The first clue something was changing came last month in the March food price comparison by the Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs.
“At $82.83, Dolphin's food basket was just 48 cents lower than Starfish Market's basket, which totaled out at $83.31,” the Virgin Islands Daily News reported. (Full story here.)
Something had changed. In each prior DLCA survey, Starfish was always the high-priced spread. Sometimes as much as 15%.
This month’s survey was even more surprising. The 24-item market basket at Starfish was priced at $56.91, while Dolphin came in at $60.73, seven percent higher. Not surprisingly, Pine Peace Market, at the foot of Jacob’s Ladder, was the cheapest, at $55.13, but not all that much lower than Starfish. (The St. John Source has a report about the April survey. http://www.onepaper.com/stthomasvi/?v=d&i=&s=News:Local&p=1223617412)
The survey results suggest Dolphin has raised its prices, perhaps a reasonable move given how its business has most likely been severely reduced due to construction of the roundabout and the difficulty of parking near the store.
Then another straw in the wind. On the St. John forum at Trip Advisor, StJohn Julie reported Dolphin has dropped its 10% discount for people using the recycled grocery bags it promoted last September. (See the story here.) The market's newspaper ads also used to also offer a 10% discount to locals. Skimming the past four issues of the Tradewinds, I found no Dolphin Market ads.
So ... where do you do your food shopping? Where do you find the best deals and best prices? Comment here.