Our everyday grocery price comparison found only a few dollars between the Roaring Fork Valley’s grocery stores. Go organic and the spread gets a lot wider. We priced the same 10 organic, meat-free staples at seven stores from Snowmass Village to Glenwood Springs on October 26, 2026, and added each town’s grocery sales tax. The cheapest basket came in at $38.69 and the most expensive at $60.62.
The results
| Store | Shelf price | Grocery tax | Total | Index |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clark’s Market, Snowmass Village | $56.60 | 7.1% | $60.62 | 133.2 |
| Clark’s Market, Aspen | $55.80 | 6.3% | $59.32 | 130.3 |
| Whole Foods, Basalt | $40.90 | 3.0% | $42.13 | 92.6 |
| City Market, Aspen | $37.46 | 6.3% | $39.82 | 87.5 |
| City Market, Glenwood Springs | $37.56 | 4.2% | $39.14 | 86.0 |
| City Market, Carbondale | $37.56 | 3.5% | $38.87 | 85.4 |
| City Market, El Jebel | $37.56 | 3.0% | $38.69 | 85.0 |
- City Market wins on organic, even in Aspen. Its Simple Truth Organic line is priced to compete: organic tofu was $1.99 and organic black beans $1.25. City Market Aspen’s basket beat Whole Foods’ even after Aspen’s 6.3% grocery tax.
- Whole Foods sits in the middle. Its 365 Organic house brand is close to City Market’s on most items, with eggs and bread a little higher.
- Clark’s is about $20 more. Both Clark’s stores came in near $60 after tax, roughly 50% more than City Market. Clark’s carries its own Full Circle organic brand for milk, eggs and beans, but for butter, tofu, spinach and rice we had to price national brands.
- One identical product shows the pure markup. A loaf of Dave’s Killer Bread 21 Whole Grains and Seeds was $6.79 at City Market, $7.29 at Whole Foods and $7.69 at Clark’s.
Where Clark’s extra $18 comes from
Comparing the two Aspen stores side by side, the gap before tax is $18.34, and three items account for more than half of it: organic butter ($10.99 for Organic Valley at Clark’s vs. $6.49 for Simple Truth Organic at City Market), organic brown rice ($7.59 vs. $3.99) and organic tofu ($4.59 vs. $1.99).
If you shop at Clark’s for its convenience, location or selection, swapping in its Full Circle items wherever it carries them and picking up butter, rice and tofu elsewhere would close much of the gap.
Item by item
| Organic item | City Market Aspen | City Market down valley* | Whole Foods Basalt | Clark’s Aspen | Clark’s Snowmass |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole milk, ½ gal | $4.19 | $4.19 | $4.49 | $6.39 | $6.79 |
| Large brown eggs, 12 ct | $4.99 | $4.99 | $5.99 | $6.79 | $6.79 |
| Bananas, per lb | $0.89 | $0.79 | $0.89 | $1.29 | $1.29 |
| Baby spinach, 5 oz | $3.69 | $3.69 | $3.19 | $4.49 | $4.49 |
| Carrots, 2 lb | $3.19 | $3.19 | $3.29 | $3.99 | $4.39 |
| Firm tofu, 14 oz | $1.99 | $1.99 | $2.39 | $4.59 | $4.59 |
| Black beans, 15 oz | $1.25 | $1.25 | $1.69 | $1.99 | $1.99 |
| Dave’s Killer Bread 21 Whole Grains, 27 oz | $6.79 | $6.79 | $7.29 | $7.69 | $7.69 |
| Long-grain brown rice, 2 lb | $3.99 | $4.19 | $4.99 | $7.59 | $7.59 |
| Salted butter, 1 lb | $6.49 | $6.49 | $6.69 | $10.99 | $10.99 |
Grocery tax still matters
Colorado doesn’t tax groceries, but local governments can, and organic groceries are taxed the same as conventional ones. Snowmass Village has the valley’s highest grocery tax at 7.1% (Pitkin County plus the town), followed by Aspen at 6.3%. Glenwood Springs charges 4.2%, Carbondale 3.5% and Basalt 3%, which includes both Whole Foods in Willits and the City Market in El Jebel, inside Basalt town limits. On a $56 Clark’s basket, Snowmass Village’s tax alone adds about $4.
How we did it
- The basket: all certified organic: a half gallon of whole milk, a dozen large brown eggs, a pound of bananas, a 5-oz package of baby spinach, a 2-lb bag of carrots, a 14-oz block of firm tofu, a 15-oz can of black beans, a 27-oz loaf of Dave’s Killer Bread 21 Whole Grains and Seeds, 2 lb of long-grain brown rice and a pound of salted butter. Tofu and beans stand in for meat.
- Like for like: each store’s organic house brand where it has one (Simple Truth Organic at City Market, 365 Organic at Whole Foods, Full Circle at Clark’s), otherwise the lowest-priced organic option in the same size. A few notes: City Market listed only its low-sodium organic black beans; Whole Foods doesn’t state its organic carrot bag size, so we assumed 2 lb; and Clark’s Snowmass didn’t list Full Circle milk, so we priced Horizon Organic there.
- Prices: regular store-specific prices from each chain’s own website on October 26, 2026. Clark’s notes that its online prices can differ from the shelf.
- Taxes: every local tax layer at each store’s address, from the Colorado Department of Revenue’s 2026 rate table and town tax pages. Glenwood Springs and Snowmass Village collect their own taxes and don’t publish whether groceries are included; we treated both as taxing groceries.
- Not included: Roxy’s Market, which doesn’t post prices online, and Aspen’s food-tax refund and Snowmass Village’s resident rebate.
Sources: City Market, Whole Foods Market and Clark’s Market store websites; Colorado Department of Revenue, DR 1002 Colorado Sales/Use Tax Rates (2026); City of Aspen, Town of Snowmass Village and City of Glenwood Springs sales tax pages.
