Paying the price

Shopping at Somerfield supermarket in Wick can leave a serious dent in your purse as one shopper discovered on a recent shopping trip.

Nathan Lock lives in Wick and like many of his neighbours, has no choice over where he shops as he doesn t drive.

Issues arising over price differences are usually the domain of rival supermarket chains but in this case it is different branches of the same supermarket causing problems for shoppers.

While Littlehampton and Rustington Somerfield store prices are no different to one another, prices at the Wick store are significantly higher.

"I was shocked when I discovered the Wick branch were charging more, I couldn t believe it," said Nathan.

The Gazette checked prices on a range of goods last week at all three stores and found nearly every item checked was higher in price at the Wick store.

In the survey, it was discovered that a shopping basket of 14 staple items would be more than six per cent dearer if purchased at the Wick store compared to Littlehampton or Rustington.

Coming in as the worst deal was the Basics orange juice which retails at 42p in both Littlehampton and Rustington but will cost you a staggering 55p in Wick.

See what difference where you shop makes by reading the Gazette, October 11.