There’s a new leader in Charlotte for lowest grocery store prices. See our list
Food prices have been top of mind following a year of up and down tariffs and people losing SNAP benefits during the government shutdown amid growing economic concerns. In Charlotte, grocery shoppers have hundreds of stores to choose from to find budget-friendly prices.
So for the fifth straight year, The Charlotte Observer checked 11 staples at 11 stores to find the lowest and highest priced for our grocery comparison of popular items.
Among the highlights:
- Lidl had the lowest overall grocery prices in Charlotte while Fresh Market cost the most.
- There’s a sizable gap between the stores with the cheapest and most expensive groceries — $41.42. In fact, your grocery bill would more than double, and go up by 150%, if you shopped for our items at Fresh Market over Lidl.
- We found the lowest receipt for our cart cost 3.4% more last month compared to December 2024.
Competition remains fierce in the Charlotte region to grab a piece of the lucrative grocery market share. Supermarket record sales of $10.4 billion in 2024, a 2% increase from $10.2 billion in 2023, according to an annual report by Chain Store Guide.
Consumers continue to pay close attention to these kinds of price changes.
The latest Consumer Price Index data show food prices rose 2.6% nationally over the past year.
And over the last 12 months, the meats, poultry, fish, and eggs index rose 4.7%, according to the latest index report.
How we compared grocery prices
We price-checked these stores: Aldi, Lidl, Walmart, Target, Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Trader Joe’s, Publix, Whole Foods Market, Fresh Market and Sprouts. All price checks were searched online except Trader Joe’s.
This year, we replaced Asheville-based specialty grocer Earth Fare, which closed its Concord and Charlotte stores last year, with Sprouts, which debuted its third local store in NoDa last year. Earth Fare still has two stores in the Charlotte region in Fort Mill and Rock Hill.
We checked the items on Dec. 8, 18 and 30, 2025, the same month as in 2024.
And we chose the least expensive option at each store, whether in-house or brand name. Regular prices were used, not sales or loyalty discount prices. Some grocers may have higher prices online than in stores.
Our cart included five basic meatloaf ingredients, plus six other items, which the Observer also checked in 2024.
We broke down the cost per ounce for items like cornflakes and ketchup because available sizes varied between stores. The cost per ounce was calculated to 20 ounces of ketchup and 18 ounces of cornflakes. If a product like a gallon milk was not available in skim, we substituted for the gallon available.
The lowest grocery price winners in Charlotte
A new low-price leader emerged this year.
Lidl beat out Aldi and Walmart by 44 cents and 60 cents, respectively. It’s the second time Lidl topped the list since our annual comparison began. The last time was in 2022.
Lidl uses its international capacity to buy products cheaply and keep expenses low so it can continually lower prices for customers, the company told The Charlotte Observer.
The total cost of our 11-item bag was $27.65 at Lidl, followed by Aldi at $28.09 and Walmart at $28.25. Of the traditional grocers, Food Lion had the lowest price at $32.47.
Next were Target’s cart at $33.86, Matthews-based Harris Teeter at $38.84, Trader Joe’s at $40.16, Florida-based Publix at $43.73 and Whole Foods at $44.37.
Greensboro-based The Fresh Market had the most expensive cart at $69.07, which was $7.21 more expensive than Phoenix-based specialty grocer Sprouts’ cart total of $61.86.
The Fresh Market’s products use premium ingredients, Regional Director of Operations Lee Winburn told the Observer. Stores also offer promotions and deals, for example fresh chuck is ground in-store daily and priced competitively.
“We are deeply committed to quality,” Winburn said.
Last year, Walmart beat both discount German grocers Aldi and Lidl in our survey. Aldi reined at the top of the list in 2020, 2021 and 2023.
Lidl opened its first Charlotte store in December 2019 at 9318 Monroe Road. The discount German grocer also has stores in Rock Hill, Indian Trail and Concord.
Expert weighs in on grocery pricing and what’s ahead
Supermarket analyst Phil Lempert isn’t surprised Lidl recaptured the lowest-price cart. “Lidl is getting more aggressive competing with Aldi,” the grocery guru said.
While Lidl and Aldi strive for efficiency to drive prices down, traditional grocers like Publix and specialty stores pride themselves on service. “They pay higher wages and have higher operating costs,” Lempert said. Stores like Sprouts and The Fresh Market aren’t competing to be the lowest priced, he said. “A lot of their products are organic and higher priced than traditional grocers,” Lempert said.
Lempert also wasn’t surprised that grocery prices on the majority of items increased overall.
“Since the pandemic, prices are up about 26%, and we’re going to continue seeing that in 2026,” he said. “The reality is because of climate change, labor shortages, higher wages, packaging, tariffs, all of that means prices are going to be higher.”
