GROCERY PRICES
The cheapest grocery store in the northeast is...
February 1, 2026▪️Analysis by The Market Report
Updated: February 8, 2026
It's no secret that food is expensive. Grocery prices are high and getting higher, but even despite that, there are still some easy ways to save on your weekly grocery bill. One simple one: choosing the right store to shop at. The Market Report has compared prices of 50 items at 30 stores across the northeastern US in an effort to find the lowest-priced (and highest-priced) groceries.
These prices were surveyed in January 2025, August-September 2025, and now, January-February 2026.
Using a standard basket of common groceries like apples, flour, milk, eggs, ground beef, paper towels, and others, I've totaled up the full order at a selection of supermarkets in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Here's the full results -- plus see more details at the end. A new winner is crowned this time!
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The Averages ...................................................
Jan 2026: $342.17
Aug-Sept 2025: $333.91
Jan 2025: $332.89
Average increase since Aug-Sept 2025: +2.47%
Average increase since Jan 2025: +2.79%
These averages do not include the stores added in February 2026, for a consistent comparison basis.
The Winners (and Losers) .....................................
CHEAPEST OVERALL
LIDL
The cheapest overall is LIDL, about 25% below average. It also required only three substitutions, while competitor ALDI required six.
CHEAPEST FULL-SERVICE
Market Basket
The cheapest full-service supermarket is Market Basket (i.e., in-store deli, bakery, meat and seafood, and so on). Market Basket required one substitution, but generally had everything on the list.
BIGGEST DECREASE SINCE AUGUST*
LIDL
LIDL's prices decreased around 6% since August, and around 5% compared to last January.
*Whole Foods' prices decreased around 6.5% since August, but the high August price was an outlier caused by item availability.
BIGGEST DECREASE SINCE JANUARY 2025
Big Y
With a decrease of around $30 -- nearly 8.5% -- Big Y's prices have dropped the most since last year. It's especially notable since no single item or category is driving the decrease, but instead incremental decreases across the store. That means prices overall are getting meaningfully lower, not just that an item or two are much less expensive.
MOST EXPENSIVE OVERALL
Gristedes
The most expensive overall is Gristedes, almost $400 more than the cheapest (LIDL) and about $140 more than the next-highest.
The Takeaways ...................................................
Shop discount stores -- for what they have...
ALDI and LIDL (plus Walmart) have the lowest prices on this list, but their selections are limited.
...but some stores have both low prices and a bigger selection
Walmart, Shaw's, Hannaford, and ShopRite stand out with relatively low prices and relatively few (or no) substitutions required.
Independent stores are generally more expensive...
It makes sense: smaller businesses are unable to offer the same low prices that a bigger chain like Walmart can offer, due in large part to economies of scale.
...but not the most expensive
The two most expensive stores in this survey are both big-chain stores -- Whole Foods, owned by Amazon, and Kings, owned by Albertsons Companies.
And when in NYC, avoid Gristedes
It's hard to explain just how expensive Gristedes is. Their total basket was over $600 -- with truly no comparison on this survey (or in the northeast in general). Famously-expensive Whole Foods is about $200 cheaper than Gristedes, and even Manhattan competitor Morton Williams is near the same as Whole Foods.
The List ...................................................
35. Gristedes
MANHATTAN, NY
It's difficult to fathom just how expensive Gristedes is. This sample basket is well over $600 at Gristedes, a mainstream NYC supermarket (not gourmet or specialized in any way). They're a member of Allegiance Retail, a cooperative whose Foodtown and Pathmark stores are on the higher side in this survey. But both are more than $200 cheaper than Gristedes. No single item was an outlier in this comparison; instead, nearly every single item was notably more expensive than even other NYC grocers.
Jan 2026: $618.07
Aug-Sept 2025: not available
Jan 2025: not available
34. Sprouts Farmers Market
PHILADELPHIA, PA
Sprouts' very high basket total here isn't necessarily indicative of their prices overall. Instead, pet food is abnormally expensive, bringing the whole basket higher. The food-only total here (excluding things like paper, cleaning, and pet products) was about $10 cheaper than Whole Foods, the most direct competitor.
Jan 2026: $480.17
Aug-Sept 2025: not available
Jan 2025: not available
33. Kings Food Markets
MILLBURN, NJ
Kings was the highest-priced store in the January 2025 survey. Now, the total basket at Kings is nearly $200 more than the lowest-priced store -- and even the Millburn location, the largest Kings, didn't have everything on the list (one substitution had to be made).
