The promises and pitfalls of grocery shopping in Buenos Aires

[Bettina]

I do NOT like the supermarkets here compared to the States or anywhere else in Latin America. They are terrible here. Must be decades of socialism. I wonder when they will improve?

The promises and pitfalls of grocery shopping in Buenos Aires - Buenos Aires Herald

From verdulerías and carnicerías to Barrio Chino spice runs, an expat discovers that stocking the pantry is as much about curiosity as convenience

buenosairesherald.com

 

[GlasgowJohn]

What annoys me is that you have to be a statistician to work out prices.
Why do they continue to have 2 x 1 offers , 3 x 2 offers and 4 x 3 offers every week?
Add in the second item with 50 , 60 , 70 or 80% off and you start to go crazy!
Of course all theses prices are inflated to allow the supermarkets to offer theses crazy discounts .
And the other big question , with which card to do i pay?
Depending on the day of the week , there will be a discount from the bank or the credit card company.
And sometimes these are in addition to the discounts mentioned before and sometimes they are not.
Bloody crazy.....

 

[ben]

I have to be honest, supermarkets are terrible here compared to back home.

 

[ben]

What annoys me is that you have to be a statistician to work out prices.
Why do they continue to have 2 x 1 offers , 3 x 2 offers and 4 x 3 offers every week?
Add in the second item with 50 , 60 , 70 or 80% off and you start to go crazy!
Of course all theses prices are inflated to allow the supermarkets to offer theses crazy discounts .
And the other big question , with which card to do i pay?
Depending on the day of the week , there will be a discount from the bank or the credit card company.
And sometimes these are in addition to the discounts mentioned before and sometimes they are not.
Bloody crazy.....

Agree! Here is a novel idea! Just price the normal cost of stuff and make it supply and demand based. Stop with all of these ofertas and just make it easy to understand and per item. Stores can't just price normal. And you have to make a spreadsheet just to see which days have discount with which card. Terrible!

 

[Betsy Ross]

What annoys me is that you have to be a statistician to work out prices.
Why do they continue to have 2 x 1 offers , 3 x 2 offers and 4 x 3 offers every week?
Add in the second item with 50 , 60 , 70 or 80% off and you start to go crazy!
Of course all theses prices are inflated to allow the supermarkets to offer theses crazy discounts .
And the other big question , with which card to do i pay?
Depending on the day of the week , there will be a discount from the bank or the credit card company.
And sometimes these are in addition to the discounts mentioned before and sometimes they are not.
Bloody crazy.....

I think the same thing each time I am at the supermarket. I literally had to make a note on my iPhone to remind myself which store has a discount on particular days.

Stores will do anything they can to keep inflated prices. The supermarkets have a monopoly and it drives me crazy. John is right it is annoying!

We will know that Argentina is going to turn the page when we see basic things like this working like a normal country. Argentina is far from normal.

 

[import export]

What annoys me is that you have to be a statistician to work out prices.
Why do they continue to have 2 x 1 offers , 3 x 2 offers and 4 x 3 offers every week?
Add in the second item with 50 , 60 , 70 or 80% off and you start to go crazy!
Of course all theses prices are inflated to allow the supermarkets to offer theses crazy discounts .
And the other big question , with which card to do i pay?
Depending on the day of the week , there will be a discount from the bank or the credit card company.
And sometimes these are in addition to the discounts mentioned before and sometimes they are not.
Bloody crazy.....

I laughed reading the article. Anyone that gets joy from grocery shopping in Buenos Aires is a masocist!

 

[Avocado]

What annoys me is that you have to be a statistician to work out prices.
Why do they continue to have 2 x 1 offers , 3 x 2 offers and 4 x 3 offers every week?
Add in the second item with 50 , 60 , 70 or 80% off and you start to go crazy!
Of course all theses prices are inflated to allow the supermarkets to offer theses crazy discounts .
And the other big question , with which card to do i pay?
Depending on the day of the week , there will be a discount from the bank or the credit card company.
And sometimes these are in addition to the discounts mentioned before and sometimes they are not.
Bloody crazy.....

Look on bright side John. The longer Milei is President the less supermarkets there will be. Cencosud keeps closing stores down.

Una histórica cadena de supermercados cerró 18 sucursales en medio de la crisis de Milei

crisis económica Javier Milei cierre de empresas supermercado despidos Cencosud. Qué cadena de supermercados cerró 18 sucursales.

www.eldestapeweb.com

 

[James Bond]

Look on bright side John. The longer Milei is President the less supermarkets there will be. Cencosud keeps closing stores down.

