This research examines the effects of transportation and time costs on the market basket costs of shopping at more than one supermarket. A 95‐item market basket was priced in sixteen supermarkets representing four grocery chains in four geographically separated areas of Columbus, Ohio. The lowest cost market basket for each area was calculated and the costs of transportation and time added to determine their effect upon achieving a lowest cost market basket by shopping several supermarkets. When market basket items only or market basket items plus transportation costs were considered, savings were realized by shopping four supermarkets in an area as opposed to one. The addition of time costs to the total market basket cost caused shopping at two supermarkets to result in the lowest cost market basket in 75% of the observed store combination