If you stay at a resort with a kitchenette in your room, you will be tempted to cook occasionally. Glad you decided to rent a car because now you can explore the amazing options for buying groceries on our island.
Rule No. 1: if a supermarket is within walking distance of your resort, prices will be high.
You should buy where the locals refill their fridges. On every corner or block, you will see small convenience stores, mostly operated by Chinese families. Surprisingly, these small stores offer decent prices on basic products. They usually carry US brands. Don't expect any fancy cheeses, wines, or meat products here.
Carrefour is an international supermarket brand with several locations on Sint Maarten. The main store is located in the Philipsburg area, another large one in Cole Bay. In Jordan Village, there is another smaller market serving the cluster of condominiums, while a mid-sized installation is at Porto Cupecoy.
Carrefour has a complete selection of US brands, but also a broad assortment of European products. The choices for cheese and meat will satisfy every gourmet. If you are a visitor from the US, we urge you to leave your comfort zone in small steps. Try to purchase some European products and compare them to the counterparts you are accustomed to. Especially for dairy products, you might notice a striking difference in quality.
Baked goods are a European specialty. There are a few ambitious bakeries on the island. Try Cafe Atlantico in Simpson Bay or Baccus in Nettle Bay to find variations of bread you never knew existed.
Now to the markets on French St-Martin. Super-U is the leading brand here, offering unbeatable prices. This market also attracts flocks of Dutch side residents for their grocery shopping. There is a large market at the Howell Center in Marigot and another one in the commercial district of Hope Estates on the Eastern side of the island. Super-U sells French products.
Monoprix is the market you want to visit if you are into fine food. They are not budget-priced, but the quality of products offered on the shelves is second to none. The store is located at the Bellevue shopping center at the entrance to Marigot, coming from the Dutch side.
Again, the 'Chinese' supermarkets, as they are unabashedly and politically incorrectly called by the locals, carry about the same range of products as the ones on the Dutch side. Do not pay in Euro here: most residents use the US Dollars and the stores usually accept the currencies one to one. If you pay in Euro, you overpay by 20 percent.
Super-U, Monoprix, and the chain of smaller Cadisco markets will all convert Euro to Dollar at the daily rate.
Now to a touchy subject: prices. Please have a look at the images below. Identical packages of Mozzarella cheese sell for very different prices. On the Dutch side, they charge USD 10.43, at Super-U on the French side the same container goes for Euro 2.75 or USD 3.30.
This example of an extreme price difference is no exception. Expect to pay for a pound of quality coffee USD 5.40 on the Dutch side and USD 1.50 on French St-Martin.
Of course, you are on vacation, and these details of island living might not really concern you. But if you are a bargain hunter back home in North America, dutifully cutting out coupons to guarantee the best deals, you might enjoy switching your MO on SXM to directly compare prices.
Comments powered by CComment