What makes you shop at a particular store? If it’s price, you probably think your store has the best ones. This is the myth of the “cheap” grocery store.

In my area, there are multiple grocery stores to chose from: Shaws, Hannaford and Market Basket. Also, Walmart and Target. There is a wide-spread belief that Market Basket and Walmart are the cheapest, while Shaws and Target are pricey. Quite simply, that’s just not true. I shop at all of these stores. I compare their weekly flyers.

There is no one store that’s always cheapest.

That’s because of a combination of sales and coupons. If you’ve always shopped at the same store, I encourage you to branch out. Don’t discount anything until you’ve tried it.

When I compare prices at my local stores, they vary greatly. Take any name-brand product; I guarantee it’s never the same, not just store-to-store, but also week-to-week.

How then, do you know if something is actually a good deal? Enter the Price Book.

Price books are customized notebooks. You record what you buy and what it costs. If you eat Cheerios for breakfast daily, go into every single store in your area. Write down the prices. I suspect you may be in for a surprise.

Which store do you shop at and why?