Rami Levy or Yohananoff: Which chain is cheapest for top-up shopping?

Mid-week is the time when many families complete their home shopping for dairy products, vegetables, fruits, bread, pasta, and dry goods that have run out since the big weekend shopping trip. To check where it is most profitable to make these additional purchases, we conducted a price comparison today (Tuesday) using the Pricez website between the leading retail chains.

The check shows that the cheapest basket is found at the Rami Levy chain, where the cost of the shopping basket stood at 810.50 shekels. Conversely, the most expensive basket was found at the Universe chain, where consumers paid 936.46 shekels. This is a gap of 125.96 shekels, which is about 15.5% for the exact same basket of products — an amount that can accumulate to hundreds and even thousands of shekels a year for a family that shops regularly.

As a reminder, in our previous check comparing physical food chains and smaller stores, we found significant gaps of tens of percent between them.

Significant price gaps were also found at the level of individual products. For example, Osem shell pasta (500 grams) was sold at Rami Levy and Yohananoff for 4.90 shekels, while at Mahsanei HaShuk its price stood at 6.90 shekels — a gap of 2 shekels, or about 41%.

Another gap was found in a basic product found in almost every home: 100% light whole wheat sliced bread with added rye from the Angel bakery (750 grams). At Rami Levy and Universe, it was sold for 12.90 shekels, while at Mahsanei HaShuk its price reached 16.50 shekels, a gap of 3.60 shekels, which is almost 28%.

The conclusion for consumers is clear: even when it comes to mid-week top-up shopping and not the big monthly shop, comparing prices can save significant amounts. Beyond choosing the chain, it is worth following promotions and comparing prices on products that are in almost every shopping basket, as it is precisely on these that the largest gaps are sometimes recorded.