Recently, I stopped at Stanley's at North & Elston for a little bit of produce. It was just a small, mid-week re-stocking trip. Ten minutes, in-and-out.
Stanley's has been selling produce at that same corner for as long as I can remember, and they've recently renovated the store. It's bigger, brighter, better stocked, and a little more interesting to browse through. They have expanded refrigerated and dry-goods sections. A vegetarian could easily do all of their shopping there.
I walked out with some standard stuff: white button mushrooms, a bag of spinach, a couple apples, a Spanish onion, some red potatoes, a green pepper, and a couple jalapenos. The total bill was $7.32. While looking over my receipt, I was reminded of a post I read at FCG concerning Stanley's post-renovation prices. I'm pretty price-conscious and I didn't think my bill was particularly high, but I remained curious. Was $7.32 a good price for all this stuff? It "felt" like a decent price, but what do other people charge?
I figured that the items I bought that night were pretty standard, so I started a price survey. Over the course of the next two weeks, I compared the prices of the items that I bought at Stanleys to the prices at Dominick's, Whole Foods, and my favorite, Marketplace on Oakton. This is a simple price survey, entirely unscientific, and does not account for the quality of the product in any way. (Note: All Whole Foods prices were taken from conventionally-grown products).
The results are not surprising. Marketplace is the most inexpensive of the four, with Stanley's about 20% more expensive. Dominick's is about twice the cost of Marketplace, and Whole Foods is about triple. The products that had the biggest price discrepancy were peppers. Green peppers were $0.89/lb at Marketplace and $3.99/lb at WF. Jalapenos went from $0.98 to $3.99.
What's the moral of the story? Nothing that you probably don't already know:
Shop local, shop independent, shop smart.
Comments
a caveat to the dominick's dis (no comment as to whether it's well deserved or not) at least as to price. i've found jewel to have comparatively higher prices on many, if not most, non-sale items and on items that both have on sale at the same time. as for quality, i've found both to be about equal.
that said, i happen to be sitting pretty in the northern reaches of uptown, where i have equal access to dominick's and jewel, but more importantly argyle, the stupendous golden pacific market on broadway, and delray farms (hit and miss for produce, but the deals are great if the quality is good).
i'd also highly, highly recommend lincolnwood produce (7175 N Lincoln Ave). lotsa great, cheap produce, but it's a full-service market with tons of different "ethnic" items from all over the world.
Posted by: foo d at December 15, 2004 10:20 AM
I despise, more than words can say, the Dominick's in my hood--Broadway between Wellington and Barry. I think my self esteem goes down a little bit every time I scan my debit card there (after waiting in line for 30 minutes with a basket full of over priced poor quality crap) because I know I shouldn't be supporting such a crap store...but its sooo close and I'm sooo lazy.
I'd like to know if anyone has had any luck with New Leaf on Loyola that has the seasonal produce boxes that you can pick up or have delivered.
Posted by: Sarah at December 15, 2004 6:28 PM
Stanley's has been one of the best finds since I moved to Chicago. Their prices are incredibly low -- I usually walk to the register thinking my bill will be x and it's typically a little over half that. Jewel and Dominick's produce are pretty expensive and the quality is so inconsistent. Especially Dominick's. They were blaming their financial problems on staff salaries, but maybe if they'd keep things in stock and fresh they'd have more customers and bigger sales...
I've also found that shopping ethnic groceries result in great prices for staples of those cuisines. The other night I hit a Logan Sq. grocery store and found avacados 3/$1! They were the smaller ones, but Stanley's ususally sells those ones for $.99 each. Cilantro and peppers were also a lot cheaper than even Stanley's.
Posted by: Benjy at December 16, 2004 11:50 AM
Nice piece. I agree about LP; a great place. I also want to mention Produce World in Morton Grove. They have great stuff (a LOT more than produce) and their prices are very low...
Produce World
8800 Waukegan Rd
Morton Grove, IL 60053
Phone: (847) 581-1029
=R=
Posted by: =R= at December 16, 2004 2:49 PM
I often shop at the Devon Market (Devon and Greenview) and find their produce and prices to be good. Their meats leave a lot to be desired however.
Jewel is signifcant better in terms of quality than Dominicks. Treasure Island has nice meats and specialty items but is expensive.
Posted by: Laoch at December 19, 2004 5:11 AM
i'm always shocked when i go to whole foods. i know that prices are at the top-end, yet i still love shopping there. i find their displays to be amazing; every item is so fresh. BUT, there's really no reason for a 3.99 green pepper. stanley's is my favorite; now i'll give marketplace a try. thanks!
Posted by: jeff at December 28, 2004 12:23 PM
I shop at Marketplace, too, but I've been a little disappointed with some of their produce lately. Off the top of my head, I remember seeing badly beat up Chinese eggplants and squishy green peppers the last few times I've been there.
I do like Lincolnwood Produce though, just a few blocks south.
Posted by: ken at January 20, 2005 5:49 PM
Pete's Fresh Market on Pulaski @ 55 seems pretty good. I love WF and agree with the disdain for D, but P's stuff seems to move, which means fresh, and prices are pretty good. Only been there a couple times...don't know too much about them...hint hint, a scientific expose would be welcome.
Posted by: at January 22, 2005 8:33 AM
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