Chiang Mai - Post Report Question and Answers

You can get almost anything you want or need here in Chiang Mai, including excellent quality and variety of fresh organic produce, organic meats and eggs, as well as imported western snacks and condiments, including a surprising amount of health food items. The supply chain seems fairly stable with the same imported items usually available in stores on regular basis. Household supplies are plentiful and cheap. There are big box stores similar to Wal-Mart (Big C) and Target (Tesco-Lotus) here with pretty much anything you could find at big box stores back in the States. There are plenty of mom and pop brick and mortar and online vendors that sell all-natural cleaning products as well. The price of imported items are obviously more expensive than in the States, but organic produce and meats from international grocery stores (Rimping and Tops) are about the same price. Purchasing produce and meat from a local market would bring that price down considerably, but for convenience sake, we do all our shopping at the international grocery stores. - Mar 2019

If you shop in the local markets, food is cheap. A household of 4 can buy groceries for US$40 per week. If you shop in a western-style supermarket (e.g. Rimping, Tops, Carrefour), you can expect to spend nearly as much as you would in the U.S. Certain things are cheaper--meat and vegetables--but imported items are more expensive. You can find most anything, even gourmet items, easily. - May 2007