Trader Joe’s and King Soopers are both popular chains of grocery stores. While Trader Joe’s is spread out all over the country, King Soopers is present mainly in and around Colorado, and has a lot of its retail branches present within that state. Their prices also differ from one another, which raises the question: Is Trader Joe’s cheaper than King Soopers?
For a customer, pricing can be a big deciding factor for their purchases, especially where groceries are concerned, since they’re a necessity we cannot live without. In this regard, when comparing to King Soopers, Trader Joe’s proved to be far less expensive especially where food items were concerned.
This article dives into details of which grocery store chain is a better choice for customers by comparing prices and saving options, while also telling you useful information about how to shop for affordable groceries in a limited budget.
Comparison of Prices at Trader Joe’s and King Soopers
To find out the actual difference between their prices, here’s an overview of the price ranges of various types of products at Trader Joe’s and King Soopers, categorized by the product types.
Organic Diet
While Trader Joe’s have less variety of organic foods compared to King Soopers, Trader Joe’s has an advantage where pricing is concerned.
For a full organic diet, Trader Joe’s total cost totaled $70.67, which is far less from the whopping $80.18 that King Soopers’ organic diet products amounted to.
Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
King Soopers has proven to be cheaper in comparison to Trader Joe’s for their fruits and vegetables (not including organic produce).
They also have more variety compared to Trader Joe’s and offer a lot of grocery options. The price difference is minimal ($1-2) per fruit/vegetable but it amounts for a lot when you’re shopping in bulk.
Dairy and Eggs
The Trader Joe’s grocery chain takes the cake for being the more affordable option between King Soopers and Trader Joe’s.
However, there was some dairy that stood out, for example, white bread in particular cost more at King Soopers ($2-4) as compared to Trader Joe’s ($1-2) for the same weight. A dozen eggs at TJ’s cost around $5 while the same eggs at King Soopers cost around $8-11, a whopping difference.
Meat and Seafood
Seafood was less expensive at King Soopers while it cost a lot at TJ’s. Another important fact to mention is that TJ’s have better meal prep foods and other frozen foods as compared to King Soopers.
However, where other stores like King Soopers had a meat price of around $100, TJ’s meat cost only $84.
Factors Affecting Price Differences
Other than the obvious comparisons of price ranges, it’s important to know which factors affect these price differences across the two grocery store chains:
- Location – if the store is closer to the place of manufacture of its products, the cost will be less because of the lessened transport costs, which may be the case for TJ’s.
- Quality – most of TJ’s products are very high quality, and thus their price differs from the products at King Soopers.
- Competition – since King Soopers is based in and around Colorado, they need to keep the prices minimum according to competition from other store chains around.
- Variety – variety increases price, since the producer now has an edge in the market.
Comparison of Savings Opportunities at Trader Joe’s and King Soopers
King Soopers has weekly sales on products which allows customers to shop for groceries while saving a decent amount.
They also have digital cards and coupons that you can use for a discount on your purchases. Along with that, their membership cards allow loyal customers to avail more opportunities to save money on groceries.
Compared to this, Trader Joe’s only deals in and accepts physical gift cards in their physical stores. Additionally, because TJ’s already has a pretty low price for almost all of its products, it does not hold sales, have coupons, offer discounts or membership to its customers.
King Soopers may offer a lot of discounts to its customers because of the stores smaller range as compared to TJ’s.
King Soopers has most of its stores in one state only and to maintain that monopoly, it offers a lot of discounts. Whereas TJ’s doesn’t need to do so because of its expansive reach.
Tips for Finding Affordable Groceries
Regardless of the store, here are some tips for finding the most affordable groceries so that you don’t max out your entire budget:
- Buy perishable food in smaller quantities to avoid wastage
- Buy meats in bulks and freeze for future use
- Compare prices and shop where your savings are maximized
- Find digital coupons, sales, and deals for stores and visit them, or shop online
- Save any coupons you see
- Avoid ready-made food and portion-control packs
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Trader Joes Cheaper Than King Soopers?
Trader Joe’s is cheaper in a lot of aspects as compared to King Soopers, for example, meat and dairy, two of the most essential elements of any person shopping for their groceries.
However, for a better variety of fruits and vegetables, King Soopers is the better option.
Is Trader Joe’s Cheaper Than Regular Grocery Stores?
Trader Joe’s is well beyond cheap compared to many grocery stores out there because of its consistently low prices compared to stores like Sprouts, Walmart’s, and King Soopers.
Final Thoughts
Trader joe’s may not have the best variety compared to King Soopers, but it most definitely has the best quality of meats and organic foods that you can find. It is also far less expensive than other stores out there with lower prices for routinely staples such as breads and eggs. So TJ’s in comparison is the more affordable option.
Now that you know which store is better for shopping for which grocery item, we hope that you’ll take this new information into account the next time you’re on a grocery run and are confused where to shop from. Good luck.