Jan 2026: $442.04
Aug-Sept 2025: $414.24
Jan 2025: $429.22
32. Morton Williams
MANHATTAN, NY
A direct competitor to Gristedes, Wakefern-owned Morton Williams comes in nearly $200 cheaper. It's still an expensive supermarket, though that can likely be attributed to the high-profile (and therefore high-rent) locations Morton Williams has.
Jan 2026: $427.96
Aug-Sept 2025: not available
Jan 2025: not available
31. Whole Foods Market
Lynnfield, MA
So-called Whole Paycheck is up near the top of the list, though not at the top as it was last time around. The Aug-Sept total appears to be an outlier caused by out-of-stocks causing higher-priced substitutions.
Jan 2026: $423.89
Aug-Sept 2025: $453.72
Jan 2025: $410.28
30. LaBonne's Market
Watertown, CT
LaBonne's, a small chain in central Connecticut, saw a big jump from last January to last summer, but now, the prices have remained fairly constant.
Jan 2026: $412.24
Aug-Sept 2025: $413.93
Jan 2025: $389.18
29. Adams Hometown Market
Monson, MA
After a drop from January to August, Adams' prices are back up again, once again ranking as the highest-priced mainstream supermarket on the list. The Bozzuto's-owned chain runs mostly small supermarkets in small towns.
Jan 2026: $405.51
Aug-Sept 2025: $373.28
Jan 2025: $415.81
28. Pathmark
Brooklyn, NY
Most price variations are not particularly significant over the course of several months and can easily be attributed to seasonal product availability, wholesaler rate fluctuation, and similar differences. At the only remaining Pathmark -- in Brooklyn, NY, and owned by PSK Supermarkets -- the prices have increased nearly 15% in a year, a significantly greater rate than the average of 3% in that time and therefore much more than normal fluctuations.
Jan 2026: $405.09
Aug-Sept 2025: $381.18
Jan 2025: $352.68
27. Foodtown
Red Bank, NJ
Prices are likely to vary from one location to another within Foodtown. That's because each location is independently owned and operated, and is free to set their own prices. Chain stores also sometimes have price variations from location to location, but those differences are more significant in independently-owned stores.
Jan 2026: $388.20
Aug-Sept 2025: $386.93
Jan 2025: $361.39
26. Roche Bros
Watertown, MA
Roche Bros, also owned by Bozzuto's, is one of the few chains that actually decreased in price from 2025 to 2026, although that decrease was only about 2.5%.
Jan 2026: $388.03
Aug-Sept 2025: $385.90
Jan 2025: $398.34
25. King Kullen
Bay Shore, NY
The only Long Island grocer on this list, King Kullen has about 25 locations all on the island. They're one of the lower-priced stores supplied by Bozzuto's on this survey.
Jan 2026: $372.53
Aug-Sept 2025: not available
Jan 2025: not available
24. SuperFresh
Linden, NJ
For this January 2026 comparison, prices were surveyed at a different SuperFresh location -- Linden instead of Middlesex, NJ, due to item availability on the website.
Jan 2026: $355.55
Aug-Sept 2025: $347.32
Jan 2025: $340.73
23. Trucchi's
Taunton, MA
Trucchi's continues to be the cheapest among the independent and small-chain stores. It's another chain that in fact saw a decrease (albeit a very small one) since last year.
Jan 2026: $346.32
Aug-Sept 2025: $347.16
Jan 2025: $350.11
22. Tops Friendly Markets
New Paltz, NY
The Northeast Grocery-owned chains -- Tops, Price Chopper, and Market 32 -- are very close together in this comparison. This time, they're the most expensive, while last time they were the cheapest, but the differences are negligible.
Jan 2026: $344.08
Aug-Sept 2025: $336.54
Jan 2025: $340.28
21. Price Chopper
Warwick, NY
Price Chopper's prices haven't really changed over the past year. Consistently, Price Chopper has been more expensive in this survey than sister chain Market 32, which is also more upscale. But the price gap is minimal, and more likely due to where the individual locations are located than the overall positioning of the chain.
Jan 2026: $343.85
Aug-Sept 2025: $341.90
Jan 2025: $344.83
20. Food Bazaar
Bridgeport, CT
Food Bazaar earns the distinction this time of being within cents of the average of all the stores surveyed. Their prices haven't meaningfully changed in a year, though.
Jan 2026: $343.85
Aug-Sept 2025: $341.90
Jan 2025: $344.83
19. Market 32
Sutton, MA
Market 32, the upscale chain within the Northeast Grocery group, also comes in at the lowest-priced of the three chains owned by Northeast Grocery.
