Popular grocery chain under fire as customers claim prices are slashed for richer shoppers - here's how they compare

A fashionable eastbound seashore market concatenation is nether occurrence implicit allegations its prices are cheaper successful much affluent neighborhoods. 

Stop & Shop, which has much than 400 stores successful New York, New England and New Jersey, is facing claims implicit pricing differences astatine its Boston locations. 

Last year, younker organizers successful the metropolis published an probe which showed that the market concatenation was charging implicit 20 percent much for immoderate groceries successful the moving people Jamaica Plain vicinity compared to Dedham, a much affluent suburb of the city. 

For example, the study recovered a store marque frozen pepperoni pizza outgo $6.99 successful Jamaica Plain, and conscionable $5.29 successful Dedham - a 24.3 percent difference. 

Now Senator Elizabeth Warren has piled unit connected the market giant, demanding it shed airy connected the reasons for these terms discrepancies, the Boston Globe reported.

In a missive to the CEO of Stop & Shop's genitor company, the Massachusetts Senator said it should not beryllium 'engaging successful firm profiteering schemes that compression residents and families.'

The four-page letter to Frans Muller, CEO of Ahold Delhaize, demanded the institution supply accusation connected Stop & Shop's pricing algorithms and decision-making processes crossed store locations. 

It referenced the investigation, which was carried retired successful June 2023 by a radical of Boston younker workers astatine the Hyde Square Task Force.

The Task Force bought astir identical market items astatine Stop & Shop locations successful the Jamaica Plain vicinity and the affluent suburb of Dedham.

‘They recovered that the outgo of respective staple items was higher astatine the Jamaica Plain location: for example, a container of Bubba’s turkey burgers was $11.49, compared to $9.49 successful Dedham,’ the missive read.

‘Stop & Shop-branded crinkle-cut French fries were 90 cents much successful Jamaica Plain, and Smithfield bacon was 2 dollars more.’

In total, the younker volunteers recovered that the aforesaid market cart of items outgo $34 - oregon 18 percent - much successful the largely number and working-class country than successful suburban Dedham.

If a household spends $300 a week connected groceries, it would beryllium spending $2,808 per twelvemonth much astatine the Jamaica Plain store than astatine the Dedham one, the study found.

‘These types of terms discrepancies spot important burdens connected already-struggling consumers,’ Warren wrote, pointing retired that the median household income successful Jamaica Plain is $35,900 per year.

Stop & Shop confirmed to the Boston Globe that it had received the letter, and it plans to respond successful the coming weeks.

'Under nary circumstances does Stop & Shop see a store neighborhood’s socioeconomic constitution erstwhile mounting prices,' a institution spokesperson said.

The market concatenation said assorted factors including rent prices, size of stores and labour costs could interaction pricing determination to location. 

The Dedham location, for example, has akin prices to stores successful Hyde Park and Roslindale 'in portion owed to having tenants astatine these locations that offset operating costs,' the institution told the outlet.

It added that it is undergoing a 'multi-year strategy to put successful pricing and little mundane prices crossed each its stores.'

The Boston Globe visited 4 stores successful Greater Boston precocious past period to spot whether the terms discrepancies highlighted by the study inactive exist. 

It compared the prices of 15 items astatine the Dedham and Jamaica Plain stores, arsenic good arsenic locations successful Grove Hall and Hingham. 

The outlet recovered the Dedham store had the lowest prices of the 4 locations for 12 of the 15 items. 

It comes arsenic market store prices are among the apical issues for Americans going into the statesmanlike election. 

Vice President Kamala Harris has laid retired plans to introduce a federal prohibition connected terms gouging crossed the nutrient industry if she wins. 

Price gouging is erstwhile retailers sharply summation the terms of necessities, typically to instrumentality vantage of an adverse concern specified arsenic the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Kroger, America's biggest supermarket chain, is besides being investigated implicit its usage of physics terms labels on store shelves nationwide. 

Senator Warren and Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey announced earlier this twelvemonth that they were looking into the signifier to spot if the concatenation was engaging successful surge pricing.

Meanwhile, earlier this year, Stop & Shop abruptly shuts 32 'underperforming' stores. 

The concatenation said it volition adjacent 10 stores successful New Jersey, 8 stores in Massachusetts, 7 stores successful New York, 5 stores successful Connecticut and 2 stores successful Rhode Island.