Best place to do grocery shopping.

In my belief Saigon Co op Mart is the economical place 

Anything but economical let me assure you.

Not sure what you are buying, but western prices at COOP Mart I havnt seen

Coffee, fruit, stuff like that.

Well your better off going to the markets or a local fruit and veggie shop to get those. I never buy fruit and vegetables from the supermarket,mush better at the markets. Coffee I think is dirt cheap, it depends on what you want,if you want to percolate it go to an actual shop that just sells coffee beans.

Fruit you should buy from local market to get fresh and cheap.

remb2030 wrote:

Coffee, fruit, stuff like that.

Appreciate the suggestions. Thank you.

I have a friend who 'shops' the whole country from Ha Tien right up to Langson and all points in between. When I say shops, he records the prices (with a discrete scanner) and he sends them off to hos employer and they then sell the data on.

CO-OP MART
You must be a relative newcomer to VietNam as you would know about Co-Op Mart, aka SaiGon Co-Op, owned by the city for the benefit of the residents.

YOU SAID: Anything but economical let me assure you (Co-Op). OBVIOUSLY you haven't shopped around as Co-Op Mart prices are amongst the best in VietNam. It is also the biggest. It has it's own buyers that deal with manufacturers.

Who else has their own branded noodles at prices as low as VND2,200? Who else has stores up and down the country? Whose sole function is to help Vietnamese get quality food at low prices.

DO YOU HAVE A CO-OP AFFINITY CARD? Affinity cards reduce prices significantly.

The affinity card makes a big difference. Last year, when profits were low because of high food prices, I still got several millions in rebates AND they have give-aways of china, raincoats, etc.

SaiGon Mart/Co-Op Mart also whoiesales to other supermarkets.

METRO MART
Metro is a WHOLESALE supplier from Germany who now allow retail shoppers in. IF you qualify for a TRADE card (TAX number required) you will see substantial discounts off sticker prices. If you only qualify for a RETAIL card you will see some discounting dependent on the prices.

Many supermarkets buy from Metro - which means Metro prices must be better.

Metro sells everything (at least in VietNam) and is more like a box store in the States or Canadian Tire in Canada (with food added)

LOTTE MART
Korean owned, and has an AFFINITY CARD. These days, unless you are after Japanese and Korean foodstuffs the prices are way too high.

GIANTS SUPERMARKET (Crescent Mall)
This Malaysian owned supermarket is over-priced. It has NO AFFINITY CARD.

What it is good for are a wide selection of Western (American) sauces/convenience products - BBQ ribs flavour sources, good selection of Olive Oils and many imported brands (for which youy pay dearly for)

VAT Tax
Many Foreigners don't realise some food products are subject to VAT TAX, which increases the price by 10%.

MY WIFE'S BUYING STRATEGY
Co-Op Mart for all basic food shopping; Metro Mart for limited purchases including meat; GIANTS for speciality sauces and olive oil.

Vegetables from a trusted retailer at a MARKET with whom you have a long term relationship. My offices are in Quan 7 (and our short-term living quarters) so I do all veggie and FISH shopping at the CHO TAN MY (Nguyen Thi Tap@Nguyen Van Linh) which has good enough quality even for some Phu My Hung types who thinking overpaying shows class.

I use one veggie retailer who has remembered what I buy and she points to each item and I simply signal how many kilos I want. As some market dealers occasionally have better products (tomatoes) I use them, too.

Buying fish is easy. But you need a list. I don't eat anything from 'fresh' water (think SaiGon River and pollution). So you need a list of sea fish. I only buy fish that are alive and jumping - then I have the fishmonger prepare / dress the fish so it is pan ready.

The benefits from buying outside Quan 1 and 3 is that Foreigners don't get ripped off - you pay VN prices.

There are 24/7 bakeries, flower shop, food stands at TAN MY MARKET - guaranteed fresh.

MEAT
Halal stores airfreight meat (beef, lamb, chicken, etc) direct from Australia and New Zealand. There is a posting about where to buy Halal meat if you search for it. There is some American meat which is OK if you like GM

IMPORTED FOOD/FOREIGN FOOD
You pay dearly for imported food - a can of Campbells concentrated soup for $2.50? Ditto for Nestle products, etc.

So live 'local'. If you are a Knorr soup user, try S-COOK at a fraction of the price and no artificial junk; if you like a particular flavour of coffee take a sample to a decent coffee store (Ham Nghi Street in Q1) and have them blend a kilo or two for you. There are even better blenders in Cho Lon.

I like 'Brazilian' flavoured coffee - and I get my VN Brazilian from Hong Vuong and Ta Uyen area.

'ORGANIC' FOOD
The USA, and a few other countries, have established standards the make food organic. Little, if any food, in VietNam, can be classified as 'organic'.