Jan 2026: $336.10
Aug-Sept 2025: $341.65
Jan 2025: $325.40
18. Wegmans
Montvale, NJ
Wegmans' prices are up nearly 6% since last year, one of the largest increases in this survey. No single item or category is uniformly higher, and some are actually lower, but overall price hikes mean that the basket is more expensive this year.
Jan 2026: $332.17
Aug-Sept 2025: $312.91
Jan 2025: $312.95
17. ACME Markets
Kenilworth, NJ
ACME is one of the only stores on this list that consistently got cheaper with each survey done. Their prices in January 2026 are around 3% lower than they were a year ago, defying the overall trend of an increase of around that much.
Jan 2026: $329.69
Aug-Sept 2025: $335.27
Jan 2025: $339.70
16. Big Y
Worcester, MA
Even more notable than ACME, though, is Big Y, whose prices declined nearly 8.5% in the last year. While it's not obvious exactly why, as no single item or category was much cheaper this time around, this decrease is most likely the result of the chain's long-term strategy to lower prices across the board.
Jan 2026: $326.38
Aug-Sept 2025: $331.89
Jan 2025: $354.06
15. GIANT Food Stores
Doylestown, PA
Ahold Delhaize's three brands surveyed here -- GIANT, Stop & Shop, and Hannaford -- are closer than they've ever been before, with now only a $20 spread between them (last year, it was double that). This time, GIANT was the most expensive; Hannaford has consistently been the cheapest.
Jan 2026: $325.19
Aug-Sept 2025: $322.93
Jan 2025: $298.68
14. Stop & Shop
Trumbull, CT
Stop & Shop's ongoing price cuts haven't really made a difference. The basket today is only about 1% cheaper than it was a year ago. Still, the chain bucks the trend of groceries getting more expensive.
Jan 2026: $325.16
Aug-Sept 2025: $321.23
Jan 2025: $328.91
13. Star Market
West Roxbury, MA
Star Market and sister chain Shaw's have also advertised price cuts, but like Stop & Shop, the overall trend is that prices are consistent, not lowering (though the roughly $5 cheaper basket represents a 1.5% decrease in price).
Jan 2026: $315.67
Aug-Sept 2025: $312.07
Jan 2025: $320.75
12. Weis Markets
East Stroudsburg, PA
Weis has increased prices about 5% since this time last year, although there's been a small decline since the summer. That's a smaller increase, though, than the nearly 9% increase over the same period at competitor GIANT.
Jan 2026: $311.91
Aug-Sept 2025: $316.40
Jan 2025: $297.37
11. The Fresh Grocer
Bethlehem, PA
Prices are very nearly consistent at The Fresh Grocer, and in this survey, the Gerrity's Fresh Grocer in Bethlehem, PA shows an increase of a little above 1% since this time last year -- almost nothing.
Jan 2026: $310.06
Aug-Sept 2025: $311.07
Jan 2025: $305.70
10. ShopRite
Chester, NJ
New Jersey's largest grocer, ShopRite, has seen consistent decreases in price since last year. In fact, the overall trend shows that prices are down over 5% in the last year. Still, ShopRite stores are independently owned and operated, meaning prices can (and do) vary among operators.
Jan 2026: $307.77
Aug-Sept 2025: $311.60
Jan 2025: $324.69
9. Hannaford
Plattsburgh, NY
Hannaford is still among the cheapest grocers on this survey, but the 5.5% increase since last year is notable. In fact, they've lost their top spot as the cheapest mainstream/full-service supermarket on the list to competitor Shaw's.
Jan 2026: $306.16
Aug-Sept 2025: $292.63
Jan 2025: $289.72
8. Target
Clifton, NJ
Target's prices are almost identical over the past year. It's not a supermarket, but still had nearly all of the items on this list, save for three substitutions. Photo courtesy of Lucas F., used by permission.
Jan 2026: $304.88
Aug-Sept 2025: $305.37
Jan 2025: $305.31
7. Shaw's
Nashua, NH
Shaw's comes in lower than Hannaford for the first time. The difference is very small -- only a couple dollars -- but it's notable given that it wasn't that long ago that Shaw's made headlines for its high prices. Also notable is that the difference between Shaw's and Market Basket, a direct competitor and the cheapest full-service supermarket in the northeast, is only about $20 -- a much narrower gap than in past years.
