H-T Raising Prices -- again?

[eblin]

I'm wondering if it is just my Washington DC Harris Teeter or whether anyone else has noticed that they have raised their prices again. Zucchini went up 25% in one week, for example! Even with double coupons and their accpeting $5 off $25 CVS coupons, H-T is beginning to be too expensive for me to justify going -- and I'm a big fan. Has anyone else noticed this?

[jkelstaten]

Well, zucchini is not in season, so it's going to be expensive anywhere. My general rule is to eat the fresh produce when it's in season, so that it's cheap.

As for HT in general, I've found that for the DC metro, they have the best combinations of sales and coupons. Giant, Safeway, Bloom, etc. may be a bit cheaper overall, but their sales pretty much stink (especially Giant), so I don't find as many fantastic deals there.

During a normal week (my life's not very normal right now) I would do my coupon shopping at HT, buy their markdown produce and markdown meat. Then if I needed to supplement some produce I would go to Giant (because it's across the street from my neighborhood) and get what was on sale. Occasionally, I added Superfresh or Safeway to that depending on the sale. Superfresh for triples and Safeway for some of their catalina promos.

[citygirlcountryheart]

I have noticed a few things increased in price recently as well, I am in NoVa. Luckily I had a raincheck to get my detergent, All S&M 3x for 3/$10, otherwise it was marked $6.49 I believe, last time I checked the price there it was $5.xx.

I agree with you both, unless it is on sale, I most likely won't purchase the item from HT, and HT does usually have much better sales than the other grocery stores in my area.

[jenjacobs]

As pp have said, unless it is on sale and/or I have a coupon I generally do not buy it. I Also think HT produce in general is pretty pricey. For generic items (like beans) I generally shop Food Lion or Bloom. Alot of people also love Aldi but I don't have one that is very close so I never shop there.

I recently joined a local produce Co-op and I'm loving it. For $15 I get about 22-25 lbs of produce. See if your area offers something similar.

Also in the winter, we see lots of frozen veggie deals (.50 or less) and we tend to eat alot of those since they are cheap and taste delicious.

[uummm]

I feel that part of the reason HT has such great Sale prices is because they charge more for other things. I personally am like Jen and I only buy when it is on sale. I only buy frozen veggies when they are free and get more than enough to last for 4-6 months.
Also I have found that different HTs charge different prices. The price of one kind of cereal at one HT is over $1 lower than it is at a HT a few miles away.
MY HT is across the street from Food Lion and I do 85% of my FOOD shopping at HT the other 20% is split between Food Lion, Super Target and Lowes Foods.

I love my HT, but the key is to buy when things are at the cheapest and to be able to get to the point where you buy 98% of your groceries when they are on sale and use a coupon is a great point to be at.

[Nice1704]

I don't know about produce, but I did notice the huge price jump of the Hershey single bars the other day. These used to be .89, but when I went in last week I noticed they are now $1.05 regular price!