As inflation hits high, price increases felt among businesses, shoppers

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - Numbers released Wednesday show inflation has hit its fastest pace in nearly 40 years.

Consumer prices were up seven percent in December compared to a year ago. That means people are spending more on things such as gas and food.

“Everything is going up,” said Loren McFadden.

McFadden was shopping inside family-owned Giant Penny Grocery Store in NoDa. She is among the many shoppers feeling the increase in their pockets.

“The gallon of milk, the cost of eggs, meat for sure...everything,” she said.

At the store, a lot of what’s in stock has gone up. The cost, owners say, is needed to cover supply chain issues.

“Let’s say, summertime, from here the price about 40 to 50 percent different. That’s a lot,” said Billy Tran, part-owner of Giant Penny Grocery Store.

A government report shows beef prices are up 18 percent. Eggs are also up 11 percent in the span of a year.

“Right now, frozen food, for example, juice...for the last three or four months, we’ve had a hard time getting it,” Tran said.

The federal government says prices increases are a global issue.

“What we’re seeing right now is these price increases are global phenomenon. And that reflects the nature of the global challenge of coming through a pandemic crisis and a pandemic affected recovery,” said Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council.

The pain for shoppers is not expected to go away anytime soon.

“We can’t dip, go down anymore because as a small business we have to survive,” Tran said.

He added most shoppers understand why some prices have increased.

“They have to raise the prices in order to stay in business. They have no choice,” McFadden said.

Tran also recommends shopping for what you need and not buying to stock up.

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