It's no secret that shopping for groceries has become very expensive across the nation, including in New Jersey, prompting families to search for the cheapest options.
Consumer Reports shared a new survey looking at the cheapest and most expensive grocery stores using Walmart as a baseline. Four stores in New Jersey came out cheaper, including Costco Wholesale, BJ's Wholesale Club, Lidl, and Aldi.
Costco (with 20 locations in New Jersey) was found to be 21.4 percent cheaper than Walmart and BJ's (with 25 locations in New Jersey) was 21 percent cheaper, according to the survey.
Lidl (with 21 locations in New Jersey) was 8.5 percent cheaper and Aldi (with 67 locations in New Jersey) was 8.3 percent cheaper than Walmart, according to the survey.
New Jersey stores such as Target (with 54 stores in New Jersey), Wegmans (with nine stores in New Jersey), Stop & Shop(with 47 stores in New Jersey), Trader Joe's, and Whole Foods came out on the opposite side as more expensive.
Whole Foods (with 25 stores in New Jersey) was the highest by 39.7 percent in terms of most expensive compared to Walmart.
Followed by Trader Joe's(with 20 stores in New Jersey), which was 24.6 percent, and Stop & Shop, which was 22.2 percent higher than Walmart.
Wegmans was 7.6 percent, and Target was 5.9 percent more expensive.
"Price comparisons were conducted for CR by the Strategic Resource Group, a consultancy in New York. Prices were collected in person from store shelves in late summer 2025. Within metro areas, all prices were collected within a 48-hour period. The amounts shown reflect sale prices and discounts available to shoppers using free store loyalty cards but don’t reflect manufacturer coupons or savings available only through smartphone apps," according to Consumer Reports.
Consumer Reports found that nationwide coffee is up 20 percent since last year.
Across the board, food prices increased 25.5 percent between December 2020 and December 2024, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis obtained by Consumer Reports.
New Jersey Costco Warehouses
BJ's Wholesale New Jersey Store Locations
Lidl New Jersey Locations
Aldi New Jersey Locations
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