Opinion: Walmart ties Dillons for most expensive place to grocery shop in this month's price review

Where do you prefer to grocery shop? Aldi, Walmart, Dillons (a.k.a., the mainstream grocery store)?

Shoppers tend to be loyal to a particular store, we're creatures of habit after all. Some folks like Aldi because of the consistently low prices and name brands aren't a concern. Others favor Dillons because of the loyalty card and fuel points. Then there are those who do their regular grocery shopping at Walmart liking the one-stop shopping convenience for clothes, home & garden, and other general merchandise.

The latest grocery store price comparison and review from Bachelor on the Cheap.Photo byBachelor on the Cheap

Here's this month's side-by-side Wichita Metro comparison of grocery store prices for Aldi, Walmart, and Dillon's. Covering the basics with a focus on store brands, this month's list, dated July 9, 2024, has 25 items, a review of essentials for this Wichita Metro grocery shop edition.

Of note, in a same-store comparison to the previous review, dated May 6, 2024, prices are mixed. Aldi shoppers would have spent $1.58. less for the same items purchased two months ago. Dillons shoppers paid $1.19 less, and Walmart surprisingly, shoppers would have spent $2.44 more with this shop. Keep in mind, Walmart usually ranks second in these reviews.

Prices stated are online prices and for items available at the time of the review. Remember that the featured items are the store brand for each respective store unless otherwise labeled. Prices can vary from store to store, as store managers have the flexibility to adjust prices, lower or higher. Aldi does not have the flexibility of the other stores reviewed. Prices are good as of this writing and could change by the time you make that grocery run.

• Aldi: 8011 E Kellogg Ave, Wichita, KS 67207
• Dillons: 9450 E. Harry St., Wichita, KS 67207
• Walmart: 11411 E Kellogg Dr, Wichita, KS 67207

Rising prices at WalmartPhoto byBachelor on the Cheap

Takeaways from this month's price review:

• Aldi remains the lowest in online pricing of the three stores, it's consistent every month. Keep in mind their online prices are higher than in-store prices, so you'll spend even less than what's listed when shopping in-store. Aldi uniquely does this to cover their employee cost of personal shopping for your delivery or pickup order. Check out the price for chicken. It's the same chicken as the other stores, Tyson does the private labeling for Aldi under the Kirkwood brand. Family packs of chicken breasts are also available for $2.19/lb. Other notables, Aldi has the overall best prices for meat, which in addition to the chicken, includes bacon, and ground beef.
• Dillons is consistently the highest-priced grocer overall from month to month since these Bachelor on the Cheap price reviews were started back in 2022. Typically, Dillons will cost $8 - $10 more for a cartload of groceries vs. the listed competitors, but they did make a nice price drop in this review. That makes two price reviews in a row where Dillons provided customers a price drop. The price gap in this grocery shop, Dillons vs. Aldi was $5.04. The Dillons price gap with Walmart was $0! They tied with a total cart price of $77.53 and that's the first time that's ever happened. Dillons shoppers might be able to make up the price gap vs. Aldi with loyalty card savings and fuel points, but it's a coin toss. Dillons definitely wins out over Walmart when factoring that in. If you're curious about how the Dillons loyalty card plays a role, check out the related article link, "Mainstream Grocery vs. Discount Grocery: Dillon's (Kroger) vs. Aldi. Of note, Dillons had the lowest price for corn flakes, eggs, Tilapia, and oven-roasted turkey lunchmeat. They do have family packs of Heritage chicken breasts on sale at $2.69/lb. Personal experience, Heritage chicken breasts are smaller and lower in quality vs. Tyson. Check out the Heritage reviews on the Dillons website, they're not good.
• The Walmart online pricing is the same as for in-store. As previously stated, Walmart consistently finishes second in overall price each month, but NOT in this review. Walmart is selling family packs of chicken breasts, with a Great Value price of $2.67/lb. Walmart has the lowest price for milk in this review, other notables are bananas, flour, ketchup, and Penne pasta.
• Year-over-year prices are mixed: Inflation is on the minds of almost everybody, but it hasn't been too bad as of late, well, for groceries anyway. The same cart load of groceries bought at Aldi this time last year cost $73.08, so Aldi is managing to keep higher prices at bay, saving customers $0.59 with today's review price of $72.49. The Dillons price last year was $76.74, pushing the cartload (pun intended) price up slightly, by $0.79. The Walmart cartload is up $2.26 over last year, from $75.27 in 2023 to $77.53 today.
• Today's Shopping Tip: When it comes to lunchmeat, the packaging matters. Pick up a package of Kroger oven-roasted turkey in a 16-ounce tub, and check the price. Then pick up a package of Kroger oven-roasted turkey in a 16-ounce pillow-pack. It's cheaper, $1 cheaper. It's the same meat, just packaged differently. So unless you like the tubs because you can reuse the container, buy the pillow-packs. The packaging price difference holds true at the other stores too, the gap varies at the other stores, but it's a gap nonetheless.

Don't see some essential items that you think should be on the list? Please comment.

$pend Wisely My Friends...

~ Mike