prices ranged up to $3.79. By and large, however, the prices seemed to be in line with the average annual inflation rate for groceries of about 2 to 2.5 percent. Some items showed decreases in price or little change at all, including milk and peanut butter. There also have been some subtle price increases accomplished by slightly smaller packaging. In 2002, for about $1.60, you could buy a one-pound tub of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter margarine. Most places, the product is about $1.60 to $2.19 a tub. But the tub's shrunk by one ounce, to 15 ounces. Similarly, the 10-ounce bag of Fresh Express spinach has shrunk today to 9 ounces. The only product on our limited shopping list that got bigger was Lay's potato chips. As the company promotes new trans-fat-free chips, it's expanded its bags by an ounce or more. Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.

1. Everett teen remembered as standout at school 2. Machinists see little progress in Boeing contract talks 3. At Russian-style bath house in Everett, clients can wash cares away 4. Boeing labor union slogans 5. Everett dance school closing 6. Monroe prison inmates put in lockdown 7. Event planner: what to do for the Fourth 8. UPDATE: AquaSox GM says it won't happen again 9. Foster kids get break on camp fees 10. Report on Lake Stevens Marine's death to be contested 2 - Top 10 Stories Most Talked about 3 - Top 10 Stories Most Emailed

• Announcing the winners of the E-prizes • Shoreline CC tennis program gets reprieve • Snohomish County tumbles to Seattle • Meadowdale graduate leads Bellingham into title game • Sports Scene • Hoopfest champs • Sports Briefs • Know the dress code before you head out • Lillibridge gets first major league hit • Warbird¿s history keeper • (No heading) • Arlington Fly-In marks 40th anniversary this year • Paul Allen's rare Flying Heritage Collection becomes latest aviation att ... • Business Briefs - July 2008 • July 1998: Cogswell eyed future growth • 787 'powers up' all systems • Glider clubs merge at Arlington Airport