Whole Wallet v Waitrose
16 Jul 2004
With nothing edible in the fridge it was necessary to go to the supermarket for some Saturday evening nosh. As Whole Foods is the closest it was the obvious choice for some nice tomatoes, basil and mozzarella. The bill always amazes, hence the name Whole Wallet, but this time it was spectacular: $34 for 9 items! Admittedly I did get a couple of Czechvars and some Haagen Dazs and was expecting a big one but that seemed a little high. However, with the pound-dollar so high at the moment I decided to see if it really was that expensive… Waitrose, which is at the posh end of British supermarkets, now has online shopping so I could check the prices. Here are the results.
| Item | Whole Foods | Waitrose | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milk | $2.79 | ?1.35 | $1.96 | $2.50 |
| Basil | $1.99 | ?1.59 | $2.31 | $2.94 |
| Haagen-Dazz Vanilla | $3.89 | ?3.79 | $5.50 | $7.01 |
| Spicy Tuna Roll | $5.95 | ?5.50 | $7.98 | $10.18 |
| Czechvar Bottle | $4.58 | ?2.78 | $4.03 | $5.14 |
| Vine Tomato | $4.18 | ?1.19 | $1.73 | $2.20 |
| Raspberries | $5.00 | ?4.00 | $5.80 | $7.40 |
| Crusty Bread | $3.09 | ?0.73 | $1.06 | $1.35 |
| Mozzarella | $2.99 | ?3.78 | $5.48 | $6.99 |
| Total | $34.46 | ?24.71 | $35.83 | $45.71 |
| Dollar-Pound | 1.45 | 1.85 | ||
The results are quite surprising. Waitrose is actually the same price on average but much more expensive at todays exchage rate. However, individually there is a huge difference in price. Haagen-Dazs is of course cheaper here as it is American. The tomatoes were a lot more at Whole Foods but they may have been organic so the comparison may not be valid. The bread however, which I have long moaned about, is confirmed to be a lot more expensive here: 3x the price!