By Martin B. Cassidy
Staff Writer
In recent months, Timothy Cerniglia has noticed the cost of the groceries he buys every every two weeks at Stop & Shop on East Putnam Avenue has jumped from $75 to more than $100, he said. The 86-year-old Greenwich resident compensates by buying less costly store brands of some foods.
"It goes up every time," Cerniglia said. "It has to do with the oil prices and this mess we have in the Middle East."
Due to higher grocery and gas prices, Norma Powers has eliminated meat almost completely from her diet, buying cheap fish in New York State and using her car only for travel to work.
"If I get home and realize I forgot something, I walk to the store and buy a few things I can carry," the Greenwich resident said.
Residents, merchants and charitable groups in town said they are feeling the pinch of a slower economy. With food and fuel prices rising almost daily, this month food pantry officials have been stretched thin by an increase in demand, they said, which signals greater difficulty on the working poor to feed their families.
Merchants said the higher price of gas has impacted shipping costs and the wholesale price of goods, which in some cases has been passed on to consumers.
Last month the number of visits at the Neighbor to Neighbor Food Pantry at Christ Church Greenwich increased to 1935 from 1,486 in April 2007, a 30 percent increase, said Julie Ricciardi, president of Neighbor to Neighbor.
"We are serving everyone who comes to us, but it isn't easy," Ricciardi said.
Kate Lombardo, executive director of the Stamford-based Food Bank of Lower Fairfield County, a supplier to Neighbor to Neighbor and a number of other area food pantries, said they distributed 95,000 pounds of food during April, up from 81,000 pounds in April 2007.
"Our pantries are reporting their numbers doubling," she said. "It is frightening for the average American, but terrifying for those who are struggling to make ends meet in a slow economy."
At each visit, clients of Neighbor to Neighbor may take enough food to provide three meals a day for three days for each family member, Ricciardi said.
Recently Riverside, Greenwich Country Day and other schools have hosted several food drives to help keep shelves stocked, Ricciardi said.
"The people who maybe came once or twice a month are now coming in each week," Ricciardi said.
Merchants said they are trying to keep from raising prices, but the increased cost of deliveries and higher wholesale cost of merchandise is cutting into profits.
"Some stuff is going up dollars and other stuff is going up quarters," said Larry Weiner, manager of Feinsod Hardware on Sound Beach Avenue. "There comes a point when you can't absorb it anymore."
Weiner and James McArdle Jr. of McArdle's Florist and Garden Center on Arch Street said higher gas prices have boosted the price of making free deliveries, with McArdle saying the cost of deliveries has gone up about 50 percent.
McArdle said that while sales have not dropped significantly, the price of goods that contain petroleum, such as plastic flower pots and fertilizer, have gone up 10 to 20 percent.
"With the gas prices people might be trying to make their homes as beautiful as possible because they won't be travelling as much this summer," he said.
At Glenville Wine & Spirits on Glenville Road, wine prices have jumped, most markedly leading to a drop in sales of lower end wines in the $15 to $20 range, according to manager Paul Laveris.
"The wholesale prices have been going up more quickly," Laveris said. "The customer who goes from paying $75 to $100 isn't going to hurt as much as the guy who goes from paying $15 to $25."
The weak exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Euro has increased the price of French wines by as much as 25 percent, Laveris said.
"We're very concerned and you try to monitor what is going on and be cautious about inventory control," Laveris said. "We're playing it a little tighter."
In the past month in Connecticut, the average price for a gallon of regular gas has risen more than 40 cents to $3.81 a gallon, according to AAA's fuel survey.
In Fairfield County, average gas prices surpass the state average by a wide margin, with a gallon of regular gas costing about $4.02, according to Michael Fox, executive director of the Stamford-based Gasoline and Automative Dealers of America, which represents gas stations owners and fuel dealers nationwide.
Fox and Lombardo both blamed a lack of political resolve to tackle a link between the use of a greater proportion of America's corn crop to produce ethanol to rising wheat, rice, and other grain prices in the United States and abroad.
"All the products we use for food have gone up dramatically and it is a direct result of moving to ethanol," Lombardo said. "The Krafts, the Hersheys, and all the food producers have to pass that overhead onto the consumer."
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