Target price increases – coincidence or bad shopping?

I was at the local Target last Friday afternoon with a list of things I needed to pick up for the weekend. While I was shopping, I noticed there were a lot of new price tags overlapping older price tags on the shelves.

Out of curiosity, for every item I purchased, I took a moment to peel off the newer price tag to see what the original price was underneath.

I was hoping for some good news. What I got was nothing but bad.

First up was a trip down the pet isle. I needed indoor pads for our semi-outdoor dog. The price for one set of pads went up from $6.99 to $7.99.


DOG PADS A


DOG PADS B


Next up was some cat food for my two feral yardkeepers. That went up from $4.49 to $5.19.


CAT FOOD A

CAT FOOD B


A trip down the kids section of the medical isle was next. (I was putting together a little kit for my Godchild and niece since they’re both officially at the ouchie-boo-boo stage of home exploration.)

Neosporin was the first item I wanted to get. That went from $7.04 to $7.99.

NEOSPORIN A


NEOSPORIN B


I bought a little Hello Kitty first aid kit for my niece even though it had gone up from $9.99 to $10.49.



HELLO BANDAID A


HELLO BANDAID B


Finally, for my Godchild, an official plastic doctor-bag. That had jumped from $12.99 to $13.69.



MEDIBAG A



MEDIBAG B


Finally, I made a quick run to the food isle for some creamer and cheese. (What can I say? It was an eclectic Friday kind of shopping list.)

Coffee creamer? Went from $2.69 to $2.89.



COFFEE CREAMER A


COFFEE CREAMER B


Cheese? $2.99 to $3.24.



CHEESE A



CHEESE B


What really bothered me about this was that everything I went in to buy had been marked up. A close second was that I spent $4.30 more than I would have if I got these same items the week before.

Maybe this trip was nothing but coincidence, but if every shopping run is going to have price increases, $4 (or more) a run is going to add up real quick.