The two largest grocery chains in the country are Jumbo and Líder. Líder is known for being cheaper for things you buy every day, such as cleaning products, paper products and food staples like rice and legumes. Jumbo is known for having more of a variety of ethnic foods and other imported items and better quality cheeses and cured meats. It is where you go for splurge items. Jumbo used to also have good beef, but the quality seems to be declining. These days we generally buy it at Tottus or a local butcher shop. Both offer online ordering.

There are also some smaller chains such as Unimarc, Santa Isabel (owned by the same company as Jumbo) and Tottus. They generally have less space, and hence, a more limited selection. However, Unimarc runs some worthwhile promotions, so keep an eye out for those. For example, right now for some items if you by a second unit you get a 70% discount. As I mentioned above, Tottus is good for beef and you also imported beers there that other supermarkets don’t carry. Outside of Santiago, there are also some small chains that serve certain regions or cities.

For produce, you can find the best prices at “ferias”, which are farmers’ markets. Most areas have a “feria” once or twice a week. There is also a large market in Recoleta called La Vega Central (http://www.lavegacentral.com/33/index.php) that has all types of food products.

I find that the widest variety of spices can be found at small shops called “tostadurías” or “frutos del país”. I buy spices in bulk there and use them to make ethnic spice blends that are expensive or hard to find, such as garam masala. I usually go to Tostaduría el Maní at Irarrázaval 2907 Ñuñoa. They also have other products like nuts and dried fruit, quinoa, bulgur wheat, etc. For Asian products, the Patronato area of Recoleta has several groceries that carry ingredients for Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Korean foods. There is also a chain called Chinese Mark that sells Asian products and has locations in several neighborhoods (http://www.chinesemark.cl/). In Bellavista, you can find ingredients for Middle Eastern food at Oriental Productos (http://www.orientalproductos.cl/). Some of their products are also found in larger supermarkets.

Other small neighborhood shops can sometimes have interesting products or surprisingly good prices. For example my neighborhood has a wine shop that has a nice variety of wines at better prices than the supermarket and also beers you can’t find elsewhere. They have special discounts for wine by the case, so you see many people stocking up for parties there. There is also a small gourmet shop near my house that has a good cheese selection, and again their prices are less than at the supermarket. I was surprised, but the owner mentioned to me that he also supplies items to restaurants, so he sells more volume than you would think for a small shop.

I will write a second post on shopping for other items.

 

Outside Santiago the choices are more limited.
Lider is owned by Wal-Mart so they have some Wal-Mart brand products available.
I like to buy local so we shop at the ferias which are lower priced because they are tax free.
We also shop at the local panaderia for daily fresh bread, the local fruit & vegie stand, and the meat markets.
Almost every small town has these basics.
The grocery stores have almost anything you need but not as many choices. For example, you want to buy catsup. You may have 4 choices instead of the 10+ choices you may have in the States.
One thing I still don't like is everything is in bags - mayo, catsup, mustard, etc. and the spices come in very small bags. Nothing supersized here! and no warehouse shopping I miss Costco.

 

For spices, places called tostadurías o frutos del país are a better bet than the supermarket. They have more variety and you can buy by weight so you can choose however much you want to buy. They are small stores, that also sell stuff like nuts, dried fruit, grains, sometimes pet food, etc-