For instance, if you do a price comparison, you can’t just compare Charmin Toilet Paper, Tide Detergent, and Bounty Paper Towels at various stores unless you must have that brand. Perhaps Food Lion runs these items a bit higher regularly, but runs an MVP sale on a weekly basis for less than anything Wal-Mart has. One week it might be Wisk detergent, Cottonelle Toilet Paper, and Brawny paper towels, and they might beat Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club on these items but you completely missed this comparison. If you catch Food Lion when they do run Bounty, Charmin, and Tide on sale, they might beat Wal-Mart and Sam’s by a sizable margin. Using this strategy, and not focusing on a single brand, I think you would have found different results.

That’s personally why, in my own comparisons, I believe I’m able to shop for less at Food Lion than Wal-Mart (I don’t have a Sams or Lowes). I check for weekly sales, I usually don’t have to have a certain brand, and stock up when the brand I must have goes on sale. I don’t guess there’s a short way to say what I’m trying to say. But if you shop at a store with weekly specials, like Food Lion, a valid shopping comparison might not include 10 specific brands of 10 specific items.