HOUSTON – When it comes to saving cents, would you expect to save more shopping at in-bulk stores or grocery stores? 

For the answer we went to Houston’s Coupon Contessa Nora Kapche who shopped at Costco, Sams, Target and H-E-B.

Kapche bought eight products for this shopping experiment, and she did not use any coupons or buy anything that was on sale. 

Which store won? 

Well, it was a tie between bulk stores Costco and Sam’s. But they did not win across the board. Kapche found some good prices on her items at H-E-B and Target too.

Her conclusion:  just because it’s a bulk store does not always mean it will have the absolute lowest prices on everything.

Kapche said to truly compare prices, you have to look at the price per ounce, or per roll, or per package. 

“There are certain items that you can get really good pricing on,” said Kapche. “But just because it’s at the warehouse store does not mean it’s the best price for the products.” 

She says stores should make it pretty easy to compare prices per ounce or package or roll because they are supposed to have the unit price posted next to the regular price tag.

Here’s the list of prices Kapche found:

Bulk Box of Loose Goldfish Crackers

13.59      cents ounce—SAM’S CLUB

13.60      cents ounce—COSTCO

19.37 cents ounce—HEB

19.37 cents ounce—TARGET

Bulk Double Package of Cheerios

14.41 cents ounce—COSTCO

15.57 cents ounce—SAM’S CLUB

17.44 cents ounce—TARGET

20.50 cents ounce—HEB

Bounty Giant Rolls in Bulk

$1.41 per roll—SAM’S

$1.50 per roll—TARGET

$1.50 per roll—HEB

$1.62 per roll—COSTCO

Gallon of 2% Milk

$1.99 gallon—HEB

$2.19 gallon—TARGET

$2.59 gallon—COSTCO

$2.63 gallon—SAM’S

Lays Individual Assorted Chips in Bulk

21.3 cents per package—COSTCO

22.44 cents per package—SAM’S

29.5 cents per package—HEB

31.77 cents per package—TARGET

Bulk Box of Goldfish Crackers Individual Packages

29.5 cents per package—COSTCO

33.25 cents per package —SAM’S

53.22 cents per package —HEB

58.77 cents per package —TARGET

Charmin Ultra Soft in Bulk

59.11 cents per roll—SAM’S

59.97 cents per roll—TARGET

62.44 cents per roll—HEB

65.63 cents per roll—COSTCO

Kleenex Tissues Regular Box

$0.99 per box—HEB

1.28        per box—COSTCO

1.29        per box—SAM’S

1.41 per box—TARGET