Wholesale

[internationalguy]

I think I know what the answer will be. Anyhow, is there anything that resembles Costco or BJs?

 

[PhilipDT]

http://www.makro.com.ar/

Prepare for disappointment.

 

[French jurist]

There's also http://www.diarco.com.ar/index.php

A quick comparison Diarco vs. Jumbo (but some of those are promotional offers by Diarco):

- Ala washing powder 3 kilos: 32.7$ vs. 49$ (50% more)
- Pampers : 10.7$ vs 13.5$ (30% more)
- Kellog's zucaritas: 12,6$ vs 21,79$ (90% more)

 

[internationalguy]

Thank you both for the useful info.

 

[Ries]

In Argentina, it is quite common to be able to buy at wholesale- that is, to get a price break if you buy quantity. In Once, there are a lot of stores that will not even sell to you if you dont buy a minimum quantity.
But there isnt a RETAIL store like Costco.
You would have to go to dozens of different small stores and manufacturers to get the same selection, and each would have their own requirements in terms of how much you needed to buy to get wholesale pricing.

I have actually bought direct from factories, and gotten huge price reductions, on certain strange and esoteric things in BsAs- its totally do-able, but not what you are talking about.

On the other hand, Costco does not serve Fugazetta.

 

[citygirl]

Ojo though - it is often MORE expensive to buy in bulk than to buy multiple smaller packages at the stores like Makro. Makes sense - absolutely not. Happens - all the time. I go to Makro to do my shopping as it is considerably cheaper than Carrefour/Coto/etc. However, I often wind up buying multiples of something in smaller quantities rather than one larger package when shopping there. Always check the price per kilo or item. For example I bought diapers the other day. Buying in packs of 14, they were 1.06 pesos per diaper. The larger packs of diapers, each diaper cost 1.45 pesos. So cheaper to buy multiple smaller packs. Same with spices, etc.

The logic as it was explained to me by an Argentine was that if you could afford to buy in large quantities at once, you can afford to pay more. ??? Makes no sense but again, Argentina.

And of course if you want to deal with the headache, you can go to the central market. I believe there are also roving markets in each neighborhood. They sell food at low prices.

 

[Ries]

Ojo though - it is often MORE expensive to buy in bulk than to buy multiple smaller packages at the stores like Makro. Makes sense - absolutely not. Happens - all the time. I go to Makro to do my shopping as it is considerably cheaper than Carrefour/Coto/etc. However, I often wind up buying multiples of something in smaller quantities rather than one larger package when shopping there. Always check the price per kilo or item. For example I bought diapers the other day. Buying in packs of 14, they were 1.06 pesos per diaper. The larger packs of diapers, each diaper cost 1.45 pesos. So cheaper to buy multiple smaller packs. Same with spices, etc.

The logic as it was explained to me by an Argentine was that if you could afford to buy in large quantities at once, you can afford to pay more. ??? Makes no sense but again, Argentina.

And of course if you want to deal with the headache, you can go to the central market. I believe there are also roving markets in each neighborhood. They sell food at low prices.

Food is a whole different thing than other products.
Especially in Argentina.
When I talk about getting things at actual wholesale prices, I am referring to clothes, or hardware, household or industrial goods.

It turns out there are many invisible reasons why food is priced the way it is in Argentina (mostly high priced) and many of them are historical, political, and traditional, not rational or economic.

There is a great new news aggregator about Argentina I have been reading lately, The Bubble, and it has a very interesting article about milk pricing in Argentina, and why its so high. Similar things apply to many other foods, I am sure.

The actual farmers dont make that much- but historical monopolies on transportation and retailing, run by combinations of old ogliarchal families, unions, and politicians, skim quite a bit from the transaction costs of food here.

http://bubblear.com/...mics-reporting/

 

[PhilipDT]

It drives me crazy that in every supermarket in the city 500g of butter costs more per g than 200g of the same brand's butter. Often quite a bit more. Who the hell buys the 500g butter packages?

 

[internationalguy]

It drives me crazy that in every supermarket in the city 500g of butter costs more per g than 200g of the same brand's butter. Often quite a bit more. Who the hell buys the 500g butter packages?

That's funny. I needed something from Farmacity on Friday, I got there and they had a big and a small size of what I needed. I told the guy I needed the big one. He immediately told me to get two small ones instead of a big one (small one $35 (30g) big one $85 (60g). Crazy.