Una histórica cadena de supermercados cerró 18 sucursales en medio de la crisis de Milei

crisis económica Javier Milei cierre de empresas supermercado despidos Cencosud. Qué cadena de supermercados cerró 18 sucursales.

www.eldestapeweb.com

I guess this means they are not buying Carrefour. 🤣

 

[GlasgowJohn]

I guess this means they are not buying Carrefour. 🤣

The lastest rumour is that Carrefour may decide to stay .
Apparnetly none of the interested parties are willing to pay what Carrfeour are askin.

 

[ElQueso]

The lastest rumour is that Carrefour may decide to stay .
Apparnetly none of the interested parties are willing to pay what Carrfeour are askin.

This is what I also heard. They are stuck. No one has any money. The ones that bid wanted to pay next to nothing. In a year of declining sales it won't be easy.

 

[Betsy Ross]

The lastest rumour is that Carrefour may decide to stay .
Apparnetly none of the interested parties are willing to pay what Carrfeour are askin.

Decide or stuck staying?

 

[Cheap Bastard]

What annoys me is that you have to be a statistician to work out prices.
Why do they continue to have 2 x 1 offers , 3 x 2 offers and 4 x 3 offers every week?
Add in the second item with 50 , 60 , 70 or 80% off and you start to go crazy!
Of course all theses prices are inflated to allow the supermarkets to offer theses crazy discounts .
And the other big question , with which card to do i pay?
Depending on the day of the week , there will be a discount from the bank or the credit card company.
And sometimes these are in addition to the discounts mentioned before and sometimes they are not.
Bloody crazy.....

This is annoying! John why do they do this? Why don't they just lower the prices and sell more stuff? I really don't see anyone buying much at stores now.

 

[GlasgowJohn]

This is annoying! John why do they do this? Why don't they just lower the prices and sell more stuff? I really don't see anyone buying much at stores now.

@Cheap Bastard , I ask myself the same question.

In Spain, about 30 years ago, Mercadona, a small supermarket chain, announced that they would have no more special offers and no more weekly leaflets. they said from now SIEMPRE PRECIOS BAJOS

They are now the biggest supermarket group in Spain

 

[ElQueso]

@Cheap Bastard , I ask myself the same question.

In Spain, about 30 years ago, Mercadona, a small supermarket chain, announced that they would have no more special offers and no more weekly leaflets. they said from now SIEMPRE PRECIOS BAJOS

Thet are now the biggest supermnarket group in Spain

I just don't understand why any chains do that here? It's almost like they are all colluding with one another in this crazy system. The first chain that just came out and did this like Mercadona would get a flood of traffic. Everyone would go shopping there!

 

[Uncle Wong]

Man the stores look totally dead. Someone posted this video at 5:30 PM yesterday and no one around.

 

[GlasgowJohn]

I go into Jumbo every 10 - 14 days and quite often its as emprty as you see in the photo.

Its really only busy at the weeeknds when they have their Jumbo 100 promo.

 

[Finance Prof]

I go into Jumbo every 10 - 14 days and quite often its as emprty as you see in the photo.

Its really only busy at the weeeknds when they have their Jumbo 100 promo.

Wow how do they stay in business John? Is that the one you go to? I go to the Jumbo in Palermo and it is much slower than usual. The good thing is there are no lines now. I try to time going after the 15th of the month as I notice people are already out of money by the 3rd week of the month and it is much slower.

 

[Calgary Foodie]

I go into Jumbo every 10 - 14 days and quite often its as emprty as you see in the photo.

Its really only busy at the weeeknds when they have their Jumbo 100 promo.

We go to that Jumbo in Martinez and I have also gone and the only time it is busy is on the weekends. I would think they would want to do promos during the week instead of the weekend. But even on the weekend it is not as busy as it used to be. Everyone tightening their budget.

 

[GlasgowJohn]

Wow how do they stay in business John? Is that the one you go to? I go to the Jumbo in Palermo and it is much slower than usual. The good thing is there are no lines now. I try to time going after the 15th of the month as I notice people are already out of money by the 3rd week of the month and it is much slower.

 

[GlasgowJohn]

we go to the one in Escobar.

They must be having a tough time everywhere at the moment.