Students on the Dining Services Commission said GW’s Provisions Market grocery store offers competitive prices to local grocers.
Students pay fair and sometimes even better prices at Provisions Too than at larger supermarkets, sophomore Jared Degnan and junior Peter Bastone said.
However, some students say they feel the prices are unfair.
It’s absolutely ridiculous because they have a monopoly over everything, sophomore David Zacher said. But it doesn’t matter, because you have to spend your meal points sometime and if you don’t they get them in the end anyway.
Degnan volunteered to take a market sample and compare prices of Safeway and Provisions products.
We heard a whole lot of student input, and we thought we would try and stop all the bickering so we went down to Provisions (Market) to find out for ourselves, Degnan said.
The products were actually priced lower in Provisions Market than in Safeway, they said.
The price comparison gave Degnan a new sense of confidence in Provision Market prices, he said.
I really believe that on most items Provisions will beat Safeway, Degnan said.
But not all price comparisons put Provisions Market on top.
The price total of 20 items selected at random by The Hatchet and purchased at Provisions Market was $2 more than the total of the same 20 items purchased at Safeway, before taxes were added. Since Provisions Market does not charge tax on food purchased with meal points, the final price after tax at Safeway, exceeded that of Provisions.
While Safeway is the closest off-campus alternative, some students opt for other grocers in the area.
If I have a lot of money, I go to Fresh Fields which is up by (American University), but if I don’t, I go to Safeway, which I don’t like, said senior Lauren Lastrapes.
Bastone said students who complain about high prices are not shopping for the right items.
Perhaps its people buying more expensive items, or perhaps its just people not taking the time to think about it, Bastone said.
Other students said the grocery prices at GW do not concern them.
Prices are alright, junior Mashaal Ahmadieh. I really don’t care. I’ve got points, dude.
