Vientiane - Post Report Question and Answers
How would you describe the availability and cost of groceries and household supplies relative to your home country?
Groceries are low cost, easily available, and if you're willing to pay more or travel for an item, you can find almost anything. You can spend less on fruits and vegetables if you go to local markets, or spend more for convenience by going to Rimping, the higher-end Thai grocery store in town. A French cafe called La Vanille carries select products from Carrefour, a few locally produced goods that are higher quality, such as soap, plus butter, cheese, ice cream, wine, and bakery items. A small shop called Siavone is surprisingly well stocked. If you drive over the border into Thailand, you can shop at a Costco-like store (no membership required), and down at the shopping mall in Udon Thani (1.5-2 hours by car) is a fancy grocery store. Eating out is relatively inexpensive, but not dirt cheap. - Dec 2024
Food is generally cheaper in Laos than the U.S. Rimping supermarket is a Thai supermarket with 2 locations in Laos that seems to have the largest selection of imported food. Local beef is not very tasty and you pay a lot for imported beef from the U.S./Australia/New Zealand. Most food items are imported into Laos. Imported cheeses and meats can be expensive but Cafe Vanille's market has a good selection of imported cheeses/cured meats and homemade yogurt/cheese. We go to Makro warehouse (like Costco) in Nongkhai, Thailand for fresher and slightly cheaper options for imported fruit (Korean strawberries, New Zealand apples, salmon) and Tops Supermarket at Central Udon Thani mall. We usually bring a cooler whenever we go to Thailand for grocery shopping. We know plenty of people who buy groceries within Laos without any issues. There are a few good bakeries in town as well. - Mar 2024
Cost of living in Laos is VERY cheap; however, I have found that the quality of food isn't that great. It is also very difficult to shop as there are 5 supermarkets total, but even so you find yourself having to buy things in multiple places. There is an organic market on Saturdays where you can get fresh veggies and fruits, and fruit stands throughout the city, but in terms of getting other items, I rely on consumable shipments or Amazon. - Mar 2023
If you shop locally, it's very cheap. Imported goods are more expensive and are relatively easy to find. Rimping Supermarket has a wide variety of choices and there are other smaller shops that stock up on western goods. - Jun 2020
There are a lot of small stores with a random assortment of western goods which makes finding things difficult. Stuff is around, but when/where is a challenge. The cost of western goods is also a lot higher. If you're willing to buy local products, it can be very cheap. - Oct 2018
While we were there, we were given a consumables shipment. So we did take advantage of that. Household supplies were found, just not as adequate as one may like from the U.S. Groceries, especially European and American ones could be found at Phimphone, Simeung, and the small "twin peaks" market for a cost higher than in the US. With the Embassy, we had access to the Commissary in Bangkok and 3 or 4 times a year we would arrange shipments of orders from Bangkok that would arrive via train and customers could pick up their items. We could receive frozen/fresh items on dry ice, dry items, sodas, etc. It was a good benefit. - Jan 2014