The stores do have better quality (appearance) products but most get their supplies from the Binh Chanh wholesale vegetable market. Most of the veggies in TP HCM come from Da Lat - soi claims about Da Lat can be forgotten - they are the same as everyone else.

A couple of HCM stores claim 'from our farm' - get the address and you will see the farm sells to anyone - the label 'Organic' appearing en route from Da Lat.

But don't go saying "Anything but economical let me assure you (Co-Op Mart)", it shows your lack of knowledge.

Update:
As of last Friday the difference between Co-Op Mart retail price and Vinamilk distributor wholesale price was 2,355. Imported milk sells for VND20,000-30,000 more.

the place is called metro it has a lot more goods and it looks to be cheaper to me.

To be honest for the buying power of COOP mart, I dont find them cheap. I shop at my local store and compared to COOP mart they are cheaper, COOP mart seems to also be the only place that charges for parking, typical VN government company.

colinoscapee wrote:

To be honest for the buying power of COOP mart, I dont find them cheap. I shop at my local store and compared to COOP mart they are cheaper, COOP mart seems to also be the only place that charges for parking, typical VN government company.

Does your 'local store' have an affinity card; does it toss product out on the Best Before date; does it source vegetables from hygienic sources? (i.e. Not from the banks of polluted rivers or fields enriched with raw sewage?

I shop at 3 Co-Op Marts in TP HCM and all are free as are the stores in Plei Ku and Buon Ma Thuot.

Well the one in D1, Tan Binh,D12 and Vung Tau all charge. If your happy to buy things there then good luck to you.I have never bought produce from COOP mart due to the low quality

Hey Jaitch
How do i get an affinity card? Does it cost?
Thanks

Just take your passport with you and ask the reception counter for registration 
There is no fee!
Whenever you shop just show your card in the billing counter to endorse your co op mart points.
When you get enough points you can get the coupon and redeem it from your next purchase!

cheshirecat90 wrote:

Hey Jaitch
How do i get an affinity card? Does it cost?
Thanks

cheshirecat90 wrote:

How do i get an affinity card? Does it cost? Thanks

Affinity cards are free - UNLESS you lose them.

METRO
Requires ID and tax licence if you are a business.

Co-Op Mart & Lotte
No ID to open BUT you need ID to collect. Co-Op rewards in cash h and coupons; they also have give-aways like extra discounts on designated products (no ID), rain capes, china, etc (requires ID). When I get a lot of groceries and a good discount coupon for stuff I can't/don't use, just hang around the give-away/discount counter and give to some passing local. You have to show yourID for them to use.

Remember, Lotte prices are 5-10% higher than Co-Op but they carry Korean and Japanese foodstuffs. Lousy store layouts unless you want exercise. If you buy product from a sub-store in Lotte, you can get points for them, too.

KFC
KFC has a discount card (embossed with your name) - comes in the mail. No ID. Discount 10% or 20% depending on how blessed you are.

Others
There are a few other stores that issue cards - the above are what I have. I have three others but they are 'specialist' suppliers for building materials and electrical equipment.

I would like to know any supermaket or store selling oatmeal in ho chi minh city in vietnam .Thank .

Pretty sure I saw it at Lotte.
They are also the only place I've found that has American peanut butter without fake sugar in it.

Great summary. Thanks for spending the time to post it.

The only thing I would add is that when shopping fro fish at market, my GF, is there at 06:00 a.m. and will not shop for fish after 08:00 a.m..
She'll also go to a number of markets, within maybe a mile diameter.  For the life of me, I can see no difference between this piece of meat  and the one in the next market, in which there are a dozen stalls all selling the same meats, but then, I think Vietnamese have special vision that allows them to see what I don't.

I've asked a few times, why this and not that, but I get the look which says, "it's obvious".
I'm old and wise enough to know not to pursue it further.

I agree with Jaitch's observation about relative freedom from pollution for salt water vs. fresh water fish but I wonder how salt water fish are kept live at markets.   It seems more likely that it is fresh water live and salt water dead.  It also has to do with how they are caught.  Fresh water fish are seined in small mesh nets and can be dumped in to buckets.  Salt water fish are hooked or gill netted.  My own preference coming from Hawaii is for salt water as there is no commercial fresh water fishery in the state.  The meat is firmer and to me has a more taste.  Another preference difference is that I like 8 legged octopus rather than squid which Vietnamese seem to prefer.  Again 10 leg squid in Hawaii is imported frozen while octopus (called squid) is local.

In looking at salt water fish I would look for 3 things.  First is ice.  This should seem automatic but incredibly a lot of fish in VN are sold sitting in the sun.  Second is the eye.  Look for a bright shiny eye with no whitening in the pupils.  Besides age, a white eye can indicate the use of chlorine gas to kill and catch the fish.  Third the gills.  They should be bright red and not pale.  Vietnamese seem to cut out the entire gill structure when frying pan sized fish which is really unnecessary, but gills are still a critical measure of freshness.