Countywide

The Lucky supermarket chain offers the lowest food prices in town, while shoppers at Big Bear stores pay the most for their groceries, according to a new survey of county food prices.

The study, released Tuesday by the California Public Interest Research Group, or Cal-PIRG, said prices at Big Bear are 5.18% higher than those at Lucky. Vons and Ralphs exceed Lucky prices by 2.89% and 5%, respectively. The Alpha Beta chain was not surveyed because of its pending merger with Lucky.

Competition among chains in San Diego has abated as their number has shrunk, said Jerry Francis, consumer program director at Cal-PIRG.

A similar survey in 1986 found eight major supermarket chains whose prices varied by as much as 27%, Francis said.

Francis also took the opportunity to decry the elimination of funding for his program from the latest San Diego City Council budget. Cal-PIRG’s consumer program will close this week after 13 years of work for the city. The cuts will leave San Diego as the only major California city without a consumer-aid program, Francis said.