Stop & Shop boss reveals why prices are soaring

The president of Stop & Shop said the popular retailer's prices are at an all-time high at stores in Massachusetts because of a surge in retail theft. Roger Wheeler revealed the issue in a letter to members of the Massachusetts delegation after they inquired about the store's high prices in urban locations.

Earlier this month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Ed Markey, and Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Jim McGovern penned a letter to Wheeler directly, asking him for 'answers as to why prices appear to be higher for groceries in low-income communities.' Wheeler, who became president of the Northeast grocery chain in 2024, debunked their claims, stating: 'Stop & Shop does not under any circumstances take a neighborhood’s demographics into consideration when setting prices.

'The specific process for setting prices is highly confidential and competitively sensitive for any major retail business.' In regard to the soaring prices, the president called on 'legislators to act swiftly by advancing legislation' to help stop retail theft.

'Retail theft is a major concern for retailers like us, and we need legislators to act swiftly by advancing legislation … to help protect our customers and associates,' he said in the letter sent on Wednesday. 'Our business’s ability to continue to invest in our stores, our customers, and our communities relies on Congressional action to stop organized retail crime.'

Wheeler (pictured) mentioned the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act, a legislation that was reintroduced last month that would more to 'crack down on flash mob robberies and intricate retail theft schemes.' The proposed legislation, which was brought back into play by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, would establish a supply chain and organized retail crime coordination hub within the Department of Homeland Security, the Boston Herald reported.

It would also include 'expertise from state and local law enforcement agencies, as well as retail industry representatives,' while simultaneously implementing 'new tools to assist in federal investigation and prosecution of organized retail crime, and help recapture lost goods and proceeds.' Wheeler clarified that Stop & Shop followed the 'common practice' in the industry where prices vary based on location.

He specified that the size of the store, rent prices and how much it costs to transport goods to the location and 'shrink', including losses brought on by theft, all contribute to prices. According to the outlet, Boston youth volunteers with the Hyde Square Task Force uncovered that the Jamaica Plain Stop & Shop charged 18 percent more on 17 identical items than its Dedham location, a suburban area.

In response, the grocer lowered prices in Jamaica Plain, but higher prices are still being recorded at 'inner-city locations,' Warren said. 'It's no coincidence that working-class communities are getting stuck with sky-high prices.' With that, he has vowed that 'by year-end 2025, prices will be lowered at all Stop & Shop locations in the Commonwealth.'

There are more than 60 locations across the state and around 365 across the Northeast, including New York and New Jersey. Last summer, the store announced that 32 'underperforming' locations will close by the end of the year. 10 stores in New Jersey, eight stores in Massachusetts, seven in New York, five in Connecticut and two in Rhode Island closed their doors.

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