One week, three kinds of store

Plenty of households shop at three kinds of store without calling it a system. The warehouse club is for the big packs. The discount grocer is for the weekly basics. The local market is for the produce, and for the things the chains do not carry. Each is good at something. The skill is sending each item to the store that does it best, without spending the saving on the drive.

What each kind of store is for

• The warehouse club. Things that keep, in big packs at a lower price per ounce. Our guide to the club has the sum for whether the membership pays.
• The discount grocer. The everyday list at low shelf prices, from a narrower range. It is the store most households visit every week.
• The local market. Fresh produce, and the ingredients the chains leave out. Its prices move with the season.

Three stores in a week, on different days

The club run can be monthly. The market can be twice a week in summer. The discount grocer is the weekly one. ManyStops learns how fast your house gets through each thing, and with Plus it tells you when a trip can wait, naming the day and the item that sets it.

Letting the list choose the stores

Each item on your list is ticked for the stores that carry it. When you plan the week, ManyStops lays out up to three ways to do it. One is a big trip to the store that has the most, with whatever else it takes. One is a round of your usual stores. When your own prices say enough, a third sends each item to the store where you paid least for it. Each option shows the drive to every stop, and with Plus what it will likely cost. You choose.

The market is the hard one

A local market rarely puts its prices online. Its prices come from you, typed in the aisle, read from a shelf label with the camera, or taken from the receipt afterwards. After a few visits the numbers are your own, and the comparison with the other two stores means something.

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