Revealed: How much more Whole Foods is REALLY costing you

• Prices at Whole Foods were, on average, much more expensive than groceries at HEB, Mariano's and Wegmans

By Ashley Collman for MailOnline

Published: 13:49 EST, 23 September 2014 | Updated: 07:52 EST, 24 September 2014

It's no secret that Whole Foods isn't the most cost-friendly of grocery stores, but a new survey shows just how much more customers pay at the natural food retailer compared to other regional supermarkets.

New York investment firm Wolfe Research recently did a study, comparing baskets of groceries at the upscale organic market to other stores across the nation and confirmed that tags at Whole Foods are through the roof. 

In one instance, Wolfe totaled 60-72 items at Whole Foods and then compared them to prices for the same exact products at Houston's HEB, a Mariano's grocery store in Chicago, and a Wegmans market in Washington, DC.

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This above graphs shows a comparison of prices at Whole Foods with regional grocery chains throughout the U.S. 

Expensive: Prices at Whole Foods in almost every case of the study were higher by a wide margin 

Prices were lowest at HEB where the final total came to about 220, much less than the more than 250 spent at Whole Foods. 

Mariano's and Wegmans groceries also rung in less than Whole Foods, by about 30-40 dollars.  

In another smaller survey, Wolfe bought between 11 and 17 organic or conventional produce items at the three regional grocery stores and compared them again to Whole Foods. 

Prices at HEB and Mariano's remained considerably lower than Whole Foods, but in this sample Wegmans ended up being the more expensive store by a small margin. 

Prices are seemingly becoming a problem for the national grocery chain, which saw only a small increase in same store sales for the last quarter. 

Bring them back: Whole Foods is reportedly instituting a loyalty rewards program and national marketing campaign to drum up more business 

Whole Foods reported a rise of 3.9 per cent, which is minimal compared to the sales increases of 8 per cent seen in the past. 

And now the chain is getting desperate to turn out more business, since their stock prices have fallen 40 per cent since late October 2013.   

'The emergence of the multi-pronged competitive attack on Whole Foods by generally lower-priced competitors suggests to us that Whole Foods’ business model faces a very real, clear and present danger,' Wolfe analysts wrote last week. 

As a response, Whole Foods will making a few changes to increase business including starting a loyalty rewards program and launching a national marketing campaign for the first time.  

Timelapse of shoppers at Whole Foods Market in New York

Prices at Texas grocery chain HEB were the lowest in each comparison, with prices lower than Whole Foods by a margin of about 30 dollars in the larger sruvey

Chicago chain Mariano's had consistently lower prices than Whole Foods in both studies as well, despite being a supermarket with similarly organic and natural products 

Wegmans, a grocery chain based in the Mid-Atlantic region, with outposts in Washington, DC, actually had higher prices than Whole Foods in one of the surveys

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