GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Grocery stores across the nation have started holiday sales ahead of Thanksgiving.
With food inflation continuing to slow, local economist and Associate Dean of the Seidman College of Business at Grand Valley State University Pau Isely told News 8 that shoppers can expect slightly lower prices this holiday season.
“Price of turkey is down compared to last year across the United States. Not a lot, but it’s down a couple of percents,” he said.
The latest Consumer Price Index report finds the cost of apples has decreased 11%, turkey is down 2% and potatoes have dropped a percent in September. However, butter, an important holiday staple, is up 8% year to date.
“There’s a little bit of shell shock from the amount of food prices increase that have happened over the last few years,” Isely said. “And as this year has continued on, we’ve seen retailers having to drop prices even a little bit further to convince people to come out and actually spend money.”
A recent report from the Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute found shoppers can find the biggest savings in shopping store brand names instead of nationally recognized brands. A menu for 10 that offers staples like turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie and rolls would cost a consumer $90 this year, down just 0.5% from last year if brand products are purchased according to the report. But if the same meal is prepared using store brand names, the cost would drop to $73.
“This year it looks like there’s a lot of variability in the prices across stores, so there’s a reason to move around to see what’s there,” Isely said. “Overall, we should be pretty happy because we’re seeing the price of most goods go down. We’re seeing the price of food stabilize and for some types of food even go down. Housing prices have stabilized a little bit and it’s really the services where we’re still seeing inflation.”