The survey, which was carried out on behalf of the owners of Luton Indoor Market,  Town and Country Markets Ltd,  compared the price for a basket of Christmas day essentials from a number of traditional markets, against the big three supermarkets: Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Asda.

It has shown that, when comparing the average cost of a basket containing items such as turkey, mince pies, vegetables, stuffing, cranberry sauce and the ubiquitous Christmas pudding - traditional markets were nearly nine percent cheaper.

Malcolm Ball of Town and Country Markets, commented: “Traditional markets have a reputation for offering a price advantage when compared to the high street, but we’ve been surprised at just how much the difference is at this time of year, especially as the supermarkets have been fighting it out.”

“We have carried out similar surveys at other times of the year and this has shown that consumers can get a better deal at their local market all year round.

“Our managers have reported increased footfall at our sites and this would indicate the continued migration of shoppers back to a more traditional method of shopping, something that our parents and grandparents would have done before the rise of out-of-town superstores.”

Ball went on to speculate that the time could be right for a renaissance in market shopping. “People are becoming evermore interested in saving money and if this can be done right on their doorstep by buying fresher food that has probably travelled fewer ‘food miles’ and have less packaging than supermarket alternatives, then we expect that the growth trend will continue.”

Survey Methodology

The basket contained:

• Bisto Favourite Gravy Granules (300g)
• Brussel Sprouts (300g)
• Carrots (1kg)
• Christmas Pudding (mini)
• Colman’s Bread Sauce (40g)
• Cranberry Sauce (200g)
• Elmlea Single Cream (284ml)
• Maris Piper Potatoes (2.5kg)
• Mince Pies (6)
• Parsnips (500g)
• Paxo Sage and Onion Stuffing (85g)
• Pork Chipolata (375g)
• Turkey Crown (2.5kg

The average price from the three supermarkets was £26.37

(prices collected from www.mysupermarket.co.uk on 15/12/09).

The average price from 13 market sites was £24.01
(prices collected by market visits between 8/12/09 and 15/12/09).

This represented a saving of £2.36 which equates to 8.96%

Note that if an item was not on sale at a market, an average cost from other sites was used.

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