He expects prices will continue to rise 6% to 10% this year, not including the tariffs. “A lot of importers are concerned about selling to the U.S.,” Lempert said. “They can’t plan production on the whims of an administration and are finding other outlets.”
The weather is a major factor leading to price increases for the top two increases in our cart.
The doubling of banana prices is due to a disease that is driving the Cavendish, the world’s most popular banana, toward near extinction, Lempert said.
Ground beef price spike is blamed on several factors, most prevalent weather and drought.
“The cattle shortage is because of climate change,” Lempert said. “It takes two years to replenish cattle herd. So we’ll continue to see high prices for another year or so.”
Other factors are driving up beef prices, too, including feed costs because of tariffs coming from Canada and labor shortages with immigrant raids on ranches.
“Prices aren’t going to come down until we can control climate change, and ICE stops deporting people,” Lempert said. “
Cheapest Charlotte grocer for staples, making meatloaf
Here’s which stores had the lowest price for our meatloaf recipe and most popular staples:
▪ Comparing meatloaf-only ingredients of a dozen large eggs, a gallon of skim milk, a loaf of white bread, ketchup at 20 ounces and 1 pound of 80% lean ground beef, Aldi was cheapest at $12.44, followed by Lidl at $13.15 and Walmart at $14.12. That’s a decrease in the cost from 2024 of $12.73 at Lidl, followed by $13.30 at Walmart and $13.45 at Aldi.
▪ For the three staples — Walmart was cheapest for eggs at $1.97, Lidl had the best bread price at $1.29 and Lidl and Walmart tied for the lowest milk price at $2.57.
More 2025 to 2024 Charlotte grocery comparisons
Overall, most items in our shopping cart cost more than in 2024. Foods with the biggest price jumps comparing the lowest priced items each year were:
- Bananas doubled in price from 24 cents a pound to 49 cents at Aldi, which was still the lowest priced.
- A pound of ground beef, 80% lean or similar, spiked by $1.28, or 35% for the lowest price pound in 2025 — $4.99 at Aldi. The average total for ground beef at all stores combined last year was $6.83 compared to $6.05 in 2024.
- The cheapest white bread costs 30 cents more, or 30%, at Lidl in 2025 compared to 2024.
- Corn flakes rose from the lowest price in 2024 of $1.68 at Walmart to $1.99 at Lidl, nearly 19%.
- A gallon of milk increased by 38 cents, or 17%, for the lowest price last year at Lidl and Walmart compared to 2024 for a gallon.
- Ice cream prices rose to $2.97 at Walmart compared to $2.79 at Aldi in 2024, a 6.5% increase.
Three items could be picked up for about the same price — ketchup, spaghetti and romaine lettuce.
Only two items cost less in December compared to December 2024:
- The cost for shredded mozzarella cheese ranged from $3.58 at Walmart to $9.98 at Sprouts. Still, the lowest price was down from $4.05 in 2024. That’s an 11% decrease.
- The cheapest carton of eggs was just 2 cents less than compared to 2024. Still, it’s a relief for a staple that has seen prices spike blamed on bird flu. Last February, U.S. egg prices have reached an all-time high of $7.99.
The price differences in your Charlotte grocery carts
From our survey, here are some of the more significant grocery price differences in our carts:
▪ One gallon of skim milk: $2.57 at Lidl and Walmart, compared to $9.99 at Fresh Market.
▪ A dozen large eggs: $1.97 at Walmart, compared to $4.49 at Trader Joe’s.
▪ A loaf of white bread: $1.29 at Lidl, compared to $4.49 at Sprouts.
▪ Ketchup: 97 cents at Lidl and $3.49 at The Fresh Market and Sprouts.
▪ 1 lb. ground beef 80% lean: $4.99 at Aldi, compared to $8.49 at Sprouts.
▪ Romaine lettuce hearts, three-count bag: $2.99 at Trader Joe’s, versus $5.53 at Publix.
▪ Vanilla ice cream: $2.97 at Walmart, compared to $8.99 at The Fresh Market.
▪ Cornflakes 18 ounces: $1.99 at Lidl, compared to $14.98 at The Fresh Market.
▪ Shredded mozzarella cheese cost $3.58 at Walmart for a 16-ounce bag, compared to $9.98 at Sprouts.
Our comparison totals of Charlotte stores
Here were our grocery cart totals:
Lidl: $27.65
Aldi: $28.09
Walmart: $28.25
Food Lion: $32.47
Target: $33.86
Harris Teeter: $38.84
Trader Joe’s: $40.16
Publix: $43.37
Whole Foods: $44.37
Sprouts: $61.86
Fresh Market: $69.07
NC Reality Check reflects the Charlotte Observer’s commitment to holding those in power to account, shining a light on public issues that affect our local readers and illuminating the stories that set the Charlotte area and North Carolina apart. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email realitycheck@charlotteobserver.com
This story was originally published January 13, 2026 at 5:30 AM.
