JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Trader Joe’s store that opened Wednesday morning in the Mandarin area is the newest addition to the grocery wars battle on San Jose Boulevard.
The store joins other grocery chains, like Publix, Winn-Dixie, Earth Fare, Whole Foods and Fresh Market, on a stretch of the highly traveled Mandarin thoroughfare, juts south of Interstate 295.
News4Jax compared prices at several of the stores Wednesday for items like bread, milk, eggs and peanut butter, which are consider household staples.
Trader Joe's had the cheapest available eggs, milk and peanut butter, but Publix had the lower edge on bread by 10 cents.
“You want to have a good diet for your family, and if their prices are so high that you can’t do that, your family suffers,” shopper Diddy Olwin said.
Prices are important to shoppers, but it seemed that wasn't all they were look for Wednesday.
“Trader Joe’s is kind of a specialty so I don’t worry about that too much,” Olwin said.
“It all depends on what they have in stock,” shopper George Stanley said. “Some have certain items; some don’t.”
Many stores have specials, like two-for-one deals, so shoppers can get the best value for their grocery dollars by planning ahead, checking online for deals and picking up coupons when they're in a store.