I go to Berkely Bowl for niche ingredients I can’t find anywhere else, and the produce is often cheaper and better quality, but meat seems roughly the same and everything else in the store has at least a $1 markup. Also I’m not going to sit in an hour of traffic after work just to maybe save a buck on meat while immediately offsetting that saving in the gas it took to get there. It’s not always as easy as “just go to Berkely Bowl bro”.

Prices have objectively increased in the last three years that can’t be attributed to COL increases or inflation. The only thing left is profit.

The same store was doing fine on half the price of groceries three years ago. How can the poor mega corporation grocery store ever survive? Doesn’t anyone ever think about the poor stock? And no, wages haven’t doubled since then

I’m in the SF bay area. Like I get that it’s high cost of living and high wages, but even so doesn’t justify such a huge price difference. I guess just some pretty crazy price gouging

I can rarely find a pound of ground beef for under $9 now unless buying in massive bulk. Even produce has gotten insanely expensive in the last few years. Sometimes the raw ingredients are so expensive it’s cheaper to buy the processed shit… Idk how anyone less fortunate can stay sane in the grocery store. Buying raw ingredients and cooking isn’t a cheat code to save money.

I agree with you for the most part but a pound of ground beef for under 4 bucks?! Where I live it’s rarely less than $8 lb, but definitely a high cost area. Even chicken is usually more than $6 per lb now.

Even a damn tomato or onion is more than a dollar these days and bell peppers are $2 each!

“Whatever reason” is obviously just trying to cut corners and improve the bottom line with no regard for the consequences.