Yes, it really adds up when you make a day-trip to St. Thomas.
For starters, the roundtrip car barge fare is $45.
No, you don't visit Coral World or even the newly-reopened Mountain Top. No window shopping along Front street in Charliotte Amalie, trying to figure out which deals are real.
No, you go to the mundane places when you own a villa. You stock up on food, light bulbs, matress covers, hamburger, broasted chicken, beer – all those things which sustain life and keep the villa looking great and comfortable for guests.
Some surprises when you look at the receipt. The big bottle of Coke we pay 99-cents for in Virginia; $1.79 here. But Tomatoes on the vine, $2.99 a pound, same as at the Safeway in Va. Safeway wants $5.99 for 1/2 pint of blueberries, CostuLess sold us a pint for $4.69. Triscuits 1 dime cheaper than Safeway, $3.69. Starkist Tuna, $6.49 for two cans, but in the states, Safeway asks $6.99. Then of course there's the beer and the wine.
We spent about $200 at CostuLess, perhaps buying a little heavier than usual since we'll have some friends from Maine joining us at the end of the week. I told Mrs. Inquiring Iguana I was surprised some of the prices were cheaper than stateside. To which, she uttered, "Well, I'm a good shopper!"
We also roamed the isles at Kmart, looking for household furnishings things like a Welcome mat, light bulbs, a lampshade, some mattress covers and so on. That was another $200.
And that's how you do the island on $500 a day.
- CostULess says it has online shopping at the St. Thomas store here.
I visited the Cost u less in Sonora, California on the way to Yosemite park over the holidays. Practically the same store. Same brands with more choices on St Thomas. Despite being only 130 miles from San Francisco the prices were about +/- 10% different from St Thomas. Beer was cheaper of course but liquor was much more expensive. Rumor has it that they opened the Sonora store because a co-owner’s parents live there. The town itself only has 4500 residents. Who knows how many live in the hills.
The new LeBrea bread comes from the Oakland Calif wharehouse transhipped from the LA bakery possibly via Costco. Because of this Cost u less is starting to carry a lot of bread items from San Francisco. The coffee was the first sign. With a little luck we’ll start getting a lot of Cali cheeses.