ORLANDO, Fla. -- Apparent cost discrepancies at Central Florida Wal-Mart stores were investigated after the Problem Solvers received a tip from a viewer alleging different prices for the same items.

Mary Barnaby told Local 6 that after shopping at three Central Florida Wal-Mart stores she found varying prices at different locations.

Barnaby's list included 14 staple items like cereal, rice, sugar and soup.

She found items on her list were often cheaper at the Apopka Wal-Mart than at the Wal-Mart stores in Mt. Dora and Clarcona/Pine Hills, Local 6 reported.

"It just kind of lets you down that you think that Wal-Mart is a good kind of family store to shop in and save money. It depends on which Wal-Mart you decide to go to," Barnaby said..

The Problem Solvers took three items randomly from her list and put them to the pricing test: Green Giant asparagus, a 5-pound bag of sugar and condensed milk

Local 6's Steven Cooper reported that Barnaby's theory held up during a Problem Solvers test.

Sugar
$2.38 Mt. Dora
$2.36 Clarcona/Pine Hills
$1.76 Apopka

Condensed Milk
$1.54 Mt. Dora
$1.56 Clarcona/Pine Hills
$1.04 Apopka

Asparagus
$2.42 Mt. Dora
$2.54 Clarcona/Pine Hills
$1.86 Apopka

"I did not go to the managers, and I probably should have but I decided to write you instead," Barnaby told Cooper.

Cooper contacted Wal-Mart.

"When we see that a nearby competitor might temporarily lower a price on an item, our stores have the authority to adjust their price lower. This can happen in a very small vicinity of stores," the company said in a statement to Local 6.

However, the Problem Solvers found that the prices concerned were not temporary as Wal-Mart described, but consistent over a period of at least two months.

Barnaby said she thinks that Wal-Mart is charging more for the same products in poorer neighborhoods than in neighborhoods with higher incomes.

"It disgusts me that the people who can least afford to buy the food have to pay more money than everyone else does," Barnaby said.

That’s a serious accusation and the Problem Solvers probed further, Cooper reported.

First, Cooper looked at the most recent census data, which showed the median household income is highest in Apopka -- where the prices were the lowest, compared to incomes in Mt. Dora and Clarcona/Pine Hills where the prices were higher.

Cooper brought that data to Wal-Mart's attention and a spokeswoman for the company said she was offended by the suggestion that the company was charging more in poorer neighborhoods.

She insisted that Wal-Mart does not price by demographic, that it remains the low price leader in every market -- and that the three stores we visited represent entirely different markets with different sets of competition, Cooper reported.

But when the Problem Solvers checked the competition, they did not find a similar pattern of pricing, Cooper said.

They visited Publix stores in the Windermere/Ocoee area, the Rosemont neighborhood of Orlando, and Altamonte.

The prices of the sugar, condensed milk and asparagus were consistent at all three stores. Visits to different Winn-Dixie stores generated the same results, according to Cooper.

When it comes to Wal-Mart, Barnaby said she comes to one conclusion: “You really need to know which store to shop at to get the better bargain within the Wal-Mart corporation."

Cooper said it's important to keep in mind that the Problem Solvers' price survey was not a scientific study. It is an observation of same-store pricing and it does reflect Barnaby's shopping experience.

And it does appear to put Wal-Mart in the unique position of pricing in a way that its competitors do not, Cooper reported.

Cooper also said that he has received many tips over the years about price discrepancies at other food retailers, but that this claim about Wal-Mart was the first time his researched turned up obvious differences from neighborhood to neighborhood.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.