Your Money: Grocery savings

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - You try to be a savvy shopper. But when it comes to looking for food bargains, you may feel like Scott Ohlman.

"I don't have time to figure out from week to week," he told 24 Hour News 8. "I usually go to the closest place and leave it at that."

But sometimes the closest place isn't the cheapest. In a 24 Hour News 8 comparison of 16 items at five stores -- Meijer, Walmart, Target, D&W, Family Fare and Forest Hills Foods -- the results were startling.

Walmart came in 28% lower than the highest priced store on the list. If a family's food budget is $7,800 per year, a savings of 28% means an extra $2184 in your pocket each year.

Walmart beat the competition in 11 of the 16 items. Some items, like half-and-half, Quaker Oats and Cranergy Juice, the difference was more than a dollar.

At Walmart, our 16 items cost $32.81. At Target it was just under $40, at Meijer just over $40, while the cost at Family Fare, D&W and Forest Hills Foods was between $42-46.

Grand Valley State University professor Ben Rudolph, who follows the grocery business, is not surprised.

"If you're looking for price, Walmart is the place to go," he said. "If you're looking for nice shopping environment, the Spartan stores are it, and Meijer's positioned sort of like Walmart but a little above it."

Rudolph said because of its size, Walmart can makes up the price difference in other ways. It may invest all that cash it brings in before having to pay its vendors

"For Walmart you're talking billions of dollars that the vendors are financing," he told 24 Hour News 8.

Or Walmart may charge the vendors for more prominent displays in its stores. While vendors can make a lot of money supplying Walmart, Walmart may only deal with them if they offer the absolute, lowest price,

It's power competitors may not have.

"So it's not like those guys are being greedy, no it isn't. They have higher costs, they can't buy it as well," Rudolph said. "They don't have the volume to play these other games they don't have the muscle to pressure their vendors it's really still a penny-profit business."

Walmart declined to talk on-camera or allow 24 Hour News 8 to talk to shoppers when we were there.

Spartan, which owns D&W and Family Fare and distributes to Forest Hills Foods, responded to our survey by pointing out that only one Walmart in Grand Rapids is a full fledged grocery store and that Spartan saves customers money by offering more sales, and discounts on gas and prescription drugs.

Meijer said our comparison fails to consider the way most consumers shop and said the #1 factor of choice is the quality, freshness and price of meat and produce.

Forest Hills Foods did call to find where their prices were "out of line" but did not want to make a comment beyond that.

We were unable to reach Target.

But the stores with the higher prices had the biggest crowds.

Here's the 16 items comparison shopped by 24 Hour News 8 at the following stores on the following days and times:

Meijer - 28th Street Cascade March 13 afternoon
Walmart - 28th Street Cascade March 13 afternoon
Family Fare - Cascade Road Cascade March 13 afternoon
Target - 28th Street Cascade March 13 afternoon
Forest Hills Foods - Cascade Road March 13 afternoon
D & W - 28th Street Cascade March 19 morning

Below, the cheapest price and store is listed. Look here to see each item compared store-by-store

• Quart of store brand half-half: Walmart $1.73
• 1 pound of butter, store brand: Walmart $2.14
• 1 dozen large eggs, store brand: D&W .99 (on sale from 1.29)
• 1 quart Tropicana pulp free OJ: Walmart $2.96
• 1 gallon store brand milk 1/2%: Family Fare $1.99 (on sale from $3.19)
• 1 package of Oscar Meyer Center Cut bacon: Meijer $2.49 (on sale from $4.99)
• 1lb boneless chicken breast: Forest Hills Foods $2.29
• 1lb. of ground sirloin or extra-lean: Forest Hills Foods $2.99
• 24 oz Birdseye Steamfresh broccoli: Walmart $1.28
• 1 Pepperidge Farm sandwich bread: Target, Meijer, Forest Hills Foods each $3.19
• 5 lb. sugar: Target $1.67
• 5 lb. flour: Walmart $1.92
• 1 lb. romaine lettuce: Meijer $1.49
• 1 lb. green pepper: Meijer $1.69
• 1lb bananas: D&W, Meijer, Family Fare each .59
• 1 Snyders Sourdough Beer pretzels: Target $2.24
• 14 oz. Cheerios: Walmart $2.78
• 1 large Quaker Quick Oats: Walmart $2.68
• 1 bottle Cranenergy: Walmart $2.84
• 1 large box Kleenex tissues: Walmart $1.42
• 1 Dove Soap exfoliating (2-bar package): Target, Walmart each $2.64
• 8.2 oz. Crest Toothpaste: Target $1.04

TOTAL:
Walmart $32.81
Target $39.94
Meijer $40.54
Family Fare $42.15
Forest Hills Foods $45.82
D&W $45.91