Looking Into Lucky’s ‘New Lower Prices’

Some Lucky shoppers are luckier than others.

On billboards, television, radio and in newspapers, Lucky is touting its “new lower prices.” The grocery chain said it has slashed prices on more than 2,500 items to help out recession-weary consumers in Southern California.

How much help you get on food prices depends on where you live.

For marketing purposes, Lucky separates Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, Kern and Santa Barbara counties from nearby Riverside and San Bernardino counties. We compared the “new lower prices” advertised in Los Angeles County and the five counties grouped with it to prices at a Lucky store in the San Bernardino County community of Upland, just over the Los Angeles County line.

Fifteen of 22 items surveyed were less expensive in Upland than in Los Angeles. Only one item, an 18-ounce bottle of Listerine cool mint mouthwash, cost more in Upland than in Los Angeles.

The price difference on some items was substantial. Our survey showed the price of a 16-ounce box of Nabisco Saltines was about 23% lower in Upland than in Los Angeles. The price of a 28-ounce jar of Skippy peanut butter was 13% lower in Upland than in Los Angeles.

We called Lucky to find out why its “new lower prices” in six counties are still much higher than in the Inland Empire. Lucky spokeswoman Judy Decker explained that the supermarket chain faces stiff price competition in San Bernardino and Riverside counties from “club stores, warehouse stores and Stater Bros.”

And you thought Lucky was the “low price leader.”

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Milk prices: Despite all the price slashing, milk prices at Lucky stores in Los Angeles County are up to one-third higher than at Lucky stores in San Bernardino County.

At the Upland store we visited, Lucky charged $1.99 for a gallon of its Farm Fresh brand milk. At a store in Monrovia in Los Angeles County, Lucky charged $2.63 for the same gallon of milk.

Los Angeles-area grocers have come under criticism lately for charging high prices for milk. At a hearing on milk prices earlier this month, Consumers Union told the state Department of Food and Agriculture that high milk prices cost Los Angeles-area consumers $15 million more than consumers in other parts of the state each year.

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Boyz N the ‘Burb: Attempting to explain the arrest this month of teen-age extortionists at the city’s high school, the school superintendent in Arcadia cited, among other things, the influence of “gang-type attire . . . sold in the finest stores.”

This isn’t the first time school officials in the Southland have rapped gang-style clothing. Public schools in Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Orange, La Habra, Monrovia, Baldwin Park, San Gabriel and Arcadia are among those that have banned at least some garments (such as bandannas, baseball caps and Los Angeles Raiders jackets) popular with gangs.

With gang-style clothing again getting attention, we decided to check out the clothing racks at department stores. Among the garments we spotted:

* At Mervyn’s, for boys ages 3 to 7, pants layered at the waist so it appears boxer shorts are hanging out. On the waistband is the word “Defiance.”

* At J. C. Penney, in the men’s department, a T-shirt depicting a human silhouette with 13 bullet holes, three in the head and one in the heart. The shirt reads: “Fear not the gun. Only the holes it makes.”

Veteran Los Angeles gang worker Chilton Alphonse commented: “The messages are not healthy. They are not sending the proper messages to children. I think it means parents must look very closely at what their children wear.”

A representative of Mervyn’s said its styles for boys are inspired by urban fashions, not gangs, and that the “Defiance” label isn’t new.

J. C Penney had no comment.

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When north is south: “Feeling like you need a vacation?” asks Northwest Airlines in advertisements this week. The answer, the company says, is to buy a ticket “on the No. 1 on-time airline.”

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the airline with the best on-time record last year was Southwest Airlines. Is Northwest Airlines suffering an identity crisis?

A spokesman for Northwest assures us that the airline’s compass isn’t broken. The fine print of the airline’s newspaper ad states that Northwest is the timeliest of the seven largest U.S. airlines. Southwest, as you might suspect, is the eighth-largest airline.

Comparison Shopping

Lucky Stores got a lot of attention two weeks ago when it lowered grocery prices in six counties, including Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura. But those new low prices look more like new high prices compared to what Lucky charges in the Inland Empire.

Item Old Price New Price Upland Price Ocean Spray Cranberry Cocktail 64-oz. $3.47 $3.19 $2.66 Del Monte Green Beans 16-oz. $0.65 $0.59 $0.53 Log Cabin Syrup 24-oz. $3.15 $3.05 $2.53 Skippy Peanut Butter 28-oz. $3.69 $3.43 $2.99 Kellogg’s Rice Krispies 19-oz. $4.15 $3.75 $3.09 Oscar Mayer Beef Bologna 12-oz. $2.39 $2.19 $1.89 Challenge Butter 16-oz. $2.29 $2.15 $1.75 Harvest Day Deluxe Bread 24-oz. $1.19 $1.09 $0.85 Thomas’ English Muffins 6-count $1.69 $1.55 $1.52 Nabisco Saltines 16-oz. $2.03 $1.91 $1.47

Sources: Lucky advertisement, survey at Upland store in San Bernardino County