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Location: Georgia, on the Florida line, right above Tallahassee
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I don't get it. I can buy a bunch of green onions with bulbs the size of a man's thumb end for 50 cents, or I can go to my local chain store and buy some pathetic green onions for about the same price. One probably weighs 2 -3 oz, and the other prob weighs more like 6-8. Same for oranges - 4 bucks a bag, or so. Tofu is cheap, the meat is super cheap. T-bones for 5.99, same for new york strip (although they are slightly smaller...who cares? The chain store is like 8.99, 9.99, or 10.99 a lb for the good steaks. Usually in a "family package" of 3 steaks, for like, 20 -30 bucks. Gotta buy big to save big. . I get chicken at 1.09 for 1/2 chickens that have been cut in 1/2. In other words, I get 5 lbs of cut up, cleaned chicken for like 6 bucks. That's a good deal. Garlic is .99 cent for 5 bulbs.
I'm wondering how they can sell steak that cheap. Or chicken for that matter. Maybe they are making it up on the different kinds of seafood they sell that you don't see in the chain stores? Like fresh mackerel or other seafood? Nope. It's cheaper, too.
I'm just amazed sometimes. Let your inner self out and try new places and it's always kind of cool what you can find.
(The other thing I noticed is that the staples, like oil and salt, and flour, etc. are more expensive.) Maybe they make the diff up that way. I don't see anything - and I mean ANYTHING - labeled "organic" either. Maybe it's all fake hormone full meat and GMO corn. Still, it's cheap. Tastes good, too. They do have a lot of stuff from China. That's been beaten to death, so I won't go down that road. Do your search, decide for your self. Just happy as hell to have a store that doesn't charge 11.99 for a big 2 qt. jug of Kikkoman.
Glad you finally found the truth. My family rarely goes to the domestic chain supermarkets (Ralph's, Vons, etc). It's all about Asian and Hispanic supermarkets for the price and variety.
One time I bought good quality cabbage for 11 cents per pound. Beat that domestic chain stores.
They keep their costs lower. Asian or Mexican market owners don't spend money or time on such consumer spending optimizers as fliers, advertising, competitive pricing strategies, market research, information systems, shelf-space positioning strategies, frequent shopper club memberships, or interior decorating. They don't employ many "associates", door greeters or food baggers. Smaller markets are often run by a family. The cashier bag your purchase. Other workers multitask, keeping the overall costs low.
One thing I have noticed about the Mexican markets here is that there is less variety of produce and they don't carry the same fruit and veggies from one day to the next, so I think they're buying whatever they can get cheapest that day. I usually will buy fruit there because the kids will eat whatever kind is on sale, but I still have to go to the regular grocery store to get the veggies I need for meals.
I think Elnina has part of the answer, they don't spend money advertising and using other forms of promos, but I see another reason: much of what they sell is imported and the countries they import from have lower production costs. At least here, both the Asian market and the Mexican markets import a lot. Our local market uses local companies when they can, otherwise they mostly do use American products. Thus I think it is a combination of reasons. We do love both the Asian market and our favorite Mexican market, but there are a couple of Asian and Mexican markets locally that are dirty, crowded and the selection is bad, not to mention the quality. I still can not bring myself to buy meat form the Mexican market, as much as I would like to try it.
I love shopping in the Asian and Mexican markets also. The meat is much cheaper (sometimes by 50%) as is the produce.
I find the quality to be right on par with the chains. I can also buy unique items that I cannot find at the chains.
One possible reason: these stores are likely non-union! Labor costs for union stores are expensive and the costs are passed to the consumers!
I love shopping in the Asian and Mexican markets also. The meat is much cheaper (sometimes by 50%) as is the produce.
I find the quality to be right on par with the chains. I can also buy unique items that I cannot find at the chains.
One possible reason: these stores are likely non-union! Labor costs for union stores are expensive and the costs are passed to the consumers!
I just wish I could get over the fear of buying meat at our local Mexican market...I might get the nerve to give it a try one of these days. I see the Mexicans buying it all the time.
We have a Hispanic-owned Farmer's Market just down the street from our house and I go there for most of our produce. There is also a Japanese store nearby that has good produce deals on some stuff but they don't have a huge selection. I don't go to the Mexican market near me as it's not really any better than anything else that I can find. I tend to go to a nice family-owned store called Gene's for meat and seafood. The quality can't be beat.
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