Express outlets charge three times more for items than parent stores

♦ Express supermarkets charge customers up to three times more for groceries than superstores from the same chain, an investigation found.

Some fruit and vegetables have a mark-up of up to 177 per cent as smaller shops charge more for the same product. Branded items do not have consistent prices across stores from the same chain either, according to the investigation by the BBC.

The analysis found that a Tesco Express store sold a banana for 25p, while a local superstore sold it for 9p.

Similarly at Marks & Spencer, a banana cost 40p in the convenience store and 18p in the main store.

Mr Kipling’s French Fancies cost £1.95 in a Sainsbury’s convenience store, and £1.60 in its supermarket.

At Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer stores in Birmingham, and Waitrose shops in Shropshire, 45 of 50 items cost more in the convenience location, while at the Tesco Express, 39 of 50 items cost more than in the superstore.

The shops all said the markups were due to small stores facing higher costs, including higher rents and increased rates for opening longer.

Sylvia Rook, the lead officer for the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, told the BBC: “When you look at service station petrol prices on motorways ... they are normally hugely more expensive but they are open 24 hours and have higher overheads.”