Walmart vs. Cub: Which is better? A Battle of the Midway

You may have heard that the Cub Foods and Walmart stores in St. Paul's Midway area, which face each other across a common parking lot, are engaged in a nasty corporate catfight. According to a Pioneer Press story this week, Cub's parent company, Supervalu, based in Eden Prairie, has sued Walmart over its recent expansion of its food section, claiming Walmart now has more square feet devoted to groceries than its lease allows and is selling unallowed products (such as freshly baked items and dairy foods). Walmart says "eat it"--it's operating within its lease on all counts.

All the legal tomato-throwing got us thinking: Which store really is the best for shoppers? So we decided to pit the stores in a battle of another sort. In a thoroughly unscientific and hopelessly subjective study, we compared prices at each store on a range of 15 grocery staples (milk, eggs, Cheerios, bread, hamburger, Skippy peanut butter, paper towels, etc. And Oreos--got to have Oreos). We also noted the food amenities at both. Here are the results:

Cub Foods: A sign out front advertised price cuts on 8,000 items "in every aisle," and indeed the store was plastered with little yellow tags marking reduced prices. A dozen eggs were just $1.39, a half-gallon of Tropicana orange juice was a decent $3.49. The all-important Oreos were $2.98. The store is immense, with plenty of shopping extras, including a large section of organic foods, a spacious deli and bakery, fresh soups, and a big aisle of ethnic foods.