Chicago-Area Shoppers Pay 26% More at Jewel-Osco Than at Walmart
Same cart, different door, different total.
A price study of Chicago-area stores shows how much the store you pick can change what you pay.
Here’s how Jewel-Osco compares with Walmart, and how other stores line up.
How Checkbook Ran the Comparison
These price numbers come from Consumers’ Checkbook. Its team used a 150-item list to compare stores one by one.
Quality ratings came from surveys of its members.
Many ALDI and Trader Joe’s products are store brands. So the team used a modified market basket for them.
The write-up was last updated in November 2025. Your store’s prices today may differ.
Stores are measured two ways.
One way is against the all-store average. The other is against one named store.
Trace each figure back to the comparison it names.
Below, we start with Jewel-Osco.
Then we cover the stores below the average. Then we cover the stores above it.
Trader Joe’s is measured against Jewel-Osco and Mariano’s.
Jewel-Osco Against Walmart
Checkbook measured Jewel-Osco straight against Walmart. That is not the all-store average.
Jewel-Osco’s prices ran about 26% higher.
So a $100 cart at Walmart would cost about $126 at Jewel-Osco.
Jewel has more grocery stores in the area than any other chain.
Jewel charged more than many other regular supermarkets. Jewel ran 21% above Meijer and Food 4 Less.
It ran 18% above Target.
Stores Below the Average
ALDI came in 33% lower than the all-store average.
Say a cart costs $100 at that average. At ALDI, it would cost about $67.
Against that same average, Amazon Fresh came in about 13% lower.
Walmart came in 12% lower.
Food 4 Less and Meijer came in 9% lower each.
Checkbook says Amazon Fresh had 10 stores in the area.
In January 2026, Amazon said it would close its physical Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores.
Various locations would become Whole Foods Market stores.
If you were counting on that 13% gap, check what’s still open near you before you plan the trip.
The Math Behind Checkbook’s Savings
Checkbook’s example starts with a family that spends $300 a week at the supermarket.
Over 52 weeks, that’s $15,600 a year.
A 13% price difference, the size of Amazon Fresh’s gap under the all-store average, totals $2,028 a year.
A 9% difference, the gap for Food 4 Less and Meijer under that average, totals $1,404.
To estimate your number, multiply your weekly bill by 52, then by the percentage gap.
The percentages come from one 150-item list, so the gap on your basket may differ.
Woodman’s Markets
Woodman’s Markets priced about 5% lower than the all-store average.
At the same time, 79% of its shoppers in the survey rated it superior overall.
In the same survey, 30% of Walmart’s shoppers rated it superior overall.
Target landed at 39%.
Other chains didn’t do much better. Those include ALDI, Amazon Fresh, Food 4 Less and Meijer.
Woodman’s produce and meat didn’t earn rave reviews.
Pete’s Fresh Market and Trader Joe’s
Pete’s Fresh Market landed a bit above the all-store average. Yet its prices ran about 6% below Jewel’s.
Checkbook says Pete’s has 20 stores in the area. Shoppers in the survey praised its produce and overall quality.
Trader Joe’s was compared with Jewel and Mariano’s. Its prices ran 13% lower than Jewel’s. They ran 9% lower than Mariano’s.
In the survey, 75% of shoppers rated Trader Joe’s superior overall.
Mariano’s Ranking Shift
In 2022, Checkbook put Mariano’s prices about 5% lower than the all-store average.
This time, they came in 8% higher than that average.
Mariano’s is no longer among the lowest-priced chains in the area.
Both figures compare Mariano’s with the average of the stores in that survey.
So they don’t show how much its prices changed.
Against two single stores, Mariano’s ran about 18% higher than Meijer. It ran 23% higher than Walmart.
Half of Mariano’s shoppers rated it superior overall. Meijer earned similar scores, which were middling but not bad.
Fresh Thyme and Whole Foods
Fresh Thyme’s prices ran about 16% higher than the all-store average.
In the previous price survey, the Downers Grove-based chain had come in slightly better than average.
The write-up singled out Fresh Thyme’s very high prices for the brand-name shelf items on its list.
Even so, 67% of its shoppers in the survey rated it superior overall.
Whole Foods had the highest prices of any store Checkbook shopped. They ran about 29% above the all-store average.
Against single stores, the gaps were big. Whole Foods ran about 47% above Walmart.
It ran 25% above Pete’s and 48% above Amazon Fresh.
So a $100 Walmart cart would cost about $147 at Whole Foods.
Shoppers hoped for Amazon-like prices when Amazon bought Whole Foods in 2017.
That hasn’t happened, the write-up says.
Psst! How much do you know about Chicago-area grocery prices? Sort the table below and see where your usual store lands.
Prices Within a Chain
Checkbook also compared locations of the same chain.
Prices were roughly the same from store to store. That held at the Jewel-Osco, Mariano’s and Target locations it surveyed.
The largest chains show little price variation from one store to the next.
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