GREENSBORO, N.C. — For a slice of life in Greensboro, just look at Town & Country Meat & Produce Market.

“Everybody here is family, indirectly and directly,” co-owner Sammy Ammons said. “I have two that went to high school with my son, he’s next in line.”

What You Need To Know

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the highest annual CPI price increase since 1982

It went up 7.5%

Christy Umfleet and Sammy Ammonds have been in this industry most of their lives

Their father, Sam, originally opened Sam's Meat Market in 1988

Ammons and his sister Christy Umfleet have been running the store for just over a decade. Their father, Sam, opened Sam’s Meat Market on the other side of town in 1988 before handing the keys over to the pair.

“He just decided it was time to retire,” Ammons said. “We had plenty of help at the time. He just felt like it was time to go.”      

This year, though, things have been a little tougher.

“There was obviously an increase in the red meat, but now I’m seeing that that’s leveling off,” Umfleet said. “There’s been some increase in the chicken as well.”

The last few times you’ve been shopping, you may have thought the prices are higher than usual. That assumption would be correct.

“We had to write a sign that says, ‘Please don’t blame your cashiers for the price increases,’ it’s totally not her fault,” Umfleet said.

Unruly customers aside, prices have statistically increased.

In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the consumer price index rose 7.5% in the 12 months ending in January, not adjusted for seasonal swings. That’s the steepest annual price increase since 1982.

But where does that increase come from?

“It starts the same way at the processing plants. They know they can get more money for the product when there’s not enough for people there to produce the product that’s coming in,” Ammons said. “So, the kill rate is down, to start with, which does cause a meat shortage.”

The shortage of labor, supplies, even expensive energy rates — it all trickles right down to the consumer.

“Prices of energy, the prices gasoline, the trucks, everything,” Umfleet said. “It all is shown on your invoice. So, it’s the trickle-down effect. Of course, you can’t eat that.”

It’s a little easier to hide the increase at the supermarket chains. But at a local level, it can be hard to keep up.

“Broadliners, I call them, or big chains, they have truckloads and huge coolers,” Umfleet said. “We have small coolers. We shop kind of small.”

It’s not all bad though. Being a small-town shop means no contracts and no restrictions on where they get supplies.

“The big-box stores and the chain stores are contracted to buy only one or two sources,” Umfleet said. “So, if they’re out of an item, they’re just going to be out on the shelf.”

Because of that, they’re stocked pretty regularly here and can keep their prices competitive. Their big thing at Town and Country though: doing so with a smile.

“You have to love what you do,” Ammons said. “I’ve been doing this for 35 years.”