Speedmart99 mini markets (pasar mini) have really mushroomed all over Malaysia in these recent years. Generally, they sell all items at quite reasonable price. It is a place where I now buy most of my groceries from (fresh items I still get from the local wet market though).
For those visiting Malaysia, at times you may want to look for packaged food, drinks or toiletries. If you happened to see a Speedmart store nearby, I would really recommend that you buy from there.
Why do I prefer Speedmart99 compared to hypermarkets or other grocery stores:
1. Generally items at Speedmart are reasonably priced.
For example, biscuits or drinks that are on best buy offer in hypermarkets are sometimes even more expensive than what is being sold in Speedmart. Also, if you visit a hypermarket, you would tend to spend much more – you would go there for 10 items but ended up with your entire trolley full.
2. They have most of items that you need
They sell most of the essential items ranging from packaged food, drinks, vegetables, pet food, slippers, bathroom essential items, basic hardware products, toiletries, some medicine, rice, oil and many others. They have many outlets so if you suddenly need something and you do not want to pay a bomb for it, you can just go there and grab the item and pay for it.
3. All outlets carries similar items. When you walk in, you know what to expect.
Just like in Thailand when you walk into their 7 Eleven stores, you basically know what to expect because they sell very similar items. Similarly for Speedmart in Malaysia…. you know that you can get your favourite brand of peanut butter, biscuits, basic baking and grocery items. Even their aisles layout is similar so if you are in a hurry, you would sort of know where the items are even if it is the first time you go into the particular outlet.
4. Better savings to shop at Speedmart compared to hypermarket
I don’t know about you. But generally I do not end up spending a lot from Speedmart. However, I would easily spend hundreds of ringgit in hypermarket. In hypermarkets, sometimes I know their items are more expensive but I need the item and since I am already there, I might as well buy it.
Hypermarket would advertise sales of some selected items….they make the price real cheap and when you are there you would ended buying a trolley full of other items. Many of that you may not need but you have bought it anyway because it was ‘on offer’ or ‘you thought you may need it’.
5. Easy to get parking at certain Speedmart outlets
Before Speedmart, I would go to hypermarkets to get my household items, groceries and packaged food. It is a hassle to drive to the nearest one, get a parking then walk a distance, get my stuff, then stuck in a long queue to pay, then walk back a distance to my car to unload the items.
With Speedmart, I’ve marked a few Speedmart outlets which I know I would get easy parking during weekends because they are located in areas where they are less traffic. I just parked literally right in front of their doorstep, get my items, go to the counter (usually the queue is not long or there is no queue at all).
Many of their outlets are not located in high traffic area so at first I was worried that they would not survive because they would be less people visiting. But seems that their business model and strategy had worked and going stronger …..judging from the new outlets that are mushrooming all over the place.
For the full listing of their outlets, you may visit their website at http://www.99speedmart.com.my/store.htm.
