Everyday items to bring from the US to Singapore

[Lisafuller]

Here is a great example at Fair Price “plain” Cheerios for S$10.50 and this is not even the family sized box.

https://fairprice.com.sg/product/gen-mi ... g-13058714

I have overhead staff in the grocery stores commenting that some products are strictly targeted at “ang mohs” (white folks) with an “ang moh price” - also known as a skin tax!

This is definitely true. Products targeted at the Western consumer are typically heavily marked up, in comparison to local products, which are priced much more cheaply.

This is true, but to be honest, even local staple items like rice, oil, chicken, eggs, etc - at best they are similar in price to what you get in the US (eg. they sell bulk rice at the Asian grocery stores at a similar price in the US). Very few items here have surprised me in terms of how cheap they are. Many more items have surprised me in terms of how expensive they are!

Every time we go back to the US and go to the grocery store, there are always a lot of oohs and aahs, so many things are half or even a third of what it costs here! When we come back, we always run out of luggage space and have to box things, and then we run out of trunk and seating space in the car - it’s always a squeeze all the way to the airport!

Same here! Every time we go back to the US, its amazing to see the differences in price. Economically though, the price makes sense. When you import 90% of your food supply, you have to mark it up by a bit or make a loss.

[Myasis Dragon]

Same here! Every time we go back to the US, its amazing to see the differences in price. Economically though, the price makes sense. When you import 90% of your food supply, you have to mark it up by a bit or make a loss.

It's not only imports... container cargo is really very cheap, it's real estate prices. Per square foot prices are much higher in Singapore.

Unlike most US stores of any size, which have their own vast storage areas, most Singapore stores are only able to stock limited amounts of inventory because of space restrictions and the cost of real estate.

Thus, instead of one delivery every week or two by one large truck, there are multiple smaller deliveries made by multiple smaller trucks and this drives up costs.

Same for the warehouses. A food distributor in the USA will have a massive warehouse, permitting them to buy volume quantities of goods for redistribution. Singapore is again limited by space, and smaller volumes cost more.

[Lisafuller]

Same here! Every time we go back to the US, its amazing to see the differences in price. Economically though, the price makes sense. When you import 90% of your food supply, you have to mark it up by a bit or make a loss.

It's not only imports... container cargo is really very cheap, it's real estate prices. Per square foot prices are much higher in Singapore.

Unlike most US stores of any size, which have their own vast storage areas, most Singapore stores are only able to stock limited amounts of inventory because of space restrictions and the cost of real estate.

Thus, instead of one delivery every week or two by one large truck, there are multiple smaller deliveries made by multiple smaller trucks and this drives up costs.

Same for the warehouses. A food distributor in the USA will have a massive warehouse, permitting them to buy volume quantities of goods for redistribution. Singapore is again limited by space, and smaller volumes cost more.

True. One thing I wish we had here were wholesalers like Costco or Sam’c club in America. Huge selection of products for a nice discount.

[malcontent]

I think the pricing logic is this, either:

A: you are an expat, and even though you might know it’s cheaper elsewhere, you’ll probably pay a few bucks more for the convenience of buying it together with the rest of your other groceries.

~ or ~

B. you are a local who probably doesn’t buy the stuff regularly and won’t know what it costs outside, so pricing it high might make you feel like you are eating something more special than it really is.

FairPrice knows they are not pricing it fairly, but they justify it by pointing out the fair prices they offer on a few key staple items. In fact, there is one time I heard this very excuse when they were probed about why they aren’t pricing everything fairly.

One time an old neighborhood uncle came up to me and went on a rant about how little discount senior citizens were given at FairPrice, he was so disgusted he told me they should just keep the discount - it’s an insult to him!

[malcontent]

True. One thing I wish we had here were wholesalers like Costco or Sam’c club in America. Huge selection of products for a nice discount.

They have the Warehouse Club out in Tuas, and they even carry a few Kirkland brand items, but don’t expect the same kind value you get at Costco. It’s also owned by FairPrice, so close to 80% of what they sell is redundant and priced no better.

The idea of giving a significant discount for buying large quantities is completely lost on businesses here. Valu$ is the first retailer I’ve seen here that understands the Walmart model of running a business based on volume.

It is not unusual to see smaller quantities on sale while larger quantities are left at a higher price. But the most common is to find the exact same price whether you buy 1 or 100, makes no difference. I am told this is due to historical reasons, Singapore has always been a trading port and this is a traders mentality, just apply a simple mark up on cost.

The other funny thing here is the way they put things on sale, sometimes it’s a ridiculously small % off like 5% which maybe fools a few people, but I immediately dismiss it as not even being on sale! What a joke.

There are lots of other structural issues that cause high prices here, from restrictions put on distributors so they can’t sell to consumers to manufacturers being allowed to set fixed prices so no matter where you buy it, it’s the same price. It’s business friendly, but certainly not consumer friendly.

