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Wow where are these shops you speak of?! Because Times, Foodland, and Safeway all charge $5 for a loaf of bread, $8 for a gallon of milk, double what it costs in cities on the mainland. You can't do ALL of your shopping at Costco or Sams.
I didn't say it was the same cost as the mainland - but it isn't $8 for a gallon of milk at Safeway nor $5 for a loaf of bread - nor will a typical shopping cart be double than that of the mainland. You'll probably pay between 10-20% more in Honolulu compared to the Safeway in San Francisco. Not double.
Yup, it's merely expensive here instead of crazy expensive.
We never see things as low as many of the sale ads on the mainland. But generally we can find things sorta semi-on sale at similar to the every day prices on the mainland.
Not sure where they got the Newsweek prices, though. Not in a shop where local folks would frequent, I'd guess.
maybe it's like regular price vs regular price in grocery stores. single or double pack.
Re milk: I just googled mil Granted prices fluctuate over time and what not. I shop at safeway sometik price in hawaii and this story came up. mes, and they tend to be expensive. I swear I've seen milk prices in the $7-$8 range there. And bread in the $4-5 range as well.. Maybe the next time I go, I'll check it out.
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The highest price we found on Oahu for a gallon of whole milk was $8.99 on sale for $7.49 if you have a value card.
Even housing isn't that far off - the median in San Francisco is $1.1 million and even the capital of Washington - Seattle (yes, I'm kidding) is $700,000, fairly close to Honolulu and of course, you'd be in Seattle with Hilo like rain (although not as much)
I think Seattle has jumped to around $800k now, still going up faster than anywhere else in the country. The real bugger for biyers are the bidding wars, they can often go for $70,000+ over asking price in just a day or two. From what I've seen Seattle has blown past LA and Honolulu for housing costs, for now. One thing to keep in mind is how bubbly Seattle's housing market is, it's an awful place to live and will crash hard again, as it's done so many times before.
FWIW the median home price in the burbs near Seattle is around $1m now, again for now.
I didn't say it was the same cost as the mainland - but it isn't $8 for a gallon of milk at Safeway nor $5 for a loaf of bread - nor will a typical shopping cart be double than that of the mainland. You'll probably pay between 10-20% more in Honolulu compared to the Safeway in San Francisco. Not double.
I have always had the viewpoint that most of contributors to these kinds of mainland versus Hawaii food and commodity pricing threads have it completely wrong. It is not really about the relative pricing of items like bread and milk. At issue are the prices of foods normally consumed by people living in Hawaii relative to the mainland. For example: How much is that ahi poke going to cost you in Pittsburg? How about that curry chicken manapua (my not-so-guilty pleasure) at the 7/11 in Wichita KS compared to what one pays in HNL? How about a bottle of oyster-flavored sauce in Missoula or a 15# bag of premium calrose rice in Des Moines, IA? Butterfish steaks in Maine, anyone? The list goes on and one. My point is, you will begin to make reasonable comparisons once you actually understand what is normally consumed. People eat rice here, and not as much bread. In some respects, you simply can't make reasonable comparisons because the dietary culture between the mainland and Hawai'i is not in sync.
Now if one wants to make a mainland and Hawai'i cost comparison, one should compare the universally consumed food group: Booze. A fifth of Jack Daniels (black label) is $19.98 a bottle, less if you buy six or more bottles. What's the price of JD in Seattle these days?
Wow where are these shops you speak of?! Because Times, Foodland, and Safeway all charge $5 for a loaf of bread, $8 for a gallon of milk, double what it costs in cities on the mainland. You can't do ALL of your shopping at Costco or Sams.
I buy virtually all my food at Costco, Sam's and the farmer's markets. For the basket of goods I purchase, the price difference is minimal (i.e. <10%) when compared to Costcos in other major metros I've visited.
I do agree that grocery store pricing overall is significantly higher here than those found in major metros I visited over the years.
In the mainland, Costco (according to consumer group studies) beats typical grocery store pricing by 15-20%. While there are no studies available that prove this, I'd say that Costco prices on Oahu beat grocery store pricing on Oahu by 30-40% or more... again, on the basket of goods I particularly buy. So those residing on Oahu realize a greater savings (compared to mainland residents) by going with a warehouse club membership instead of shopping mostly at grocery stores.
Reasons for the spread likely include higher savings in shipping costs (from freight partners) by moving massive volumes of food across the ocean, less food spoilage/waste (as a percentage of what is bought) because they turn over food so quickly, higher purchasing power from their suppliers/vendors, high-cube vertical storage which drives operating costs down in high-cost real estate markets (Costco will move far far more goods in and out of their warehouse over the same square foot of prime Oahu land when compared to grocery stores), and did I tell you the shear volume of people that stream in and out of Costco's here? The Iwilei store is the busiest (per SF) in the entire nation... and I believe in the world (or at least was at some point). You can ask Walmart and Amazon how high volume sales drives down costs.
Another consideration may be that we don't have as many competing grocery stores here; less competition between grocery stores results in higher grocery store pricing. When I visit the mainland, grocery stores seem more ubiquitous than they are here with a greater number of competing chains (there is only a small handful of grocery chains on Oahu). This is anecdotal of course but my guess would be overall grocery stores here have less competition with one another. Yet another consideration is grocery stores here often carry asian products that may not be found in mainland stores. The higher a store's differentiation in product offering, the higher the prices... typically. And we have to note that all the tourists also will shop at grocery stores here (more likely than they would at Club stores)... and they are likely willing to pay much more for their food (thus higher prices).
Oh and a loaf of bread is $2.10 at Costco (two loaves for $4.20) which is 58% cheaper than what you claimed it costs here... and milk is $4.19/gallon, 48% cheaper than what you quoted. So that puts our food cost right inline with your mainland cost.
Now if one wants to make a mainland and Hawai'i cost comparison, one should compare the universally consumed food group: Booze. A fifth of Jack Daniels (black label) is $19.98 a bottle, less if you buy six or more bottles. What's the price of JD in Seattle these days?
Funny you mentioned that because I recall my friend raving about how cheap Maker's Mark was at Costco here compared to the Costco he shops at in Cali. $40 for 1.75 liters at Costco Iwilei. Would like to see if anyone in the ENTIRE US mainland can quote a lower price.
Another consideration may be that we don't have as many competing grocery stores here; less competition between grocery stores results in higher grocery store pricing. When I visit the mainland, grocery stores seem more ubiquitous than they are here with a greater number of competing chains (there is only a small handful of grocery chains on Oahu). This is anecdotal of course but my guess would be overall grocery stores here have less competition with one another.
And perhaps we'll soon have less competition with the just announced purchase of the Times Supermarket chain by Donki. I am curious to see what happens to shelf pricing going forward,
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. From what I've seen Seattle has blown past LA and Honolulu for housing costs, for now. One thing to keep in mind is how bubbly Seattle's housing market is, it's an awful place to live and will crash hard again, as it's done so many times before.
