Hello! Welcome to Week Two of the Grocery Hunt, Manchester Ink Link’s guide to Manchester-area grocery stores.
Over the weekend, we asked our readers to give us five specific grocery items and five separate Manchester-area grocery stores so we could find the prices and availability of those items.
This week we’re also kicking off what we hope will be a year-long tally looking at prices and availability in general throughout the Manchester area’s grocery stores. The rules for that contest are simple: in regard to pricing, if the store had the best price on that item and all five stores had the item, they get five points. Second place gets four points and so on, with stores not having the item in stock getting zero points; in regard to availability, if they have the item in stock they get a point. We’ll add up both categories after the last week of December.
Before we begin, here are some caveats.
- All prices were checked on Thursday, Jan. 14 from approximately 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Prices and item availability may change without notice.
- Items may have been available during the aforementioned time but could not be found. Within this column, all efforts available to an ordinary grocery shopper were made to find the item. If you see an error here, please e-mail a picture of the item and the price tag to andy@manchesterinklink.com
- Unless asked for a specifically-sized item by a reader, situations where stores have different amounts of the exact same item will be compared by weight or volume. If stores have multiple sizes of that item, the average cost per weight or volume will be used. Averaged prices are rounded to nearest hundredth of a cent.
Blue Diamond Brand Whole Almonds
Hannaford: 859 Hanover St., Manchester, NH – $0.42/oz. ($10.49, 25 oz., $6.99, 16 oz.)
Walmart: 275 Gold St., Manchester, NH – $0.44/oz. ($11.68, 30 oz. and $6.98, 14 oz.)
Market Basket: 460 Elm St., Manchester, NH – $0.49/oz. ($7.99, 16 oz.)
Shaw’s: 1328 Hooksett Rd., Hooksett, NH – $0.56/oz. ($8.99, 16 oz.)
Price Rite: 365 Lincoln St., Manchester, NH – n/a
Hamburger meat 90% Lean (Store Brand)
Shaw’s: 1328 Hooksett Rd., Hooksett, NH – $2.97/lb.
Walmart: 275 Gold St., Manchester, NH – $4.61/lb.
Hannaford: 859 Hanover St., Manchester, NH – $6.49/lb.
Market Basket: 460 Elm St., Manchester, NH – n/a (93% available at 3.69/lb.)
Price Rite: 365 Lincoln St., Manchester, NH – n/a (93% available at 4.59/lb.)
Jif Creamy Peanut Butter (40 oz.)
Walmart: 275 Gold St., Manchester, NH – $5.64
Market Basket: 460 Elm St., Manchester, NH – $5.69
Hannaford: 859 Hanover St., Manchester, NH – $6.39
Price Rite: 365 Lincoln St., Manchester, NH – n/a ($1.99, 16 oz.)
Shaw’s: 1328 Hooksett Rd., Hooksett, NH – n/a ($4.99, 28 oz.)
Land o’ Lakes Tub Butter (Olive Oil and Sea Salt)
Market Basket: 460 Elm St., Manchester, NH – $0.28/oz. ($2.69, 7 oz.)
Walmart: 275 Gold St., Manchester, NH – $0.30/oz. ($5.89, 21 oz., $3.84, 13 oz.)
Shaw’s: 1328 Hooksett Rd., Hooksett, NH – $0.35/oz ($4.49, 13 oz.)
Hannaford: 859 Hanover St., Manchester, NH – $0.36/oz. ($2.49, 7 oz.)
Price Rite: 365 Lincoln St., Manchester, NH – n/a
Wunderbar German Bologna
Walmart: 275 Gold St., Manchester, NH – $2.46/lb. (not stored in deli case)
Market Basket: 460 Elm St., Manchester, NH – $2.59/lb.
Hannaford: 859 Hanover St., Manchester, NH – $3.49/lb.
Shaw’s: 1328 Hooksett Rd., Hooksett, NH – $3.99/lb.
Price Rite: 365 Lincoln St., Manchester, NH – n/a
Price Scores (After Week 2)
Walmart: 275 Gold St., Manchester, NH – 22
Market Basket: 460 Elm St., Manchester, NH – 16
Hannaford: 859 Hanover St., Manchester, NH – 16
Shaw’s: 1328 Hooksett Rd., Hooksett, NH – 12
Price Rite: 365 Lincoln St., Manchester, NH – 0
Availability Scores (After Week 2)
Walmart: 275 Gold St., Manchester, NH – 5
Hannaford: 859 Hanover St., Manchester, NH – 5
Market Basket: 460 Elm St., Manchester, NH – 4
Shaw’s: 1328 Hooksett Rd., Hooksett, NH – 4
Price Rite: 365 Lincoln St., Manchester, NH – 0