An egg shortage is causing stores to either raise prices or put up the “out of stock” signs.
“A lot of time, customers just think that ‘Oh, grocery stores are making all this money,'” said Food 4 Less Store Director Aaron Price. “We’re not making any money on eggs right now.”
Due to avian influenza, customers may see empty egg shelves in larger corporate stores. But for locally owned stores, the issue is pricing.
“Typically for corporate stores, they have to buy through their own warehouses and their own producers and their own facilities so they don’t have the freedom to go elsewhere as locally owned and independent stores like us,” said Price.
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Newport Avenue Market said the same.
“We have, I don’t know, upwards of a dozen different eggs that we’re offering, but mostly due to the avian flu,” said CEO Lauren Redman.
Central Oregon Daily News visited some other stores around Bend to see the prices of a dozen eggs:
- Fred Meyer: $2.39-$10.99
- Market of Choice: $3.89-$9.99
- Safeway: $1.69-$8.99 (raw eggs out of stock)
- Albertsons: $2.19-$7.49
- WinCo: $3.48-$6.96
Redman tells us the price at Newport Avenue Market is anywhere from $3 to $10.
We spoke with one man at Food 4 Less who said the price increase does not bother him.
“They are a little bit more expensive than they were before, but I love eggs so I decided to just go for it,” said Neal Osotio.
The hope for stores is that industrial farms will fix the situation fast.
“Word is that you will continue to see this for at least a little bit longer, but the eggs, at some point, when the facilities are able to catch back up on their egg production, we will catch up and cost will start coming down,” said Price.
