"Shopping at grocery stores is a joke, even the high end places like Whole Foods. Here's a basic rule of thumb for markups:
Retail is 2x wholesale
Restaurants are 4x wholesale"
Yeah I was royally pissed when I discovered this in the case of young coconuts. Young coconuts are delicious. Whole Foods sells them for $3 a piece, and other stores sometimes for $2 if you're lucky. Then this woman at work told me they're $9 for 9 at the market by her. Sure enough, at my request, she brings me a case. I was fucking incredulous and annoyed at what a ripoff all the local markets are. Even in Koreatown, the price you'll get is $1.50 per coconut.
I noticed that markets will charge prices closer to wholesale on their "bread and butter," on products that they sell a lot of and that customers use as a guide to their prices overall. Whole milk at typical white bread markets is fairly cheap. Go to an Asian market, and the dairy prices are 50-100% higher, because Asians don't eat dairy. Less turnover means less profit, even if the margin is higher.
Costco is supposedly wholesale, but a lot of the stuff I want they don't sell. Like they don't sell the cheaper cuts of lamb or fresh sardines. Their tri tip is pretrimmed and costs $6-7 a lb, unless you buy the case untrimmed for $4.50 a lb.
Retail is 2x wholesale
Restaurants are 4x wholesale"
Yeah I was royally pissed when I discovered this in the case of young coconuts. Young coconuts are delicious. Whole Foods sells them for $3 a piece, and other stores sometimes for $2 if you're lucky. Then this woman at work told me they're $9 for 9 at the market by her. Sure enough, at my request, she brings me a case. I was fucking incredulous and annoyed at what a ripoff all the local markets are. Even in Koreatown, the price you'll get is $1.50 per coconut.
I noticed that markets will charge prices closer to wholesale on their "bread and butter," on products that they sell a lot of and that customers use as a guide to their prices overall. Whole milk at typical white bread markets is fairly cheap. Go to an Asian market, and the dairy prices are 50-100% higher, because Asians don't eat dairy. Less turnover means less profit, even if the margin is higher.
Costco is supposedly wholesale, but a lot of the stuff I want they don't sell. Like they don't sell the cheaper cuts of lamb or fresh sardines. Their tri tip is pretrimmed and costs $6-7 a lb, unless you buy the case untrimmed for $4.50 a lb.