Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Rao’s is overrated, but Costco sells it in a 2 pack and it’s definitely less than $10. Maybe even $8. For 2.

That's where we get our Rao's and for a jarred sauce, we love that sh*t.

Hated paying the extra price, but once we tried Rao's we couldn't go back.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. To answer people's questions, I went to Whole Foods because it's close to my kid's school and I was doing pick up, and I only had to get like four things and the other things I knew would be reasonably priced there. Still pricier than they used to be because everything is, but not more expensive than it would be at Giant or Harris Teeter. I do find TJ's has good prices but obviously selection is more limited -- I can't go there for a lot of things. Like I needed molasses and while they might have that at TJ's, they also might not.

If it had been under $6, I would have bought it even though that's pricy. Basically I just can't believe that they sell enough of those loaves at $8.50 apiece to make it worth selling them. They are perishable, and a lot of Whole Foods shoppers are very health conscience -- I bet many of them wouldn't touch brioche.

I honestly think they must be selling like a quarter of their stock and throwing the rest out because I just can't imagine that there are enough people willing to pay that. It is highway robbery.

Anonymous wrote:I think Rao’s is overrated, but Costco sells it in a 2 pack and it’s definitely less than $10. Maybe even $8. For 2.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But, isn't that why people go to Whole Foods? I thought people go there to show your status (i.e., I got money to waste).

Weirdly it’s got the best sales on good meat and produce. Always has - decades ago in law school we’d walk to like 6 grocery stores to save money and WF always had cheap meat that was actually still good for several days.

+1, the only place where I find better deals on produce is TJ’s and WF quality is better. Meat is about the same as other stores but quality is better. And then throw in the “365” brand on a lot of basic staples like canned goods, and WF is often less expensive with higher average quality, than the Harris Teeter or Giant near my house. The store is also more convenient because it has a better layout, and it has more pleasant lighting.

WF affords all this by charging people an arm and a leg on all their prepared foods (WF hot bar is a cafeteria where every plate of food costs $40) and carrying some items that have a very high retail price (expensive cheese and wine, specialty olive oils, random organic stuff from small batch producers). Since the price is already high, the standard non-gouging markup is also high, so their margins are better than a grocery store that doesn’t sell those items and whose customers are unlikely to buy them.

However, $8.50 on a load of store brand bread, even brioche, doesn’t really fit that framework. It is gouging, or at least testing the market to see what it will bear. Another thing WF does on non-staples, especially bakery items, is not display prices prominently unless it’s a deal. So it’s easy to get gouged on those items if you don’t pay attention because they are, in fact, trying to trick you into throwing it in your basket and testing to see if you notice. I think it’s especially devious because with inflation, shoppers are used to seeing the total cost of a cart of groceries creep up, so you could double the cost of brioche and many people would notice at first because their groceries are ringing up at $84 versus $80- they’ll assume it was marginal price increases on a bunch of items. Not a single item doubling. The people who notice will be the ones getting 3 items and doing a double take when it rings up for more than $20.

+2 As a vegetarian, WF, TJ, and Costco (plus ethnic stores) are the only places I shop. WF produce is cheap and worth it if I need organic. 365 is also cheap and good quality. I never buy their prepared stuff so I’m not one of the people they make money off of.

Consider Shoppers, Aldi, and Lidl. They have really good quality vegetarian ingredients for 1/2 the price of WF, and less than TJ. They all have organic. My adult daughter and mother are vegetarians.