HUNGRY?

This article was published in the July 25, 2026 issue.

If your grocery bill has crept up recently, you’re not imagining it.

Grocery prices are up 2.7% over the past year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with another 0.2% increase in June.

In Mammoth, where residents have two full-service grocery options, those rising prices have seemingly shaped where people shop and what they buy.

But that grocery landscape may soon change. Rumors have circulated among business owners that Trader Joe’s could fill the former Rite-Aid location, adding a new option for shoppers in a community that has long had limited grocery competition. The retailer has not confirmed plans to open a Mammoth location — but more on that later.

For now, inflation has created an unexpected opportunity for one local retailer.

Mammoth Lakes Grocery Outlet store manager Robert Puig and his wife are in their fourth year operating the store.

When asked how inflation has affected business, Puig’s answer was immediate:

“It actually benefits Grocery Outlet.”

As shoppers look for ways to stretch their budgets, Puig said Grocery Outlet has seen increased demand locally.

“We’ve been seeing a healthier order guide,” he said.

Grocery Outlet’s business model relies on buying excess inventory from manufacturers. When national brands produce more product than traditional supermarkets can sell, those manufacturers turn to discount retailers to move it.

“The manufacturers are still producing, so we’re their shot to capitalize on items that they’re trying to clean their warehouse of.”

Because Grocery Outlet buys products in bulk at discounted prices, it can pass those savings along to shoppers, which is a strategy that has become increasingly attractive as food prices rise.

The company operates more than 500 independently operated stores nationwide and reported $1.17 billion in net sales during the first quarter of fiscal 2026. 

While sales increased 3.6% compared with the previous year, comparable-store sales declined 1%, driven partly by a decrease in average transaction size.

Puig said Mammoth’s store has seen stronger demand locally. As one of Grocery Outlet’s busier locations, he said it receives a larger share of inventory than some other stores.

“We’re getting a lot more Nabisco, Kraft, the big brands,” he said. “Before, we were getting a little of it. Now we’re getting a lot of it. Modules. Pallet modules, which we could never get before.”

The trend started just before summer. When I spoke with Puig for a story last summer, his inventory was sitting at just under seven figures. At the time of our interview Wednesday, there was $1.3 million worth of inventory sitting on the shelves.

That figure is unusually high for a Grocery Outlet location, about three times the average store, Puig said.

Plastered on the door inside his office were charts showing sales milestones, with handwritten celebrations of beating previous years’ numbers.

Despite the larger shipments, Puig said transportation costs have not erased the savings. Grocery Outlet uses freight contracts with capped rates, meaning the cost of transport stays the same regardless of how full the truck is.

One place this really shows is the beef section.

Nationally, beef prices have surged as the U.S. cattle herd has fallen to its lowest level in roughly 75 years after years of drought, high feed costs and herd reductions by ranchers. Because rebuilding cattle supplies takes years, prices have remained elevated even as demand continues.

The average price of 100% ground beef reached $6.83 per pound in June, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Locally, Puig said those higher prices are pushing some customers toward Grocery Outlet.

“[Customers] are buying more beef because the competition is higher [priced] than we are still,” he said.

This week at Mammoth Lakes Vons, the most expensive ground beef, organic grass-fed, was priced at $11.99 per pound before tax, while the least expensive option, 73% lean ground beef sold in a three-pound bulk package, was $6 per pound.

At Grocery Outlet, the most expensive ground beef was $7.99 per pound for 93% lean grass-fed beef, while organic beef was $6.99 per pound. The budget option, 73% lean ground beef in a three-pound package, was $5.33 per pound.

Puig knows the current inflationary advantage may not last forever. If manufacturers adjust production to match demand, the excess inventory that benefits Grocery Outlet could shrink.

“I don’t know if the companies producing are going to start producing less months from now because they adjusted,” he said. “But right now they’re still pushing it.”

For now, he said, “I just hope they keep messing up and we keep taking advantage of it.”

 

For now, Grocery Outlet is benefiting from a moment when shoppers are looking for value. But another change may soon reshape how Mammoth residents shop for groceries.

Puig said he expects a Trader Joe’s to open across the street from his store, which may create some short-term challenges for him as shoppers gravitate there.

“The first month’s gonna be hell because they’ve got great pricing,” he said. “It’s new, right? Anything new in town, everybody’s excited about.”

Still, Puig does not necessarily see a neighboring Trader Joe’s as a long-term threat. 

If introduced, he thinks the increased activity around the store could bring more customers to the area and potentially benefit nearby businesses, including Grocery Outlet.

Puig said some Mammoth residents currently travel to Reno or Gardnerville to shop at Trader Joe’s. With a local store, he expects some of those shopping trips could stay in town.

“I’m hoping to take advantage of everybody coming because they’re excited about it,” he said. “Because right now we’re piggybacking off of Vons.”

However, the Trader Joe’s location has not yet been confirmed by the retailer or town officials.

The property owner, Gary Zentmyer, said, “we do have a new tenant going into the former Rite-Aid space, but I am contractually obligated not to disclose the tenant’s identity until the tenant chooses to make an announcement.”