Jan 2026: $302.07
Aug-Sept 2025: $307.04
Jan 2025: $311.76
6. Price Rite Marketplace
Manchester, NH
Price Rite remains the highest-priced discount store in this survey. It also required six substitutions, less than ALDI but significantly more than the other lowest-priced chains on this list.
Jan 2026: $291.92
Aug-Sept 2025: $285.48
Jan 2025: $295.79
5. Walmart Supercenter
Worcester, MA
At both of the Walmart stores surveyed here, prices decreased overall in the last year, though that decline wasn't particularly large here at Walmart Supercenter.
Jan 2026: $280.02
Aug-Sept 2025: $284.87
Jan 2025: $288.06
4. Market Basket
Shrewsbury, MA
Market Basket is a fan favorite across New England, and for good reason. The Shrewsbury location had almost every item on the list with prices comparable to ALDI, a much smaller, more limited discount store. Market Basket is the cheapest full-service supermarket in the northeast.
Jan 2026: $279.64
Aug-Sept 2025: not available
Jan 2025: not available
3. ALDI
Johnston, RI
ALDI is still very cheap, coming in almost 20% below average, but it's no longer the cheapest. This is in part attributable to overall price hikes but also to item availability -- ALDI's limited assortment changes regularly, and sometimes that change results in certain items being replaced with different, higher-priced, items.
Jan 2026: $278.00
Aug-Sept 2025: $255.94
Jan 2025: $256.66
2. Walmart Neighborhood Market
Levittown, NY
The Northeast only has one Walmart Neighborhood Market -- they're much more common in other regions of the country -- and it's the second-cheapest store in this survey. Its prices have decreased around 5% in the last year, and that's possibly because of the opening of an ALDI a mile away this past August.
Jan 2026: $263.17
Aug-Sept 2025: $271.01
Jan 2025: $278.25
1. LIDL
Bronx, NY
A new winner is crowned this time around, with LIDL coming in at the cheapest basket total. The combination of a decrease in prices of about 5% and competitor ALDI raising prices almost 8% means that LIDL has stolen the top spot. As an aside, the location surveyed here is in New York City, and a few anecdotal comparisons show that the New York City LIDL stores are actually slightly more expensive than the suburban ones, meaning other locations could actually even be cheaper.
Jan 2026: $257.67
Aug-Sept 2025: $274.65
Jan 2025: $270.72
The Details ...................................................
Are grocery prices higher than they were in January 2025 or August/September 2025? Yes, but not by a lot. The average this time is about 3% higher than the average last January, and around 2.5% higher than the summer. That means the average this year is about $9 higher than this time in 2025, and $8 higher than the summer.
What about items with really big price differences? You can view the entire list below, and if you see an item with a very big price difference compared to January, that's probably about item availability, not the actual cost. For instance, the shrimp at Adams was about $40 in January 2025 and was down to just $14 in August 2025. That's not because the item is actually that much cheaper, it's that they now carry a two-pound bag of the relevant shrimp for $14 rather than one-pound bags of the shrimp for $20 apiece, which they did in January.
Which stores had the most and least substitutions? Whole Foods had the most substitutions, since they don't carry national-brand items like Lay's, Coca-Cola, or Purina, included on this comparison. ALDI and Price Rite similarly had a large number of substitutions because they're more likely to carry a generic version rather than the name-brand one. LIDL had fewer substitutions this time than in the past. Most stores only had one or two substitutions, if any.
Why isn't Trader Joe's, or CTown, or insert-your-favorite-grocer-here on this list? These stores don't have in-store prices posted online. All of these prices were observed online and confirmed, in some cases, with in-store spot-checks. The only exception to this is Market Basket, where prices were checked in person.
Were any stores surveyed in the past skipped this time? Yes, two stores were removed from the list: Amazon Fresh and Key Food, both because online prices didn't match in-store prices. The location of a SuperFresh surveyed was changed because of online price availability.
Are these prices correct for all locations of these chains? No -- many chains have different prices at different locations, so this only gives an approximate snapshot given a selected location. These locations have been selected for a geographic spread across several states.
When were these prices observed? January 2025 (1/15 and 1/16), August-September 2025 (8/26, 8/27, 8/31, and 9/1), and January-February 2026 (1/19, 1/20, 2/5, and 2/7).
FULL DATA
January-February 2026
Click here to view the full price comparison in January-February 2026.
August-September 2025
Click here to view the blog post and full price comparison in January 2026.
January 2025
Click here to view the blog post and full price comparison in January 2026.