LAST WORD
Few deals south of border for bargain-hungry grocery shoppers
DECEMBER 2018
OBJ consumer columnist Michael Prentice says food savings just not on the menu in New York state
OBJ.CA
50
Why the discrepancy between the Walmart price in Kanata and Ogdensburg? I put it down to retail MICHAEL competition. The Ottawa grocery market PRENTICE news@obj.ca is highly competitive, I believe. In little Ogdensburg, far from any big urban centre, there is not so much competition. Even with a new trade deal with the United However, I found dramatic savings States, there will probably be little, if any, in Ogdensburg on the price of milk. A savings for Ottawa-area shoppers who hop container measuring 3.78 litres of two per across the border to buy groceries in the cent milk cost $1.78 in American money United States. at the Ogdensburg Walmart. That’s the That is my conclusion after a recent equivalent of $2.28 in Canadian money. half-day trip to Ogdensburg, N.Y. – scarcely When I checked the Kanata Walmart an hour’s drive from Ottawa – to test price of two per cent milk, it was $4.47 in claims that dairy products and chicken, in the (slightly larger) four-litre size. particular, are far cheaper in the U.S. than Do the math: The Ogdensburg in Canada. Walmart was charging the equivalent of There is some truth in this claim. I about 60 Canadian cents per litre for two bought a container filled with almost four per cent milk. The Kanata Walmart’s price litres of milk for little more than half what was about $1.12 a litre. I would pay in Canada, where dairy prices The Ogdensburg Walmart also are kept artificially high by government offered savings on yogurt and ice cream, regulations on production and pricing. compared with prices at my Walmart in But other dairy products in two Kanata. But in these cases, the price gap Ogdensburg supermarkets cost little, if was much smaller. any, less than you would pay at Loblaws, I found that Dannon yogurt was only Walmart, Farm Boy or Costco in Ottawa. slightly cheaper in Ogdensburg. The price And a pound of unsalted butter at the gap was narrowed by the fact the Kanata Ogdensburg Walmart was far more Walmart had a special offer on this product expensive than at my local Walmart in – three in the 750-gram size for $2 each. Kanata. I often hear that Canadians pay more The Ogdensburg Walmart’s price for than Americans for eggs and chicken. a pound of butter was the equivalent of But do we? The Ogdensburg Walmart was $5.68 in Canadian funds. True, that was for selling 18 large eggs for $1.45 in American a name brand. The Kanata Walmart price funds, which was about $1.86 in for its own brand of unsalted butter was Canadian money. The Kanata Walmart’s $3.97. I find Walmart’s own brands to be price at that time: $2.50, not a significant just as good as name brands. price gap.
What about chicken? Ogdensburg’s Walmart does not sell chicken, so I visited a nearby competitor, Price Chopper. There, I bought a small roast chicken, immediately after it was cooked, for $5.99 in American money. My wife and I had it at home for dinner that night, and it was awful – the most scrawny, fatty chicken I’ve ever eaten. It was no comparison for larger, tastier cooked chicken that my local Costco sells for $7.99 in Canadian money. Also at Price Chopper, I bought slightly less than one litre of light cream for the equivalent of $4.59 in Canadian money – which turned out to be as big a mistake as the roast chicken. I later found I could buy an almost identical quantity of light cream for about half the price at the Kanata Walmart.
DUTY-FREE TRIP I expect consumers to see little or no difference in retail prices on either side of the border, whether or not Canada and the United States ratify their recent trade agreement. My conclusion: The cost of gas and bridge tolls – $3.50 in Canadian money each way across the St. Lawrence River – will probably wipe out any savings on groceries for cross-border shoppers. But leave Canada with a gas tank almost empty and return with a full tank, and you could save $20 – minus the fuel your vehicle consumes on the trip, of course. My advice: Combine grocery shopping in nearby New York state with a visit to any of the area’s three really great tourist attractions – the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, Boldt Castle in Alexandria Bay and the Frederic Remington Art Museum in Ogdensburg. All are gems. Michael Prentice is OBJ’s columnist on retail and consumer issues.
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