Canadians just can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to groceries, so many are going south of the border to try and get a better deal.
TikToker @sarahgrieveeeSarah documented her trip to Bellingham, where she went to check out WinCo Foods, a grocery store chain in the US. According to its Google business page, WinCo Foods is an “Employee-owned 24/7 supermarket chain with discounted groceries & bulk foods, plus a deli & bakery.”
“It’s huge and not busy for a Saturday,” they said in the video. They then showed a bulk bin of bagels for $0.68 USD (that’s about $0.94 CAD) and said that everything they saw was “so cheap.”
@sarahgrieveee Replying to @Goldensky321 Winco was great! Definitely will go back!! Where should I go next? 😊#vancouver #bellingham #crossbordershopping #usadaytrip #bellinghamtrip #winco #fredmeyer #crossborder #groceryhaul #shoppinghaul #dayinmylife #dayinthelife #vlog #picnic #groceryshopping #grocerystore #shopping ♬ sonido original – SONIDOS LARGOS
“They also had a lot of ice cream cakes and also had so many good items in their bakery section,” they said.
Many people in the comments of the video expressed their love for the grocery store.
“I loveeee Winco,” said @shelleybeanm.
Screenshot/TikTok
However, people also had many questions. User @vancitybetts said, “68¢ for a bagel excellent !! But that 68¢ US,” to which the creator replied, “I was just showing them cause of the berry flavour I’ve never seen. But in general a lot (especially meats) were MUCH cheaper even with the exchange.”
So we did some sleuthing and compared bagels’ prices with some local spots. While we aren’t entirely sure what berry flavour these WinCo bagels were, for $4.99 CAD, you can snag a bag of six blueberry bagels made fresh in-store at Loblaws City Market at The Post. Six of WinCo’s bagels would have cost $5.64 CAD.
Similarly, blueberry bagels at Save On Foods cost $3.99 and $4.47 CAD at Walmart (though you can get these as a two-for-six deal), but neither of these options were made fresh in-store.
Many comments went on to say that meat was the thing to buy at WinCo, and even the creator of the video acknowledged this by responding to a comment asking about the meat prices with “Cheap!!!!.”
Unfortunately, WinCo does not provide the price of meat on its website, making it difficult to get an exact comparison. However, a Reddit thread in r/Seattle showed what $30 could get you at the bulk grocery store. One of the items on that list was boneless skinless chicken breast strips, which cost $4.48 USD per pound. In CAD, that is $6.19.
At Walmart, we found a similar size of chicken breast for $9.43 CAD per pound ($2.08 per 100g, or $20.80 per kg). However, these chicken breasts were not cut into strips, thus potentially reducing the cost.
“If you bought chicken breast instead of the thin sliced ones it could be about half that amount per pound,” commented one user on the Reddit thread.
So, is it worth the trip? Well, that depends.
For starters, gas. WinCo in Bellingham is about 85 km away from Vancouver, and according to Google Maps, it can take anywhere between an hour and 15 minutes and two hours to get there.
Even if you were to buy that gas in the States during your WinCo visit, it would still cost you a pretty penny. As of writing this article, gas at the closest Shell Gastation to WinCo Bellingham is $4.70 USD per gallon, which is $1.71 CAD per litre. An 85 km trip there and 85 km back home will cost you around $30 CAD for a round trip.
And don’t think you can fill up some extra jerry cans on your trip without paying some extra fees. Additionally, you might end up paying some pesky duty fees on your purchases as well, especially if you’re spending less than 24 hours over the border.
So if you’re going on a trip down to the States and want to stock up on groceries, then yes, WinCo is a safe bet. But if you’re making a dedicated trip over the border just to get your groceries, then it might not be the best deal.
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