Hermosillo - 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 pretty simple here. If your searching for a specific specialized ingredient it might take you a few tries, but even our Walmart here carries Korean gochujang! Produce is good quality based on seasons and you have to take care to wash all local produce. Chicken, beef, pork, seafood, are all easy to find and good quality. Dairy is abundant. And anything you are really missing or craving you are can drive north to AZ and stock up. - Jun 2023
Groceries are cheaper than the US, especially compared to DC. Meat is cheap and high quality. The best grocery stores are Taste and Soriana, but there is also a Costco and multiple Walmarts. It is rare that I can't find what I'm looking for, but it does happen. Sometimes a small store won't have peanut butter. It is hard to find root beer, even though it is very popular in Hermosillo at root beer stands. But there is nothing that you can't find that would result in anything more than a mild annoyance. - Sep 2022
Fantastic. There is a plethora of options Costco (where your membership works in the U.S. too), Sams Club, Walmart, Taste, Soriana, etc. There is also a store called Jung Real Food that provides healthy food options including some vegan and gluten- free products. Groceries are very affordable along with a myriad of cheap restaurants throughout the city. - Sep 2022
Costco, WalMart, Soraya (a grocery store), and Home Depot are our main go-tos. Cost of groceries is about the same in the U.S. For any receipt over $50, one can request a VAT refund, just be sure to submit the request for the "factura" ASAP, or the time permitted to request it may expire. The only things that we miss are Asian specialty foods, or "Mexican" food that you would find in the U.S., like hard-shell tacos. There are no stores like IKEA, but there are furniture shops. - Aug 2022
Groceries are definitely cheaper than in the US. Strangely enough, the supply is quite limited, as all most of the best items go straight to the US. We find ourselves buying a lot of produce at Costco (go figure). We buy only fruits, vegetables, eggs, and meat here. Everything else we import via Amazon or Tucson trips. Since our arrival, there have been more and more natural foods/organic products popping up that we try to support. You can buy organic beets, carrots, cilantro, etc., and organic eggs. But there are no organic dairy products here. - Aug 2015
We have access to some decent grocery stores, several WalMarts and a Costco. Prices are more expensive than in the US since everything is imported. The quality of the good isn't great (other than Costco). I stock up at Target on our trips to Tucson or have things sent through Amazon. - Apr 2013
For anything of quality you should be prepared to pay the same or maybe more than what you pay in the U.S. That said, you can get most of what you would normally purchase in the U.S., and what you can't get you can order by mail or pick up in Tucson on an occasional shopping trip. - Dec 2009
Fresh vegetables, fruits, and meats (chicken, beef, pork, dairy, seafood) are lower priced in Hermosillo than in Arizona. They also tend to be fresher and less laden with preservatives as they are grown in Sonora for local consumption and don't require preservatives to survive long transportation times. Prepackaged food items (from your favorite brand of mayonnaise to baby food to t.v. dinners) are available although not in the variety that they are in U.S. supermarkets. They are also pricier than in the U.S. My family's supermarket bill in Hermosillo tends to run about 30% lower than in Arizona. - Feb 2008
