BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Food and groceries can be a big chunk of a person's monthly expenses, but a viewer called the Eyewitness News tip line wanting an investigation into what he called "extremely high" food prices at an east Bakersfield convenience store.

Eyewitness News found numerous products Wednesday with high prices at Fast Stop Mini Mart, located at the intersection of Niles and Virginia. An 18-ounce box of Honey Bunches of Oats was $12.

A reporter went to downtown Bakersfield and asked people how much they would pay for the box of cereal.

Brenda Rankin said $2, while Alejandro Urquizo said he would pay $2.50. The maximum Angie McAdams and Joe Partlow would pay was $3.

But those prices weren't even close to how much this cereal actually cost.

When Eyewitness News told the folks downtown that the box was $12, reactions ranged from shock, disbelief to laughter.

"That's ridiculous," McAdam said.

Eyewitness News asked the owner of the Fast Stop why he was charging so much, and he simply said, "We're a convenience store. A lot of our prices are a little over priced."

When a reporter told him customers called Eyewitness News to investigate the high prices at his store, he said, "If they don't like the price they can go somewhere else."

Eyewitness News went to another convenience store in the area and found the same box of cereal for half the price at $5.99.

While most people agree that $12 is a lot to pay for a box of cereal, Deputy District Attorney Barry Klein said it's not illegal.

"It's not deceptive," Klein said. "It's right out there in the open. There's nothing fraudulent about it. It's up to the consumer if they want to make that voluntary choice."