[MOCHS]

The Asian diet is generally not dairy heavy in the first place... And also lactose intolerant. Of course it’ll cost more to import something we naturally don’t have since we don’t have swaths of land to rear cows. Eating what the locals eat will naturally be cheaper in the long run.

Even after drinking milk from Japanese, Australian, and Malaysian brands, hubby says they all taste odd to him and still prefers milk from the US. Must be the grass the cows eat. *shrug* Switched to soy milk in the end as it’s cheaper.

Funny enough, I did go to Sheng Siong and Giant which are supposedly the most budget friendly ones out of all the supermarket chains. For the same product, Fairprice was actually cheaper! I did not check just one item, I checked a few and Fairprice still won on price. I was surprised.

[malcontent]

Sheng Siong prices aren’t as cheap as they used to be. Hershey’s chocolate syrup is a great example. This is an item that has always had an abnormally large mark-up in Singapore with a lot of opportunity to offer it at a lower markup and still turn a good profit (should any retailer choose to) and Sheng Siong did just that in the early years - selling it for S$3.99 versus the typical $6.45 at Cold Storage. But in recent years they have been taking it up incrementally, and at present it is “on sale” at $4.99. I believe it is still possible to get it for $3.99 at Valu$ if they have stock. But this is not an isolated example, I’ve seen several other items at Sheng Siong suffer the same fate.

[Myasis Dragon]

I have a theory that the gahmen actively discourages big box stores of every kind... IKEA excepted. The last thing close to a big box, Walmart like store in Singapore was Carrefour and both of their stores closed in 2012.

I judge that the gahmen would rather have many small mom and pop stores, even if more costly, than one or two big box stores. The reason is simple.

In a downturn, the small stores continue to survive at a reduced level but the family and friends remain employed... perhaps less hours, perhaps less pay... but employed.

But the big box stores? What do they do in a downturn? They lay off people. And in a small place like Singapore, where do the laid off people go to find jobs? They don't, not if Walmart laid off 300 or 400 all at once.

Imagine how many dinky ass handy stores would be displaced in Home Depot setup a superstore in Singapore... not that it would be a bad thing from a consumer perspective... but aside from real estate costs, I think the gahmen actively discourages this type of retail activity.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Kmart also didn't last long (was here about 25 years ago, from 1994 to 1996). I actually bought an original Iron Horse MTB from them for my 50th birthday just before they closed.

[x9200]

I have a theory that the gahmen actively discourages big box stores of every kind... IKEA excepted. The last thing close to a big box, Walmart like store in Singapore was Carrefour and both of their stores closed in 2012.

I judge that the gahmen would rather have many small mom and pop stores, even if more costly, than one or two big box stores. The reason is simple.

In a downturn, the small stores continue to survive at a reduced level but the family and friends remain employed... perhaps less hours, perhaps less pay... but employed.

Or the gahmen calculated the risk of such event based on early signs of online shopping era finally arriving to Singapore. Redmart/Lazada or Amazon are already far beyond anything Carrefour ever locally was in terms of employment and operation.

[malcontent]

That could be a motive, but I strongly suspect it’s much more about who stands to benefit financially from the success or failure of a particular retailer.

Sheng Siong may be considered low end here, but check out #31 on Forbes.

https://www.forbes.com/profile/lim-hock-chee/

I’m honestly surprised Valu$ has been allowed to continue operating here. They are essentially a gray goods store, getting cheap parallel imports of similar items and selling them in volume at low prices.

[x9200]

Agreed, it's probably much more complex than simple job security and other such possible concerns of the gahment.

[HogHollow]

Thanks for the recommendations on Fairprice, Sheng Siong, and Cold Storage. I Googled these stores, and found a Fairprice and a Cold Storage both within a 5 minute walk from my apartment, which is catty-corner from Great World Mall.

I'll go check these places out for the local brands too, since I'm not opposed to buying them as long as the nutritional value isn't compromised from what I consume in America.

[malcontent]

I'm not opposed to buying them as long as the nutritional value isn't compromised from what I consume in America.

Nutritional value is going to be a tough one to judge, but generally people here eat more fresh food than packaged, compared to the US.

Brands are less prevalent and often less meaningful compared to the West.

Around 90% of what is sold in grocery stores here is imported, but one exception is eggs.

Singapore has achieved egg self-sufficiency, so most eggs sold here are locally laid. You’ll notice they don’t refrigerate the eggs — they’ve been zapped (bacteria free). There are no standard egg sizes, so for a typical 10 pack you take the total grams and move the decimal one place. Some here may be surprised that the US actually sets standards for egg sizes:

Extra Large 63.8g
Large 56.7g
Medium 49.6g

US recipes often call for “large eggs” so you’ll want to look for at least a 550g pack in that case.

[MOCHS]

You might even lose weight here too. Hubby lost 10kg within 2 months of moving here and he didn’t even intensify his exercise routine. He says the food here isn’t as sugary as the US. He has maintained his weight ever since and he moved here 2 years ago.