One reason Pittsburgh has always been a relatively expensive place to buy groceries is that Giant Eagle had pretty much of a monopoly until recently. This is because union nonsense managed to drive all of the other chains out of town. After Kroger left in ‘85 they had the market pretty much to themselves until the fairly recent arrivals of Super Walmart, Aldi, etc.
Huh...I didn’t know that. (Of course, not being from Pittsburgh, how the heck could I???)
Here in Indiana the unionized Kroger peeps seem to typically have a bad attitude that is not present in Meijer, Aldi, or Costco.