New Villa Market Open

[bkkjames]

I like Villa a lot especially for those hard to find things - but I find the produce very high priced? Am I alone in this assumption - watermelon 149 baht?

Lot of their products seems to be aimed at people who are afraid to eat things from Thailand. Lot is imported or organic. I try not to buy produce there, but sometimes it's easier to just pay than go to two places.

Afraid? why afraid? Maybe Thai every day or even most of the time doesn't appeal to some, I know it doesn't appeal to me.. I like a variety of foods including Thai, why have only vanilla when you can also have chocolate, etc. etc.?

so if the broccoli i looked at was imported organic from oz or similar - how do they ship it here - by air? Does organic brocolli stay fresh longer than non-organic? This is a serious question, I kind understand it being grown organically at the source, but I really wonder how they ship it - not by truck, so must be by air? wow, if true, no wonder it's expensive. or do they grown it organic and someone sprays it with something to keep it from going bad? (this is not a unique question for Villa - seen imported organic veggies elsewhere).

[WarpSpeed]

Given the short shelf life of many of their veggies which is one draw back to cost as well it would be reasonable to assume that it is flown in and not treated. I buy much of my Tomatoes there as only Tops super can compete but runs out a lot, local tomatoes only good for cooking with but not making sandwiches with.. I don't buy many of the other veggies because of the cost and short self life I can get most everything they have at Tops Super for much less and we have a local fresh market we buy from. But there are specialty items I get there that no one else carries or are also carried by Tops but may be out of.. Some things they have like white cherries for example are no different then Tops but unjustifiably much more expensive IMO.

I have a hard time buying into this myth (no pun intended) about organically grown justifying such a higher cost, I feel it's more of a gimmick we all managed to grow up and live off of the very same grown veggies without "organically grown" and life expectancy is longer now too..

In fact the veggies most of us grew up on were prior to or around the dawn of the modern age of fertilizers and pesticides and actually grown in a more "organic" state yet the veggies were LESS expensive then they are now so why such a price difference?? It's just more media hype IMO.

Edited August 28, 2011 by WarpSpeed

[hehehoho]

Anyone know if one of their branches definitely stock cans of Guinness?

I've looked around a few Villa's and Foodlands but to no avail. I'm looking for a definite sighting if anyone knows of any.

[MrJohnson]

Just spent 1500 at villa, would have been 1650 if I didn't put back that medium sized head of broccoli.

I live at the top end of Sukhumvit and my closest Villa is at Soi 11. I would agree that their range of groceries is very good, not so much fruit and vegetables but there is an abundance of other places for that. I would also agree that generally speaking their staff are very good, knowledgeable and helpful. However the Soi 11 Villa seems to be forever changing their ails and location of their products. In all seriousness it is almost on a monthly basis. Consequently I wonder around in circles looking for the stuff that used to be in aisle 3 but which has now been re-classified and moved to the end of aisle 7. It sounds trivial but is quite frustrating when you just drop in for a few specific items and it is a guessing game as to where they are now housed. I actually spoke to the owner there one day and he just shrugged his shoulders. Simple solution. Go back to using the Villa near Soi 33. In my opinion, the best of them all. There, I've got that off my chest. Clearly, a quiet morning.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Like some of the other Villa stores, the Soi 11 branch has been going through a re-organization lately.... But it looks like they're almost finished with shifting around the shelves and display locations...though a lot of their shelve items still don't have price tags attached as yet.. because of all the reshuffling...

As for the produce there, for some reason, in the past few months, the quality and range of selection for their produce seems to have taken a serious downhill slide...

Just as one example, I used to buy tomatoes there for lunch sandwiches... But after getting several packaged 4 packs where the tomatoes facing down toward the packaging (and thus invisible to see until opening) were split and had already gone bad, I gave up on those...

Surprisingly, the Gourmet Market at Paragon has an excellent selection of good produce, including tomatoes... You just have to be a bit careful, since they usually have several different versions of the exact same thing... maybe one imported, one organic, one locally grown etc...

The regular locally grown items are competitive in price with what Villa and Tops offer, and usually seem to be fresher and of better quality. The important and organic stuff, of course, is significantly higher in price, as it would be at other markets too.

Foodland Soi 5 used to have an excellent, broad selection of affordable produce.... But with that store closed temporarily for reconstruction, the offerings at the nearby Soi 16 outlet don't seem to be as broad... I'm hoping the Soi 5 branch will reopen later this year as promised.

[nocturn]

It's the little things in life.

200 baht.

The Howie's are 79 baht.

cllaussen are even more dear, but better and usually in stock