Bachelor on the Cheap
A lot of grocery shoppers prefer Dillons over other competing stores for a number of reasons. Some folks like the product variety and multiple name-brand options. Others like the benefits of loyalty card and digital coupon shopping. Access to a pharmacy, a customer service counter, and a place to refuel your vehicle are other features that attract and create repeat customers. We also tend to be creatures of habit when it comes to grocery shopping, typically frequenting the same store because we get comfortable with it.
In competing against Aldi, Walmart, and others, Dillons is always keeping an eye on the actions of those ‘others’, adjusting prices, and putting on sales in the battle for customers. The price gaps between those stores can vary greatly. But how consistent are the prices from one Dillons store to another?
I’ve personally experienced different prices for the same item at a different Dillons location. In purchasing soups for a Bachelor on the Cheap Condensed Soup Battle for example, I ran into this inconsistency: The mainstream grocery store for the Wichita metro, Dillon’s (Kroger) on Harry & Edgemoor, was having a sale on Campbell’s soups, 4 for $5. I mistakenly grabbed the wrong variety of Campbell’s tomato soup for the review, so in running errands about town, I stopped at another Dillon’s store, Harry & Webb, the same day… they weren’t running the same Campbell’s soup sale, they were doing 3 cans for $5. It’s a store manager’s discretion. As I always state in each weekly review, store managers have the flexibility to adjust prices up or down and that includes tweaking a sale. I’ve also received some reader feedback stating “My” price for milk at Dillons was wrong for example. It’s not “My” price, it’s the store price that gets posted, but I digress… Did I make an error? No. In double-checking my work before posting and triple checking after reader feedback like that, it falls back to that store manager’s flexibility. Was the reader wrong about the price of milk? No, they were correct for the Dillons they shop at. The price can be different from one Dillons location vs. another.
Does that happen very often?
This is the first time I’ve done such a comparison, so time will tell, especially on sale items I suspect.
Here’s this week’s side-by-side Wichita Metro comparison of grocery store prices for Dillons and just Dillons. I’ve listed the online prices for the following Dillons locations and will do snapshots for three totally different locations in future reports.
- Dillons – Harry & Edgemoor
- Dillons – Harry & Webb
- Dillons – 21st & Maize
Covering the basics, this list is the same as my regular weekly grocery store price review list comparing Aldi, Dillons, and Walmart, a cost comparison of 25 grocery products.
Here’s what I post with each weekly review of Aldi, Dillons, and Walmart but the same applies to this Dillons v Dillons snapshot: 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 (this is BachelorontheCheap.com after all, and 8 out of 10 name-brand foods aren’t worth the extra price). Prices can vary from store to store, as store managers have the flexibility to adjust prices, lower or higher. Prices are good as of this writing and could change by the time you make that grocery run.
Takeaways from this week’s price review:
- Prices are very consistent from location to location, in this case, two east-side locations and one on the west side.
- Not all Dillons stores are created equal. The location at Harry & Webb does not have a full-service meat counter where you can readily buy select items by the pound. This can mean a limited choice, perhaps restricted to a pre-packaged name brand like Tyson in the size you want costing more per pound (around 2 pounds @$4.79/lb for a total of $9.58), or buying a pre-packaged discount brand like Heritage Farm to get a better price per pound but you can only get the better price if you buy a family pack, costing you more out-of-pocket than you budgeted for (around 5 pounds @ $2.99/lb for a total of about $14.95).
- The Dillons online pricing is the same as in-store. 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.
- The price for milk at the Dillons on 21st & Maize is considerably lower than the other two stores reviewed. This is the store manager’s discretion coming into play. It could be lower in price because they have a bunch of milk approaching the expiration date they need to quick sale, it could be a pricing strategy based on consumer behavior.
So in this first Dillons v Dillons comparison, prices are pretty darn consistent from store to store. The high/low price gap from store to store was only $1.70. A more detailed look at sale prices and digital coupons will be provided in the next Dillons v Dillons report.
Next up: Walmart v Walmart
Don’t see some essential items that you think should be on the shopping list? Send me an email.
