Shoppers who are traveling out of town for groceries at Walmart might not be saving as much money as they think, and perhaps even spending more after transportation costs are included, according to a price comparison by the Pawhuska Chamber of Commerce and The Bigheart Times.
The Chamber compiled an average family grocery list of items, name brand and off brand, from the Bartlesville Walmart and Pawhuska Hometown Foods. The Bigheart Times took the grocery list and compiled a shopping cart for Barnsdall’s Affordable Foods as well.
Wal-Mart shoppers saved $20 at most with the each the name- and off-brand cart after taxes. Once transportation costs, calculated by the federal mileage rate of $0.55, was included, shoppers were spending more shopping out of town. On average a shopper would have to spend about $235 at Wal-Mart to break even and make the travel worth it, according to the study. In Barnsdall, prices on bargain or generic brands are so close to Walmart’s prices that the break-even shopping cart would cost $450.
These numbers weren’t too surprising to Andre Dixon, a Pawhuska resident, who hasn’t set foot in a Walmart in about two years. A documentary and watching Pawhuska’s history with the retail giant sparked a change in her shopping habits.
She now shops at Pawhuska Hometown Foods. “It saves me. You have to think about the gas prices,” she said.
If she can’t get an item in Pawhuska and ends up going to Bartlesville she hits up other stores besides Walmart. One of her biggest issues with Walmart is what she describes as the “false pretense of saving.”
“They operate under a lie, which is they save you money, and they don’t,” she said. “They are detrimental to communities.”
Dixon recalled when Walmart came to Pawhuska, offered lower prices and ran local retail out of business before raising prices and eventually leaving town.
On top of the store’s history with Pawhuska, Dixon finds it inconvenient to travel out of town, then deal with the large crowds, difficult parking and long lines.
Dixon’s shop local attitude is in the Pawhuska minority though, which sparked the Chamber price comparison.
“In September we performed a survey to determine Pawhuskan’s shopping habits. We found that 55 percent of Pawhuskans did their grocery shopping out of town, and most of the out-of-town shoppers went to Walmart,” Chamber Director Mike McCartney said.
Ralph Brown, 29, is one of those Pawhuskans that shops at Bartlesville’s Walmart. He estimated he shops there about twice a month, and usually for bulk purchases, anywhere from $150 to $225.
He said his three main reasons for shopping there are lower prices, better generic brands and the opportunity to get out of town. “It’s a combination of all three, but I do leave Pawhuska just to shop,” Brown said.
He added that he believed the meat, as well as produce, selection and quality is greater at Walmart.
McCartney is urging residents to work with their local grocery stores on issues with variety.
“There are two ways to get more variety in town. The first is to buy everything you can buy in Pawhuska. This will help shop owners maintain a profit on core items so that they can grow to carry other items. The second is to tell shop owners when you can’t find what you are looking for. It is about a 50/50 chance of whether they will be able to start carrying it, but I guarantee they will be more responsive than the out-of-town stores,” McCartney said.
Variety and quality isn’t the only concern for Brown. Quantity has an impact on his shopping habits as well. How many days worth of groceries dictates how far he is willing to travel.
“If I am picking up for two or three days, I will go to Pawhuska,” Brown said. When shopping in bulk and to stock up, he heads to Bartlesville. Brown and his wife Patricia also do their shopping at Walmart because they can get everything they need in one stop, including clothes, he said.
The Pawhuska Chamber is hoping to change the minds, and potentially the habits, of shoppers like Brown. If not with the price comparison, than with other numbers.
The Chamber estimated that if the average family spends $25 per week per person on groceries, then $2.5 million is leaving the Pawhuska economy each year, along with $75,000 in city tax revenue to out of town shopping.
“If the grocery basket comparison does not convince you, then these numbers should tell you how important your business is to your community. When you expand the numbers beyond just groceries they get even more staggering. This is the reason we started the “Love Thy Neighbor, Shop Pawhuska” Campaign,” McCartney said. “It comes down to what kind of town you want to have, every dollar you spend is a vote, and I hope everyone will vote for the success and prosperity of their own community.”
