Singapore Expats

HI,

Between these 4 stores , which one is more reasonable for house hold stuff, food items,milk, groceries, etc...Ntuc is it as fair priced as it says?
has anyone compared the prices? please share the info if anyone has it...thanks

Across the board, NTUC and Sheng Siong are generally the most consistently cheapest. Mustapha would be very close and probably more ideally for the subcontinent based races as they import huge quantities of foodstuffs found at home. But for the general public. The first two are consistently the lowest priced. NTUC is the largest food supplier in Singapore. It didn't get that way by being more expensive than the others.

Fairprice in general, but most supermarkets have discounted sales on a regular basis, for household goods including food, so one needs to adopt the norm, of shopping if you are into cutting costs. Sometimes the fruit is much better in Giant than Fairprice, sweeter oranges, swings and roundabouts really. Cold storage i think is pricey in comparison...Carrefour is okay too on occasions. They always use the discounting as bait, tit for tat competition

Agree with ksl on the special discounted items in general but with the following provisions.

1) These only make sense if they are already on your shopping list (not impulse buying - then it costs more as you didn't need it in the first place).

2) there must be enough of a discount and enough items so that you don't spend more money than you would have at your normal store once you factor in the additional transportation expense necessary to get the discounted item(s). My wife always made that mistake - spend $3 to save $1!

3) Ensure, where possible, that you have other reasons to be in that area that are necessary to help defray that opportunity cost's additional costs (the transport).

This is why I normally do Fairprice/NTUC & Sheng Siong as both are within walking distance of my flat.

mustafa is cheap but I really dont like going to that place.

Too crowded, too many cockroaches running around and too far for me.

But open 24/7 is good.

We do all the shopping at Fairprice because it is the most convenient, within walking distance...... as most are.

Problem is their choices are limited and the quality of the fruit/veg leaves a bit to be desired. For quality Cold Storage is better, but of course more expensive so you takes your pick.

I think if we were living near a Cold Storage we would shop there for fruit and veg.

I like NTUC and Shop and Save. But I tend to get meats from an online butcher.

NTUC has by far the fairest price of them all, although Sheng Siong and Mustafa runs it close. Thing is that NTUC has way more outlets and thus more accessible.

We buy in bulk from Fairprice and have the groceries delivered. We used to cart them home from the supermarket and then figured out we spent as much on cab fare as the delivery charge!

Fairprice doesn't deliver perishables though so we usually buy those in small quantities from Fairprice or Cold Storage when we have a chance to pass by.

I tend to avoid Carrefour and Giant because it's not worth the trip for small purchases, and for large purchases I end up spending money on a cab ride. Carrefour offers free delivery over a certain amount but it's more convenient to order from Fairprice online.

ScoobyDoes wrote: Problem is their choices are limited and the quality of the fruit/veg leaves a bit to be desired. For quality Cold Storage is better, but of course more expensive so you takes your pick.

Thx ScoobyDoes for agreeing on the point I was trying to make on another string "Price of supermarket food" where the question of quality was raised.

Like I said before, you get what you pay for when it comes to food quality.

quidsin wrote:

ScoobyDoes wrote: Problem is their choices are limited and the quality of the fruit/veg leaves a bit to be desired. For quality Cold Storage is better, but of course more expensive so you takes your pick.

Thx ScoobyDoes for agreeing on the point I was trying to make on another string "Price of supermarket food" where the question of quality was raised.

Like I said before, you get what you pay for when it comes to food quality.

ntuc fairprice is a popular supermarket chain with high traffic turnovers. The best stuff tend to sell out fast for veg/meats/fishes, perishables. It used to be a local practice to get these perishables as early as possible in the morning (still is the case for wet markets esp. on sunday mornings) for the best catch. So if you shop only in the afternoons or evenings, chances are you get the leftover. With fewer outlets, cold storages offerings are expensive because of rentals as their locations are more central, not because they get their stuff from better sources.

cold storage, giant hypermkt, and shop N save all belong to the same setup who owns them. giant and sNs are discount stores while cold storage targets the high end of the market and the snobs who thinks they're paying for better stuff.

Bigger fairprice outlets are giving cs a run for their money as they too are offering expat specific products and organic fresh produces and products. I stayed in the north and get my fresh organic produces from the fairprice at the civic centre outlet and other stuff from a nearby outlet.

is Sheng Siong the cheapest among all the supermarket? bust seems that there stocking is less ordered & sometimes messy

vanilla_flavor wrote:is Sheng Siong the cheapest among all the supermarket? bust seems that there stocking is less ordered & sometimes messy

In my experience, yes. But the selection is limited, even compared to NTUC, and some of the older open-air HDB mall ones are pretty grotty (flies buzzing around the produce etc).

1. Your neighbourhood Fair Price - you will see yourself going there every 2 - 3 days because its nearer and cheaper compared to 7/11.
[Mostly groceries / other day to day usage items]

2. Mustafa - you will be going there once a week to get the Indian stuff (spices / vegetables / food items etc) and to buy other stuff apart from Groceries. (furniture / apparel / shoes / electronics for instance)

Try to avoid Mustafa on weekends. Otherwise its the most convenient all in one and affordable store.