Have you bought your ham for Easter yet? Price comparisons coming soon.
$pend Wisely My Friends…
~ Mike
Related: Grocery Stores in Wichita
Related: Mainstream Grocery vs. Discount Grocery: Dillon’s (Kroger) vs. Aldi
Related: Food Review: Great Value bacon not such a great value
Enjoy this post?
If you appreciate this cost comparison and want to support more great content on BachelorontheCheap.com, you can help keep this site going with a one-time or monthly donation. Thank you so much for your support! ~ Mike
Grocery Store Prices: Does one Dillons store have different prices than another? – Bachelor on the Cheap
A lot of grocery shoppers prefer Dillons over other competing stores for a number of reasons. Some folks like the product variety and multiple name-brand options. Others like the benefits of loyalty card and digital coupon shopping. Access to a pharmacy, a customer service counter, and a place to refuel your vehicle are other features that attract and create repeat customers. We also tend to be creatures of habit when it comes to grocery shopping, typically frequenting the same store because we get comfortable with it.
In competing against Aldi, Walmart, and others, Dillons is always keeping an eye on the actions of those ‘others’, adjusting prices, and putting on sales in the battle for customers. The price gaps between those stores can vary greatly. But how consistent are the prices from one Dillons store to another?
I’ve personally experienced different prices for the same item at a different Dillons location. In purchasing soups for a Bachelor on the Cheap Condensed Soup Battle for example, I ran into this inconsistency: The mainstream grocery store for the Wichita metro, Dillon’s (Kroger) on Harry & Edgemoor, was having a sale on Campbell’s soups, 4 for $5. I mistakenly grabbed the wrong variety of Campbell’s tomato soup for the review, so in running errands about town, I stopped at another Dillon’s store, Harry & Webb, the same day… they weren’t running the same Campbell’s soup sale, they were doing 3 cans for $5. It’s a store manager’s discretion. As I always state in each weekly review, store managers have the flexibility to adjust prices up or down and that includes tweaking a sale. I’ve also received some reader feedback stating “My” price for milk at Dillons was wrong for example. It’s not “My” price, it’s the store price that gets posted, but I digress… Did I make an error? No. In double-checking my work before posting and triple checking after reader feedback like that, it falls back to that store manager’s flexibility. Was the reader wrong about the price of milk? No, they were correct for the Dillons they shop at. The price can be different from one Dillons location vs. another.
Does that happen very often?
This is the first time I’ve done such a comparison, so time will tell, especially on sale items I suspect.
Here’s this week’s side-by-side Wichita Metro comparison of grocery store prices for Dillons and just Dillons. I’ve listed the online prices for the following Dillons locations and will do snapshots for three totally different locations in future reports.
Covering the basics, this list is the same as my regular weekly grocery store price review list comparing Aldi, Dillons, and Walmart, a cost comparison of 25 grocery products.
Here’s what I post with each weekly review of Aldi, Dillons, and Walmart but the same applies to this Dillons v Dillons snapshot: 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 (this is BachelorontheCheap.com after all, and 8 out of 10 name-brand foods aren’t worth the extra price). Prices can vary from store to store, as store managers have the flexibility to adjust prices, lower or higher. Prices are good as of this writing and could change by the time you make that grocery run.
Takeaways from this week’s price review:
So in this first Dillons v Dillons comparison, prices are pretty darn consistent from store to store. The high/low price gap from store to store was only $1.70. A more detailed look at sale prices and digital coupons will be provided in the next Dillons v Dillons report.
Next up: Walmart v Walmart
Don’t see some essential items that you think should be on the shopping list? Send me an email.
Have you bought your ham for Easter yet? Price comparisons coming soon.
$pend Wisely My Friends…
~ Mike
Related: Grocery Stores in Wichita
Related: Mainstream Grocery vs. Discount Grocery: Dillon’s (Kroger) vs. Aldi
Related: Food Review: Great Value bacon not such a great value
Enjoy this post?
If you appreciate this cost comparison and want to support more great content on BachelorontheCheap.com, you can help keep this site going with a one-time or monthly donation. Thank you so much for your support! ~ Mike