Consumer Council Goes Comparison Shopping Before Chagim

The Israel Consumer Council went comparison shopping among food-store chains in the run up to Rosh Hashanah and found significant differences among stores, though prices were generally lower than last year, Globes reported on Wednesday.

The biggest bargain on a basket of 55 grocery items was found at Rami Levy, where it cost 671 shekels. The same basket was 954 shekels at Tiv Taam, a whopping 30 percent difference.

The Osher Ad chain charged 684 shekels for that basket; at Yeinot Bittan it was 808, four shekels above the average; Hatzi Hinam was 815; at Shufersal Deal it was 818.

The prices were based on figures submitted to the Council by the chains on September 10, excluding online branches. Bargains were taken into account, except for club member and credit card discounts, which are obviously likely to affect the final price of the basket.

The Consumer Council Semel Patrol looked at products identified with Rosh Hashanah, such as honey, wine, gefilte fish and apples. Price differentials were quite large on some of these items. For example, a 350-milliliter jar of Yad Mordecai honey cost NIS 6.80 at Osher Ad, whereas the same item was marked at NIS 24 at Tiv Taam.