Food shopping: Amazon cuts some prices at Whole Foods, Costco members yawn

At Whole Foods Market in Paramus on Tuesday, shoppers saw price cuts on bananas, above, and Organic Marinara Sauce, below, shown on signs that attributed the lower prices to Amazon, the natural-food chain's new owner.

The price-cut signs say, "Whole Foods Market + Amazon."

Amazon Prime members

 may be getting special deals

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

I've never believed competitors' propaganda that you'll blow a "whole paycheck" shopping at Whole Foods Market.

I spend most of my food dollars at Costco Wholesale (I joined in 1996 at the Hackensack warehouse), and also go to ShopRite, Korean supermarkets and Trader Joe's.

But I've always relied on Whole Foods for great prices on salsas, organic whole-wheat pasta, marinara and other products sold under its budget 365 Everyday Value line.

The Paramus store in the Bergen Town Center shopping mall also boasts the best fresh and previously frozen seafood counter in all of North Jersey, including fresh fish from Jersey shore fleets.

And in the past few years, I've gone to Whole Foods for wild-caught Gulf Shrimp after I stopped buying Costco's low-quality Black Tiger Shrimp, farm raised in Vietnam. 

The Whole Foods fish-counter employees will devein the shrimp, a service you can't find at other supermarkets.

And the Paramus store also has a nice selection of wines under $10, like the bottle of Carta Vieja Carmenere from Chile I picked up on Tuesday for $5.99.

I've also downloaded the Whole Foods Market App to my smartphone to alert me of weekly sales and coupons.

For dinner on Tuesday, I oven baked 2 pounds of wild-caught Gulf Shrimp from Whole Foods Market in Paramus with organic kale, fresh tomatoes, pitted black olives, capers, grated cheese, fresh lemon juice and extra-virgin olive oil -- finding most of the other ingredients at Costco or ShopRite. After assembling the ingredients on parchment paper in a large pan and placing the pan in a preheated 400-degree oven, the shrimp were ready in 15 minute.

Whole Foods + Amazon

When I first heard the news of the Amazon-Whole Foods Market merger, I shrugged, and this week's announcement of price cuts on bananas, organic marinara sauce and other items elicited a big yawn.

I didn't scour the Paramus store on Tuesday, but the lower prices I saw on conventional and organic bananas still didn't beat the Costco Wholesale in Teterboro or the Costco Business Center in Hackensack.

Looking at a list of Whole Foods price cuts reported by Bloomberg.com, I remain unimpressed:

For example, "responsibly farmed" Atlantic Salmon Fillet is being cut to $9.99 a pound from $13.99, but I can buy fresh wild Sockeye Salmon at Costco for the same price ($9.99 a pound).

And Organic Large Brown Eggs At Whole Foods were cut to $3.99 a dozen, but Costco sells 2 dozen for only $5.99.

"Together, we'll pursue the vision of making high-quality, natural and organic food affordable for everyone," Amazon and Whole Foods pledged.

You'll find a much longer list of Whole Foods price cuts here.

Most of all, I'd like to see lower prices for fresh, wild-caught seafood at Whole Foods.

At Costco Wholesale in the Teterboro Landing Shopping Center off of Route 46 in Teterboro, fresh Wild Sockeye Salmon Fillets were selling for $9.99 a pound on Tuesday, above. Troll-caught fresh Wild King Salmon was $14.99 a pound, below. At Whole Foods, fresh wild Coho Salmon was $19.99 a pound on Tuesday.

Amazon Prime discounts?

When I was buying wild shrimp at the Paramus Whole Foods on Tuesday, I overheard an employee telling another customer Amazon Prime members may be getting special discounts in the store, but that won't happen for a couple of months.

I usually buy wild Gulf Shrimp when I see a sale or coupon on the Whole Foods App.

But on Tuesday, I paid full price, $19.99 a pound, knowing my Hyatt Credit Card offered a $20 statement credit, if I used the card to purchase $50 or more at the Paramus store (through Sept. 25).

A bottle of Chilean wine ($5.99) and 1-pound boxes of Organic Whole Wheat Shells and Fusilli ($1.49 each) brought my total to $50.46.