Small Stores Vs Supermarkets - Deal Or No Deal?

[irina]

Yeah you have to shop around to save $$

Our routine is:
Monday - Carrefour for lacteos, buy all our milk, cream, butter, you get the point. 30% returned in a cheque/coupon we use the next monday and repeat

We go to the rotating ferias barriales/markets for all verduleria items, fiambre items, eggs and granja, huge savings most of the time (especially on fiambres and cheeses)

We go to Coto for credit card discount on Friday or Wal Mart for debit card discount on Wednesday for what is left over, like canned goods

We have flexible schedules so it helps save a lot

 

[semigoodlookin]

Yeah you have to shop around to save $$

Our routine is:
Monday - Carrefour for lacteos, buy all our milk, cream, butter, you get the point. 30% returned in a cheque/coupon we use the next monday and repeat

We go to the rotating ferias barriales/markets for all verduleria items, fiambre items, eggs and granja, huge savings most of the time (especially on fiambres and cheeses)

We go to Coto for credit card discount on Friday or Wal Mart for debit card discount on Wednesday for what is left over, like canned goods

We have flexible schedules so it helps save a lot

How much of a hit would you be taking if you did not shop around like that and say, just shopped in Carrefour? A rough number, because the obvious question is are the savings that much by shopping around to make it worth your time?

I own a shop in the city (well, my wife does) selling fiambre items and a few other stuff, you know the kind. I get all my food from there so don't pay for a lot of stuff, however, I am moving soon and will be doing the usual big shop etc. I was just going to go to Carrefour or Jumbo until I read all this.

 

[Girino]

We do our general shopping at Coto on Tuesday or Thursday (15% off you are a member of their Club, which is free). We don't have any credit card, so we have to rule out other days with bigger savings and quotas. There is no Dia here in San Isidro e we don't have a car, so our choice is limited. We go to the Coto in Martinez (1 train stop) and then if you spend at least ARS300 you get a free remis ride to your place (up to 3 km), which is FABOLOUS!!!

At Coto we buy canned food, paper towels, napkins and tissues, cleaning products, wines, jam, crackers and non-deperibile goods.
We buy our veggies and fruit at a local shop near here, there are several in lines with a great choice, but I keep going to the same one because I like the vibe and they know I am a principiant in Spanish, so they are VERY accommodating and patient (as opposite to the store in front of them, who just kept doing whatever they wanted and even pretended not to understand my husband, who is a native).

There is also a good pescaderia but I am no fish expert and they don't have much choice (they have no fresh tuna, for example, and rarely swordfish).
There are three carniceria in a row in the same street and I finally found one I like. There is cheaper stuff at Coto (of lower quality), but at out Coto they have a limited choice of animals (no pig meat). We buy eggs there.

We rarely buy bread, but if we do, we either go to La Argentina or to a small fiambre shop that has started carrying a nice kind of bread with a sort of crust.
I find Argentinian bread very plain and heavy (always with butter or grease!).

The Carrefour we have in San Isidro centro is small, badly assorted, with huge queues at all times, and it is much more expensive than Coto.
I go at Chinos just out of desperation, as a last resort. I don't like their policies and I don't trust them for food preservation.
We tend to shopping to Coto twice per month, and then resort on smaller shops. I like to browse the internet for recipes and I like that I have everything at hand within walking distance.
I also like a lot being able to buy bulk spices, so that I can buy little quantities instead of having big bags sitting there for years.

 

[semigoodlookin]

I have found Carrefour can have a poor selection. Sometimes when I am in there (I have one right by me in Velez) there are rows upon rows and shelves upon shelves of the same product. I do not frequent other supermarkets, but is that common here?

 

[TomAtAlki]

I have found Carrefour can have a poor selection. Sometimes when I am in there (I have one right by me in Velez) there are rows upon rows and shelves upon shelves of the same product. I do not frequent other supermarkets, but is that common here?

Yes

 

[TomAtAlki]

We have an organic chicken & egg guy, a butcher we like, vegetable store and a wine guy. Then every couple of weeks we go to Disco for detergent, paper stuff and the normal supermarket purchases, and not worth it to me looking for the sales, for big items yes, but not the little stuff. I'd rather do something fun. I'm way too old for that stuff.
Nancy

 

[nlaruccia]

Disco, Jumbo, Carrefour all seriously overpriced. I've found many products for half the price at a chino. Even DIA has products like shampoo and toilet paper that are much more expensive than your local chino. I go with the chinos all the time.

 

[Matiasba]

For cleaning products like detergente, soaps, paper stuff, DIA, and by Dia I mean products with its trademark, is noticeably cheaper, like 30% compared to the same stuff at Disco, Carrefour, Coto, etc. And these kind of products are almost all the same in quality, theres no variation there. The down side of Dia is that there are always missing stuff and that they are very dirty.

 

[gpop]

I had mentioned about certain things that I buy at Jumbo...because i can only really find them there. Pork tenderloin. I've been to many butcher stores looking for lomo de cerdo / solomillo they either never have, or they can't be bothered. In some things you are forced to pay more or do without. There used to be some small packages of havarti and feta cheese that could be found there. I haven't seen havarti for about a year now, and the price on the feta became outrageous.

I would not spend too much time and money there it it weren't for those quirky things that i just won't do without.

 

[irina]

How much of a hit would you be taking if you did not shop around like that and say, just shopped in Carrefour? A rough number, because the obvious question is are the savings that much by shopping around to make it worth your time?

I own a shop in the city (well, my wife does) selling fiambre items and a few other stuff, you know the kind. I get all my food from there so don't pay for a lot of stuff, however, I am moving soon and will be doing the usual big shop etc. I was just going to go to Carrefour or Jumbo until I read all this.

For me personally, it's definitely worth my time. I could spend 19 pesos a kilo of bananas or I could spend 10 in the feria. I'm far from suffering with these multiple trips, I enjoy it because in the end I spend next to no time in the big supermarket chains since I buy so little when I go I'm usually in and out.
Also aside from spending less, I'm getting much better quality. I'm getting bigger eggs by the "maple" for less money than the small ones int he supermarket cartons. The fiambres at the Villa Urquiza market on Friday mornings is far superior in quality to the packages at the supermarkets and for less money. It's definitely worth my time.