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Soaring food prices since the COVID-19 pandemic have fueled the affordability debate, but they’ve also led to a surge in sales and profits for grocery stores, including Black Mountain-based Ingles Markets.
Nationwide, grocery prices increased 29 percent from 2020 through 2025, prompting some politicians, including former Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and others to accuse grocery chains of price gouging. The industry contends it is merely passing on higher costs of food and food production…