Hastings shoppers pay top dollar

Hastings' New World supermarket is the country's most expensive.

Results from a Consumer NZ survey released yesterday showed the store topped the nation in a price comparison conducted in October.

The survey, where shoppers bought the same 40 top-selling products in 20 stores across New Zealand, showed a $28 difference between the Hastings supermarket and the country's cheapest: Pak'n Save in the Christchurch suburb of Northlands.

The 40 products in Hastings' New World totalled $152, compared with Northlands' Pak'n Save at $124.

Items included food and drink, personal care and cleaning products. Beer and wine were excluded. Consumer NZ said the survey didn't include fresh meat, fish or produce because, for a fair comparison, they'd need to consider quality.

Despite both Pak'n Save and New World being owned by the same parent company, Foodstuffs, Pak'n Save boasted a clean sweep as the cheapest across all seven centres surveyed.

In a statement released yesterday, Foodstuffs disputed the veracity of the survey and said prices varied daily. "Prices change, so on a different day in another week the result at Hastings New World may have been different."

A store manager refused to comment last night. Brian Lucas, Hastings' New World owner, did not return calls.