Everybody likes to save money, and saving money on groceries—a household's third-largest expense—is a priority for many families, especially during uncertain economic times.
Denver7's Smart Shopper aims to help families save on grocery costs by tracking prices at four major supermarkets in the Denver metro area.
Each Wednesday, we’ll update our Smart Shopper Price Check with the latest prices of nine essential grocery items from King Soopers, Safeway, Walmart, and Target.
Here is the latest Denver7 Smart Shopper Price Check from July 30, 2025. See the results below, or view them in fullscreen here.
We saw a decrease at all stores this week, except at Target, which increased slightly.
However, overall totals have remained relatively stable over the past 13 comparisons, particularly for prices of several staple items.
Data from the typical Denver7 Smart Shopper basket of goods shows a "steady as she goes" pricing strategy at Denver's leading grocery retailers.
Walmart secured the top position again this week, with a total of $25.84 for nine items—nearly 50 cents lower than last week.
King Soopers was close behind the nation's largest retailer, with a total of $26.81, about $3 lower than last week and less than a buck more than Walmart.
Target was third, with a total of $29.81, about a dime higher than last week.
Safeway came in last place again this week with a total of $31.21—nearly $2 less than last week.
Remember to utilize digital coupons and loyalty programs for extra savings.
The items we compared are all store brands and are as follows:
- 2% milk (1 gallon)
- Loaf of wheat bread (sandwich)
- Skinless chicken breast value pack (price per pound)
- Non-tubed ground beef 80/20 (price per pound)
- Dozen eggs (large A or AA)
- Toasted oats cereal (12 ounce)
- Creamy peanut butter (16 ounce)
- Bag of baby carrots (16 ounce)
- Box of four butter sticks (16 ounce)
Target lowers prices on some store-branded items after Denver7 story
When shoppers are trying to save money, they often opt for the store-brand equivalent, which is typically much cheaper than the national brands.
But Denver7 discovered last month while conducting a Smart Shopper comparison that the savings shoppers expected weren’t always adding up at Target when choosing its up&up brand for some items.
Smart Shopper
Smart Shopper: Target seems to struggle to price some store brands competitively
For example, a 1-ounce bottle of up&up hydrocortisone anti-itch cream 1% was priced at $5.59, more than 50 cents higher than the national brand, Cortizone 10.
Another example of Target’s unusual pricing: an 8-fluid-ounce bottle of up&up Children’s Daytime Cold & Cough was priced at $11.29, which was $1 more than the 8-fluid-ounce bottle of Children’s Dimetapp.
However, the retailer appears to have discovered the supposed pricing issues and made some changes after Denver7 published the June 24 article.
During a recent visit to Target, Denver7 discovered that the four up&up products we highlighted in the article are now priced lower than the national brands they compete with.
The Target-branded anti-itch cream is now more than 50 cents lower than the Cortizone and the Dimetapp up&up equivalent is lower as well.
Denver7 reached out to the Minneapolis-based retailer for a response, but we have yet to hear back.
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