What NOT to Buy at the Drugstore
By Farnoosh Torabi for CBS MoneyWatch.com
It never occurs to me to do my grocery shopping at the drugstore - although my local Duane Reade pharmacy has recently been making a strong push for it by expanding its food aisles and adding ready-to-eat meals.
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But it turns out that plenty of people do find it convenient to one-stop-shop - and they're paying for the privilege, according to a new survey.
ConsumerWorld.org, a consumer education web site, just conducted a pricing survey in the Boston area, tracking 25 common grocery items - both foods and household products. It found the average drugstore charged 50% more than the least expensive supermarket: $102.94 vs. $68.55 for the basket of goods studied.
Stores in the survey included: Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS, Stop & Shop, Shaw's and Market Basket. (An earlier MoneyWatch package found a more nuanced set of choices for CVS shoppers: Cereal and bottled water were no-nos, but milk was actually cheaper than at the supermarket.)
Among the drugstore chains, Rite Aid proved the priciest, with the 25 items adding up to $107.96; CVS was the least expensive, at $98.12. Meantime, among the supermarkets, the receipt from Shaw's had the biggest total at $83.56, while Market Basket had the lowest at $68.55.
Here's a breakdown of some of the wide price comparisons from the survey:
Planter's Peanuts 16 oz.
Drugstore prices: $3.59 - $4.99
Supermarket prices: $2.99 - $3.00
Edy's Grand Ice Cream 48 oz.
Drugstore prices: $5.99 to $6.49
Supermarket prices: $2.99 to $5.99 (the lower price was thanks to a buy-one-get-one sale)
Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream 16 oz.
Drugstore prices: $5.99 to $6.49
Supermarket prices: $3.49 to $5.77
Oreo's Double Stuff 16.6 oz.
Drugstore prices: $4.99 to $6.29
Supermarket prices: $3.49 to $5.77
Special K Cereal 12 oz.
Drugstore prices: $4.19 to $5.29
Supermarket prices: $2.99 to $3.39
Lipton Tea Bags 100-count
Drugstore prices: $3.79 to $5.19
Supermarket prices: $2.99 to $3.49
Maxwell House Coffee 11.5 oz.
Drugstore prices: $5.49 to $6.99
Supermarket prices: $3.49 to $4.99
Campbell's Chunky Beef Soup
Drugstore prices: $3.29 everywhere
Supermarket prices: $1.67 to $2.99
Tide 100 oz.
Drugstore prices: $15.29 to $17.49
Supermarket prices: $11.99 (all on sale)
Finish Dishwasher 20 tabs
Drugstore prices: $5.79 to $6.49
Supermarket prices: $3.99 to $4.99
Windex 26 oz.
Drugstore prices: $3.39 to $4.49
Supermarket prices: $2.99 to $4.29
©2011 CBS Interactive Inc., a CBS Company. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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