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Supermarket prices vary by up to 207 percent. Where is shopping cheapest?
Prices for the same products in Cypriot supermarkets can vary by more than 200 percent. A recent study by the Cyprus Consumers' Association found that for almost seven out of ten items analyzed, the difference between the lowest and highest price exceeded 30 percent.
However, it's impossible to honestly pinpoint a single supermarket as currently the cheapest or most expensive in all of Cyprus. The latest study, from September 12th, doesn't include a chain ranking. The last published comparison listing store names dates back to May 2026. At that time, Athienitis offered the cheapest shared basket, with Sklavenitis taking second place.
The rest of the article is below
Up to 207% price difference
The Cyprus Consumers Association has analysed the prices of all products and supermarkets listed on the state-owned e-kalathi platform on September 12.
The results show very large discrepancies.
For 81 products, the highest price was between 50 and 130 percent higher than the average price across all participating supermarkets.
According to the organization, such results do not indicate strong competition between the majority of stores on the platform.
It's worth knowing
A 207% difference doesn't mean that the entire basket in one store is more than three times more expensive. Such a large discrepancy applies to the price of a single product. The differences between the values of entire comparable baskets are much smaller.
Which supermarket is the cheapest?
The latest study doesn't name the cheapest and most expensive supermarkets, nor does it present the value of identical shopping baskets across individual chains.
The last widely reported comparison, in which the names of stores were revealed, was conducted on May 3, 2026. At that time, a basket consisting of 230 products available in the surveyed supermarkets was compared.
The available results did not reveal the name of the most expensive store. They only stated that the difference between the cheapest and most expensive participants in the entire comparison averaged about 60%.
However, the May results should not be considered the current ranking. Prices, promotions, and product availability change almost daily.
What about a basket of basic products?
The private app SmartKalathi has also created a much smaller, fixed-basket model. This model contains 11 basic items, and only stores that carry all the specified products are included in the comparison.
The basket contains, among others, milk, yogurt, margarine, flour, pasta, halloumi, coffee, laundry detergent, Cypriot olive oil, rice and eggs.
This comparison is more akin to everyday shopping than a 230-item basket. However, the publicly available website does not provide an up-to-date breakdown of its value across individual chains.
Therefore, it is not possible to reliably declare a current winner in this category either.
The cheapest store may depend on the specific product
We also checked current prices on the e-kalathi platform. For example, a 500g Mitsides Spaghetti pasta cost €0.93 in Athienitis stores and €0.95 in many Sklavenitis outlets.
This is just one article and can't be used to create a supermarket ranking. However, it does show that prices can be compared at the level of specific products.
The cheapest store for pasta may be more expensive for cheese, meat, vegetables, cleaning products, or other items your family regularly buys.
Location also matters. Athienitis operates primarily in Nicosia, so its favorable prices may not be practical for residents of Paphos, Limassol, or Agia Napa. The cost and time of travel can eat up any potential savings.
Not every product can be compared in every store
The association drew attention to another problem.
Six of the products included in the analysis were sold in only one to five stores. Four more could be found in 11–20 stores, and five in 36–40 stores.
The organization questions the sense of calling an item a consumer product if it is only available in one outlet of a specific chain.
Not all stores also carry the same selection. If a product isn't available in one chain, it's impossible to create a perfectly comparable shopping cart without removing it or replacing it with a different item.
Each of these methods can change the final order of supermarkets.
Errors were found on the platform
During the examination, irregularities were also found in the prices entered in e-kalathi.
It didn't specify exactly how many incorrect items were detected or which supermarkets were affected. However, the association concluded that the list of products available on the platform needed to be reassessed.
This is important because a single incorrect price can significantly affect the comparison result, especially when the analyzed basket contains only a few items.
E-kalathi is not an online store. It's a government-run price comparison site for selected products. It's still worth checking the final price and availability at a specific location.
The most important limitation
The ranking, based on e-kalathi, includes only products listed on the platform. It doesn't take into account the full range of stores, all private labels, or individual shopper preferences. Therefore, it's not a definitive ranking of the cheapest supermarkets in Cyprus.
Cypriot products have less variation
The study found that for products originating in Cyprus, the discrepancies between the lowest and highest prices were generally smaller.
This doesn't mean that local produce is always cheaper than imported produce. However, prices were more similar across supermarkets.
Greater differences may occur with imported products, promotions available only in one chain, and items sold by a small number of stores.
How to actually find the cheapest store?
The most reliable way is to create your own shopping cart with products you buy regularly.
A family buying milk, diapers, vegetables, and cleaning products might get a completely different result than someone choosing mainly pasta, cheese, meat, and ready meals.
In practice, it is worth:
- select 10 to 20 of your most frequently purchased products;
- compare exactly the same brands and capacities;
- include promotions and private label products;
- add travel costs and time;
- repeat the comparison after a few weeks.
A one-time ranking only shows the situation on a specific day. It does not guarantee that the same store will be the cheapest for subsequent purchases.
More practical information
We publish news about purchases, bills and everyday costs in the section Life in Cyprus.
Is Athienitis still the cheapest?
Based on the latest research, this cannot be confirmed.
Athienitis won the comparison of 230 common products conducted in May. The latest analysis, from September, primarily shows the scale of price differences, but does not provide basket values or store rankings.
The name of the most expensive supermarket could not be determined either. It was not mentioned in available publications.
The fairest conclusion is therefore:
Athienitis was the cheapest in the last published comparison of store names. Currently, there is not enough data to identify one cheapest and one most expensive retailer in all of Cyprus.
The latest results, however, reveal something equally important: Comparing prices before purchasing makes sense, as for over 69% of the items surveyed, the difference between the cheapest and most expensive offer exceeded 30%.
Sources: Cyprus Consumers Association, e-kalathi, SmartKalathi, Cyprus Mail, Philenews.
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