New on the Banner: compare Owen Sound grocery prices in one place

The Chatsworth Banner has a new Local Grocery Prices page that lists advertised prices from grocery stores in Owen Sound, so you can compare a basic basket before you shop.

What it covers. The page tracks a basket of everyday groceries, compared by unit price, such as per kilogram, per litre or per dozen. The first week covers 46 advertised prices for 16 items from six Owen Sound stores: No Frills, Food Basics, Foodland, FreshCo, Metro and Walmart. Every price is listed with its store, its town and the dates its weekly flyer is valid, and links to its source. The first prices come from flyers valid Oct. 29 to Nov. 4, 2026.

Cheapest and Best Value tags. A Cheapest tag marks the lowest unit price for an item at any quality. A Best Value tag marks the lowest unit price among products that score 4 or more on our quality index. Tags only compare like with like: the same flyer week, a similar size (within 25 per cent of the basket size) and a plain advertised price, with at least two stores. Member prices, multi-buy deals and coupon prices are shown but never tagged. Tags apply to a single product listing, never to a store.

A 1-to-5 quality index. Each product starts at 3. It can gain or lose a point for its Canadian grade on items that carry one, such as eggs, meat and fresh produce, and for its brand tier, and loses a point if it misses the basket description, such as medium instead of lean ground beef. The page explains how every score is set, and advertisers cannot change scores.

Ontario price trends. Each item has a 12-month chart of the Ontario average price from Statistics Canada, converted to the same unit as the store prices. An arrow shows whether the price is up (▲), down (▼) or steady (▬) over the year, with the percentage change. The chart is clearly labelled as an Ontario average, not a local price, and Statistics Canada data runs about two months behind.

Deal alerts. A deals section at the top of the page flags a price when its unit price is below the same store's last recorded price for the same product, or below the latest Statistics Canada Ontario average for that item, compared in the same unit. Each flag shows the store, town, flyer dates and the reason. Member, multi-buy and coupon prices are never flagged, and a price with no earlier record and no Ontario match is not flagged. A price is only flagged after we check it against our dated copy of the flyer, and it must be more than 2 per cent below the Ontario average. In the first week, 19 prices are flagged, all because they are below the Ontario average: 12 at No Frills, four at FreshCo and one each at Food Basics, Foodland and Metro. Store-by-store comparisons start once a second flyer week is recorded.

Free to use. The page is free, needs no account and carries no ads.

Prices are as advertised in each store's public weekly flyer for the dates shown. They may change, vary by location or sell out, so check with the store before you shop. The Banner is not affiliated with or endorsed by any retailer listed.

Spot a wrong or outdated price? Email news@chatsworthbanner.ca with the store, item and flyer dates. We check every report against our dated copy of the flyer and fix or remove the price.