Pocono News Section

Wegmans Slashes Prices

Wegmans Slashes Prices - Friday, November 7, 2008 at 5:44PM EST

Reported by: Jeff Chirico
Friday, Nov 7, 2008 @ 05:44pm EST
WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY --A grocery chain says it is lowering the prices on hundreds of products. It's all in response to the falling fuel prices. Consumer reporter Jeff Chirico here with more on what this means for you.

High costs to make and transport the food, forced grocery stores to raise prices over the past year. But as fuel falls, so too do the food prices at Wegmans. You probably never thought you'd see gas prices this low again. But until now, food prices haven't followed --and that's tough for this mom of three from Bear Creek. Diane Pawlowski says “it was hard. You can't get as much as you used to." Joe Nardone of West Pittston says “I don't pay attention to how much its gone up but sometime I get sticker shock."

But that may change. Thursday, Wegmans announced price cuts on hundreds of products --some by ten to thirty percent. Myra Smulovitch of Wilkes-Barre says “that means I'll be shopping more often probably." Store brand sugar down 30 cents. A bag of salad falls by nearly fifty . Wegmans slashed prices on some meats and baked goods too. “Those are the things we use all the time. The basics. That would help out a lot."

Keith Grierson, store manager of the Wilkes-Barre Township store, says “we're anticipating some lower costs from our suppliers and what we're trying to do now is pass those savings on to customers and employees so they can take advantage of those things immediately."

This bag of apples down fifty cents. Store officials say the reason you're not seeing food prices fall across the board is because many suppliers and manufacturers locked into contracts when costs were higher."

“This is about staying alive in a difficult economy." Professor of economics at Wilkes University, Tony Liuzzo says as the economy worsens, people will spend less --and shop less. “Wegman's is trying to keep a piece of a smaller pie."

But whatever the reason, shoppers welcome the savings. "Every little bit helps." Most of the reduced products are store brand. A store rep says the average shopper could save 40 to 60 bucks a month --if you buy the items that are reduced.