I found it interesting how the prices varied in a local/regional grocery store today. For years Honeycrisp demanded a premium, then for the past few it’s been more on par with other varieties. Today though…
$1.29/lb
Honeycrisp
$1.99/lb
Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Macintosh, Jonagold
$2.49/lb
Gala, Fuji, Pink Lady
$2.99/lb
Granny Smith, Opal, Crimson Crisp
There were some varieties available only bagged, not by the pound. Envy for one…
Honeycrisp is still one of the more expensive apples here, although not near the price it used to command. Cosmic Crisp is average price-wise. I think that they did a terrible job rolling out that apple, lots of sub-par tasting fruit when it was initially released and I was not impressed. Now I think that they are pretty good and as they are cheaper than HC, so I buy it instead.
It may be due to how badly the seller wants to sell? At some time, the seller may have a glut and needs sell before the product goes bad.
We’re seeing $.99 HC here in western Montana, which gets most of its apples from Washington state. As @sockworth says, sellers with a glut will unload to avoid a greater loss.
Here’s an interesting article on ways retailers are trying to increase sales of apples with per person consumption at a low point.
This is interesting to people in here who live on the east coast. Especially for what orchards are growing variety wise and what the newest hot varieties will be.
.99 a lb here in michigan, locally produced for previous 2 weeks.
Kroger in Richmond Va usually have weekly sales. Gala and Fuji were .99 recently. This week its Sweetango and Pink Lady 1.49.
I think Honeycrisp are 2.49.
Food City, Kroger, etc., often play on numbers for their ads trying to seduce the shopper into their store. Of course, most all grocers play such games. ‘Loss leader’ is a possible explanation. As is this store buying up all of a large orchard’s supply and making headlines
by offering a good deal nobody can match this month.
But, if Honeycrisp has been overplanted by orchards to attempt to benefit from premium prices…then somebody is going to get disappointed and have to accept cheap prices.
(My guess is the days of higher prices for HC are disappearing.) (Except in the ‘organic’ aisle.)
I’ll take a Stayman or Jonathan from a local orchard over those shiny piles of Honeycrisp at Kroger. I have a half bushel of each in my “watermelon” refrigerator now that melon season is long over.
This remind of Envy Apple. Always wanted to try it. I did and because it’s so pricey hardly anyone is buying them. So, once I got an Envy apple, it tasted old. It have been sitting in the shelf for too long. Unless, that apple dropped in price, never going to try it again.
The only apples we typically buy from a grocery store are “new releases”. Just to try 'em out and see if the hype is warranted or not. So far nothing has won us over… Not with the (primarily) heirloom varieties just getting old enough to bear in my own home orchard… And the typical bushel or two of Stayman we buy from local specialty fruit/vegetable places.
I do occasionally look to see if there’s anything new or different, and to see where current pricing is. I had just started noticing what seemed like a price erosion for HoneyCrisp, with this being the first time it was the cheapest.
This was at a Food City by the way, they have locations in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. We also shop at Kroger fairly regularly, will compare their prices next time. Realizing of course loss leaders, “good deals”, “clearing out old inventory”, etc…
I have a similar sentiment. I recently tried a lemon aid apple and was so disappointed. No citrus, just mushy. It looked like a classic golden delicious.
Have you tried the Lucy glo yet? It was a wonderment and delight all at once. Sweet, red, tangy, and fruity berry. So much so I ordered a tree. I want more of that amazing apple in my mouth and belly.
We did find and try some “lemonaid” apples this year. Eh, just okay I suppose… Not much if any lemon taste that we could detect.
Have not to my knowledge tried Lucy Glo, will be on the look out for them!
Yup massive piles of Honeycrisps advertised as NY state grown for 1$/lb at a nearby grocery store in NYC, rarely find anything cheap there either
You pick farm here sold toutist pick at $1.50 a lb for big city slickers. Last pick Nov 5, tons of apples left on trees. Gonna see what id be charged to pick a big box of jgolds or something to put in my barn
Got an offer, $70 for a big bulk box of you picks. Which apples should I be looking for besides suncrisp, goldrush , pink lady?
Jonathon and Rome should be good options. Rome keeps good. Northern Spy?
Prairie Spy can be good (or not) and improves with storage for some months.
Local open air produce market is closing November 22nd so all apple are 99 cents a pound. I got $38 worth of Gold Rush and Evercrisp. All nice apples. Too bad I don’t like Wild Twist as they were extra nice looking.
