Is Value dollar shop, a good place to shop ?

[malcontent]

Valu$ is one of the few retailers here that understands driving higher volume at lower unit margin can still make good money.

Some skeptics I’ve run into are wary of the products sold there - they just can’t accept it can be THAT cheap. I can vouch for the products imported from the US, they are in the original packaging and still priced a bit higher than the US... so while the might seem too good to be true for Singapore, reality is that “normal” prices at Watsons/NTUC are simply outrageous... the buying public has been “conditioned” to believe it is normal.

Take Prego pasta sauce for S$3.99, this converts to US$2.99... the exact same product in the US is US$1.99 (or less if on sale).

[Splatted]

Chocolates are from a different market, and might not be made with exactly the same recipe as bought here. ( Some tasted way sweeter. ). Others like snickers, and bounty tasted okay

Some items I believe are seconds/rejects, eg batteries can be a hit and miss. There have been several occasions where AA batteries had a shorter life than I normally would get for a name-brand (Energiser).

Also, a few times I had a customer come into the business I work in to try and troubleshoot why their device isn't working. It turned out the button batteries CR2032 they bought from value shop recently were dead when he bought them. He replaced them again with new ones from a local supermarket, and the device worked perfectly.

[Max Headroom]

It doesn't make sense to me; in a country as competitive, as Darwinian, as Singapore, if and when you're provably able to set a higher margin, you do. You wouldn't instead opt for lower margin and then try to make up for it by hoping to make money through scaling up.

I think that the only real reason these items are sold so much cheaper than elsewhere is because there's something "wrong" with them one way or the other. Yes, they may be manufactured in an EM country, with slightly different taste, or perhaps they're on the verge of expiring, or perhaps a consignment has been condemned in another jurisdiction on a technicality.

I also wouldn't discount the fact that some may be counterfeit. Sure, there are checks and balances in place here to prevent this, but I reckon it's never a good idea to underestimate human resourcefulness when it comes to making a buck.

When it comes to things I ingest or lather up with, I feel better buying from the bigger and established players - at a higher price. Still no guarantee of course, but at least someone with a lot to lose is accountable.

Bandaids, storage containers and similar such doohicky items no issue of course.

[malcontent]

I have rarely been disappointed by a purchase from Valu$, but then I’m pretty selective about what I buy. I can say that imported items from the US are legit, same packaging & quality as I get in the US.

One item to avoid - the canned Carnation milk which is labeled for Thailand, it’s a different formulation than the Singapore product... maybe it’s just fine for Cha Yen (Thai Tea) but it was horrible in my pumpkin pie!

[Lisafuller]

Most of the things sold at valu$ are of reasonable quality. Like malcontent, I have rarely been disappointed. There is a relatively large selection of snacks and most are a great value for money. I always pay special attention to the country of origin when considering whether to buy a product. Like malcontent says, some have different formulas as they are made for different consumers, so you may not get what you were expecting. On a whole though, it definitely lives up to its name.