Kate emailed in the following tip:
Recently, I shopped at several different national chain store locations outside my usual neighborhood locations and I was surprised to find how much price variation there was among nearby locations of the same national chain stores.
For instance, my neighborhood Giant sells 6-ounce jars of Gerber Stage 3 baby food for $0.68 each. Two other Giant stores within 5 miles price these at $0.78 and $0.82, respectively.
Likewise, my neighborhood CVS sells the women’s Venus Olay razor for $11.79; another local CVS stocks them for $12.59.
While it would not be cost-effective (due to the price of gas) or time-effective to re-route to the store location with the lowest price on every item, this discovery has prompted me to look a little more closely at price differences between branches of national chain stores.
After comparing a few other items at these stores, and finding that a couple of the alternate locations price nearly every item higher than my neighborhood location, I have vowed to avoid shopping at these locations when at all possible. -Kate
But I’m at least going to try. By the way, you can 
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