NORFOLK, Va. — In the last year, certain grocery store items have substantially gone up in price. According to experts and local businesses, there are a couple of reasons why.
The bird flu is cited as a reason for the egg price jump, but there are also supply chain issues with cartons and containers.
Gordon Holley owns Westside Produce and Provisions in Norfolk. His store is 99.9% local, meaning there are many things that come in containers, like jams and honey, causing him and his customers to feel the impact of price increases.
"I had somebody who does our jams who couldn't get or find glass jars, I had the same situation on several things," said Holley.
Holley says it's a supply chain issue stemming from inflation. For him personally, prices have raised a little but not as much as other name-brand stores.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, in 2022, grocery store prices increased by more than 11% compared to last year.
After an outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza, eggs had the largest price increase at 32.2 percent, making customers flock to small businesses.
Because his supply has been low and the demand high, Holley says he's even had to put a limit on the number of egg cartons you can buy.
"I put them out there on display and I sold out in a day. There were people in here buying 4-5 dozen of eggs and it didn't last long," says Holley.
Christopher Toro, a shopper, says the money he typically would spend on groceries has doubled.
"I stopped buying a lot of our foods, I'm changing the way I'm eating. It's just too expensive. If you have to spend your whole hard-earning week to get food, what are you working for," says Toro.
Toro says some name-brand things you can opt out of but some you can't, like milk.
While expensive, Toro says for now, he and many other people have no choice but to bite the financial bullet to put food on the table.
