Pennsylvania Shoppers Could Pay 35% Less at One Chain. Here’s How 10 Stores Compare
You buy groceries every week, so small gaps add up.
A 16% price gap between stores is worth $2,496 a year to a family that spends $300 a week, per Delaware Valley Consumers’ Checkbook.
Here’s how Pennsylvania shoppers could pay 35% less at one grocery chain, and how 10 Philly-area stores compare.
Who Ran the Numbers and How
Delaware Valley Consumers’ Checkbook (Checkbook for short) shopped area stores with a 150-item list of common items.
It also asked area shoppers about the quality of products and service.
Checkbook surveyed the Delaware Valley area. Patch reported the results as a Pennsylvania story on November 18, 2025.
Checkbook last updated its results in November 2025.
Most of the percentages below compare a store with the all-store average in Checkbook’s survey.
The dollar savings assume a family that spends $300 a week at average prices.
Here are ten of the Philadelphia-area stores Checkbook priced, starting with the cheapest.
1. ALDI
ALDI’s prices were 35% lower than the all-store average in Checkbook’s survey.
If you now shop at BJ’s, Costco or Sam’s Club, Checkbook said ALDI’s per-unit prices were even lower.
At a $300 weekly budget, you could save nearly $5,500 a year by switching to ALDI, per Patch.
That’s about 18 weeks of groceries.
How to Read ALDI’s 35 Percent
ALDI’s 35% compares its prices with the all-store average in Checkbook’s survey. It’s not a comparison with any one chain.
Wegmans is different. Checkbook gave Wegmans’ prices against named chains such as Giant and ShopRite.
Wegmans’ prices were about 2% lower than Giant and ShopRite and 4% lower than Redner’s.
They were about 12% lower than Acme and McCaffrey’s and 25% lower than Whole Foods. To picture 12%, think of $12 off a $100 cart.
2. Lidl
Lidl and ALDI are German-based discounters. Checkbook says both continue to expand their U.S. footprints.
Checkbook’s survey put Lidl’s prices 26% below the all-store average.
On a $300 weekly budget, your yearly savings at Lidl would be $4,056.
Patch’s list ranks Lidl second.
3. Amazon Fresh
Amazon Fresh’s prices were about 16% lower than the all-store average, per Checkbook.
Checkbook uses a 16% gap as its example.
If you spend $300 a week, you’d save $2,496 a year at that gap, Checkbook says.
Patch’s list shows Amazon Fresh at that same $2,496.
4. Grocery Outlet
Grocery Outlet’s prices were about 12% lower than average in Checkbook’s survey.
If you spend $300 a week, Patch’s list shows you’d keep $1,872 a year at Grocery Outlet.
5. Walmart
Walmart’s prices were 10% lower than the all-store average, Checkbook found.
On a $300 weekly budget, you’d save $1,560 a year at a 10% gap, Checkbook says.
But fewer than 40% of surveyed shoppers rated Walmart superior overall, per Checkbook.
6. Food Lion
Food Lion’s prices were 7% lower than the all-store average in Checkbook’s survey.
Patch figured your yearly savings at Food Lion at $1,092 on a $300 weekly budget.
Fewer than 40% of surveyed shoppers rated Food Lion superior overall, a score like Walmart’s.
7. Trader Joe’s
Trader Joe’s prices were about 3% lower than the all-store average, per Checkbook.
On a $300 weekly budget, Patch listed your yearly savings at $468.
The savings are small here.
But 83% of surveyed shoppers rated Trader Joe’s superior for overall quality.
8. Wegmans
Wegmans had 11 stores in the Delaware Valley area, per Checkbook.
Checkbook said Wegmans’ prices aren’t among the lowest in the region, but it called the chain competitive.
Wegmans’ prices were about 2% lower than average prices at Giant and ShopRite, per Checkbook.
They were also 25% lower than Whole Foods’ prices.
In the survey, 85% of shoppers rated Wegmans superior on produce, meat and overall quality.
Checkbook compared Wegmans with named chains, so Wegmans’ slot here follows Patch’s list.
Patch puts your yearly savings at $156 on a $300 weekly budget.
That’s about 1% of a $15,600 yearly budget. It’s not the 2% Checkbook measured against Giant and ShopRite.
9. McCaffrey’s
McCaffrey’s is a locally owned small chain. Eighty-7% of its surveyed shoppers rated it superior overall.
Its prices were about 12% higher than the all-store average.
So Checkbook found you’d pay about 12% more there than at the average store.
On a $100 cart, that’s about $12 more.
Wegmans’ prices were about 12% lower than McCaffrey’s.
10. Whole Foods
Whole Foods was the most expensive choice among the stores Checkbook shopped.
Its overall prices were about 32% higher than the average prices at all stores Checkbook surveyed.
On a $100 cart, that’s about $32 more.
Whole Foods also earned high marks in Checkbook’s consumer surveys, especially for produce and meat quality.
If you spend $300 a week at average prices, Patch says you’d pay nearly $5,000 more a year.
Price Versus Quality
Patch wrote that the most affordable stores don’t tend to offer the highest-quality products.
Patch says Wegmans is the only exception.
MOM’s Organic Market sells only organic products. Checkbook said it scored highest for produce and overall quality.
On Patch’s list, Target saves you $624 a year at $300 a week.
Yet only 18% of its surveyed shoppers rated it superior overall.
Psst! How much do you know about Whole Foods, Wegmans and ALDI? Take our quiz and see how many you can get right.
Quiz
Grocery Store IQ
Answer these questions on Whole Foods, Wegmans and ALDI. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
When Amazon announced in 2017 that it would buy Whole Foods Market, the deal was valued at about how much?
Redner's, Acme and ShopRite Compared
Checkbook also priced Wegmans against Redner's and Acme.
If you shop Redner's or Acme, your Wegmans total would have run 4% lower than Redner's and about 12% lower than Acme on Checkbook's list.
On Patch's list, a family that spends $300 a week pays $2,028 more a year at Acme.
That family pays $468 more at Redner's and $78 more at ShopRite than at an average store.
Of Redner's shoppers, 54% rated it superior overall. For ShopRite it was 52%, per Checkbook.
Fewer than 40% of its surveyed shoppers rated Acme superior overall.
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