In the past, I used to go to hypermarket once a week or every two weeks to shop for grocery items. However, it has been months since I last been to any hypermarkets. Nowadays I buy most of my groceries from 99 Speedmart.
I have written a previous article on Why I enjoy buying things from Speedmart 99 last year. The article still rings true and most of my grocery shopping is done in Speedmart. I would go to Speedmart about 3 times a week.
Why I have been buying items from Speedmart instead of going to hypermarket:
1. Speedmart outlets are more easily accessible
There is a Speedmart outlet within walking distance from my home. It is easier to just take a walk down than to drive out, find parking and walk a distance from the parking to the hypermart (you often need to walk a little and go up the travelator to get to the hypermart itself).
2. More savings
In Speedmart, I more or less know what type of products and brands that they carry because I go to their stores so often. I noticed that I tend to spend more at hypermarkets because as I walk in, there are so many enticing offers that causes me to end up buying items that I do not really need or buying in larger quantity than necessary. Not only I have to spend on petrol, I ended up spending more time and money on purchases.
The price of the items in Speedmart are reasonable. They may not be the cheapest, but it is reasonable, ie not too expensive. The store setup in Speedmart is not designed to make you stay in the store for a long time. It is really a no frills store. Basically you would just walk straight to the aisle where you want the item, pick it up and proceed straight to counter to pay. I’ve observe this behavior in most of the customers as well. That is why you tend not to waste too much of money.
3. If you live a simple lifestyle, you have almost all the things that you need
Reason I spend most of my groceries at Speedmart is because they have almost all the items that I need. They have Royal Gold brand, which is the tissue brand that I’ve used for years and they sell some items that my mom like to eat. My favourite cili sauce brand is “Koki Kampong Koh” brand which is available at their stores. I buy local brands for my peanut butter and chocolate spread which is affordable and taste quite okay (I am not too picky). I am also getting my rice and dog biscuit supply long term from Speedmart.
As I have mentioned in my previous article, if you go to Speedmart often enough, you may be able to identify a particular outlet or a few which have convenient parking after office hours or on weekends. Some outlets are located in quieter area. I tend to drive to those outlets (usually as an outing or while visiting other places) to buy heavier items such as rice or dog food. I like it that some of their stores have ample parking on weekends and it is like you can just park right in front. Also there is hardly any long queue. Even if there is a queue, you would probably be standing behind people who are buying one or few items.
When going to hypermarket or other stores is better:
This article would be totally bias if I do not mention about why hypermarkets can be better. If you have a large family which you need to shop for, then you would need everything in large quantities- rice, cooking oil, biscuits, dry food, soap powder, fresh produce, etc.
You would be juggling so many roles that time is very limited- so you would probably be able to spare time to go for grocery shopping once a week and if you are doing the cooking at home, the most important priority for you would be that you want to find everything under the same roof. My friends who are juggling a day job, being a mother, wife, daughter-in-law would always shop at places like Tesco, NSK, Giant and Econsave.
The larger outlets are often wheelchair and children friendly- some have access to children playground and also food court and restaurants to enable the family to have their meals comfortably. Sometimes the shopping also becomes a family outing. For example, if I am bringing my mom along (who uses a wheelchair), I definitely cannot shop at Speedmart. I would need to go to hypermarket to do my grocery shopping and then perhaps have a meal there.
Conclusion:
Reason I wanted to write this article is because I have realized that when I was working, I often bought too much things from hypermarts that I ended up not needing. Also the additional items causes clutter and requires me to find storage space for them.
Now that I am a caregiver, I have to learn to save as I no longer have the nice monthly paycheck and I find I am able to save more when I shop at Speedmart (even though their items may not necessarily be the cheapest but I still save because I ended up buying lesser items overall).
But if you have a large family or even if you are just cooking for a small family, you may choose to drop by at a hypermart once a week to do all the shopping that you need to the week. It differs from each individual/ family.
