Dear Rocky,
You are comparing different things. Esrogim and the like have no intrinsic market value. The whole business is the logistics. So, the vendor charges as much as he can. Small businesses, are paying for an item and are being paid for the logistics. If they just sell for what they can get without losing any customers, they would not cover all their costs. They make their prices based on what they paid for it. And if the customers don’t want to pay for it, they lose the customers until they can’t find it for cheaper.
Basics like groceries, have nothing to do with Lakewood’s material standards. A lot of grocery prices are government regulated, so there can’t be a large markup.
In times of inflation, the lower classes get hit harder. Because nothing is forcing the higher classes to be a new car. The lower the class, the more likely their purchases are out of necessity.