Why is a 99 cent can of beans priced at $2.49 at my local corner store?

I was grabbing stuff for a chili night and noticed the tiny market near my place in Cleveland charges double for the same generic brand I get at the big grocery store. A 15 ounce can of pinto beans was $2.49 there, but the same can is 99 cents at the chain store two miles away. It is insane how much extra you pay for convenience, and that adds up fast when you shop small. Does anyone else get stuck paying more at neighborhood spots just because they are closer, or do you map out every trip to the discount store?

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josephl6718d ago

The part about the same generic brand costing that much more kind of misses something though. Those tiny corner stores usually buy from a different distributor, not the same warehouse that stocks the big chains. They get smaller deliveries, so their per-unit price from the supplier is already higher before they even put it on the shelf. Plus they pay way more for rent and electricity per square foot than a giant store in a shopping center. So it's not really about convenience tax, it's that their cost of doing business is just different. Sucks for us, but the 99 cent store is basically selling at a loss leader price to get you in the door, then they make it back on other stuff.