Survey Finds Lucky’s Prices Lowest Overall for Third Year
For the third year in a row, Lucky Stores’ boast that it is “still the low-price leader” got reinforcement on Wednesday in a consumer group survey of seven Los Angeles-area supermarket chains.
Boys Markets, a chain that operates primarily in poorer neighborhoods, wound up at the bottom for the second year in the nonprofit California Public Interest Research Group’s survey, with overall prices 9.4% higher than Lucky’s.
In other words, goods costing $100 at Lucky would sell for $109.40 at Boys. Executives at Boys were not available for comment.
The survey by the organization, known as CalPIRG, comes at a time of intense merger activity in the supermarket industry. CalPIRG consumer advocate Joan Clayburgh said it is too early to measure the effect of the recent merger between Vons and Safeway, although Vons climbed from fifth to second in the overall ranking, with prices that were 2.16% higher than Lucky’s.
Safeway ranked seventh out of eight in last year’s survey.
Another planned merger--between Lucky and Alpha Beta--has been halted temporarily by U.S. District Judge David Kenyon, who ordered a trial to ascertain if combining the stores would “substantially and irreparably” harm consumers.
Clayburgh said her group believes that mergers are harmful, but not irreparably so.
“You can project that the prices will be increasing if there’s decreased competition,” she said. “But if we can keep the price surveys continuing and encourage consumers to choose a market on price, maybe we can keep the competition heated enough that that won’t occur.”
In other survey results, Albertson’s was in third place with goods costing $104.35, followed by Hughes ($105.16), Ralphs ($105.67) and Alpha Beta ($106.37).
For its survey, conducted on Oct. 15, CalPIRG checked 115 common grocery store items in 21 stores--three for each chain. The categories included meats, produce, dairy products, grains and staples, processed foods and non-food items.
CalPIRG noted that Lucky did not offer the cheapest prices in every category. Albertson’s had the lowest prices for produce and Ralphs the lowest for processed foods and non-foods.
While giving Lucky yet another boost in the price wars, CalPIRG had harsh words for the chain’s new advertising campaign. It accused the supermarket chain of “misleading the public” about efforts it has taken to test for pesticides in food. The ads says that “if you shop at Lucky you can stop worrying.”
The consumer group said Lucky is not conducting a separate pesticide-testing program but is relying instead on an existing state Department of Food and Agriculture program, which routinely tests for fewer than half the pesticides known to cause cancer.
Taking issue with CalPIRG, Lucky Stores spokeswoman Judith A. Decker said the state program screens for all the pesticides that can be used on foods and can occur as residues.
“We’re not saying this is the end-all program,” Decker said. “ . . . We wanted people to know something is being done.”
At Hughes Markets, spokesman Jack Ackroyd said it is impossible to assess the validity of CalPIRG’s price survey because the organization refuses to share its raw data with the grocery chains. “It’s kind of a unilateral survey,” Ackroyd complained.
CALPIRG’S 1988 SUPERMARKET PRICE SURVEY Lucky stores emerged as the chain with the lowest overall prices among stores surveyed by CalPIRG, as it did in annual surveys since 1986. Vons stores moved from fifth place last year to second this year.
COMPARATIVE PRICES BY CATEGORY
Prices are on a scale using 100.00 as the lowest among the supermarket chains.
Alpha Lucky Vons* Albertson’s Hughes Ralphs Beta Meats 100.00 107.68 111.18 112.60 109.26 106.43 Produce 110.93 102.85 100.00 115.59 116.80 118.17 Dairy 100.00 102.36 108.73 105.74 111.65 107.81 Grains/Staples 100.00 106.70 105.22 106.33 109.08 105.94 Processed Foods 100.21 104.26 106.15 100.43 100.00 104.13 Non-Foods 101.20 102.46 107.31 103.23 100.00 108.98 OVERALL 100.00 102.16 104.35 105.16 105.67 106.37
Boys Meats 121.19 Produce 128.17 Dairy 109.38 Grains/Staples 107.95 Processed Foods 100.62 Non-Foods 102.60 OVERALL 109.40
PROJECTED ANNUAL SAVINGS BY SUPERMARKET
Projections of yearly savings for Lucky shoppers based on spending $100 a week.
SAVINGS -- $112.32 $226.20 $268.32 $294.84 $331.24 $488.80
* One of the three Vons stores surveyed was previously a Safeway
