Where to buy the cheapest toiletries in Singapore

Yes, we know the pain on wallet with the 9% GST last year in Singapore, and then the continued inflation around the world. And yes, I confess that even after 5 years of running a design agency doing the likes of newsletters, writing, and annual reports, we still have to resort to cheaper toiletries so we can save money.

But if you just flip the impeccable annual report design of some of the biggest grocery retailers in Singapore, like the DFI Retail Group (behind Giant and Cold Storage) or Sheng Siong, you would have realised they are making more and more money.

More than ever.

So where does that leave you, the poor consumer? Chasing down deals from your credit cards?

Or maybe learning how to be a meditation teacher so that you won’t need to fuss about all these inflationary concerns?

Well, you need to find better places to shop then.

But before that, let’s start with some opening principles that will make this less of a frustrating experience.

When I was studying in the U.K., I tended to travel from grocery store to grocery store to find the cheapest toiletries.

After a while, I realised that I was wasting my time. I was spending 30 minutes hoping from store to store, without realising that the 30 minutes was worth more than the 30 pennies I might save.

That’s why I suggest that you:

Find the ones that are closest to you

Don’t save pennies, only to lose dollars of time.

It’s best to just go to a single place and get everything.

That’s why it may not make much sense to go place to place if you’re just buying a bar of soap.

I suggest you only hop when the savings are substantial – meaning more than $5.

For example if you go to FairPrice to get some Pantene Shampoo you may find yourself set back by about $12.90.

We recently read the book of FairPrice, and did realise that it did have a substantial amount of money spent on subsidising items that many Singaporeans bought. It’s why you might still want to shop there – because the savings from everyday items like eggs and rice could possibly cover the cost of other things.

But the ones at Value Dollar would probably just be $5.90.

Get it at Value Dollar then, in bulk.

Bulk buy the toiletries

If you’re like me, you might be comfortable using the same toiletries over and over again. I’ve used Dove soap for the past 7 years, and I just haven’t changed. Each time I enter ValueDollar, I just buy 12 of the same bars, and then walk out.

If you’re like me, then buy as many as you can at one time.

You then won’t need to keep hopping from place to place to find cheaper deals.

Here’s some better ones.

There’s always the ValueDollar

You would have known the Value Dollar store over the years, famed for its constant promotions.

They offer everything at an insanely great price.

That’s because they parallel import most things from neighbouring countries like Thailand. They buy in bulk there, and then they ship it here to sell.

Buy in Thai Baht, earn in Singapore Dollars.

Very smart.

You can’t blame them.

You would usually find them in most shopping centres.

Don’t just go to ValueDollar, but ABC Store

But what you may not know is that ABC Store is also from the same parent company Radha Exports.

And no, we don’t want to graphically record the differences between ABC Store and ValueDollar. You would simply find it too confusing.

They are cheaper because they don’t have to pay the massive overheads from rental at shopping malls, and can instead rent from HDB estates.

These are much cheaper. They end up being able to pass on those savings onto you.

But that said, you still have to be careful to pick the right goods from the ABC Store. Whilst they have everything that is cheaper, some are honestly of doubtable quality.

For example, I don’t tend to buy drinks from them because I highly doubt the quality of their drinks.

But that’s not to say that they haven’t done some outstanding business. In fact, I love their business innovation so much that I’ve tried to write a commemorative book about them, but unfortunately, to no avail. 

British Essential

British Essential is pretty much the same concept, except that it’s of a different name. You might think both the Chairpersons are the same person, and they are owned by some big conglomerate like the listed company, DFI Retail. But they are not. They are humble everyday people who’ve just found a niche. 

Some of the things are also a little more expensive still.

Go to the Reduced to Clear section of Cold Storage for high quality soap

Don’t ask me why, but Cold Storage purchasers have a bad time figuring out what will sell, and what won’t. If you walk to their Reduced to Clear section, you will find some cheap, high-quality toiletries like soap and shampoo that they struggled to sell before its expiry date.

And come on, how can soap expire?

I recently used some shampoo that ‘expired’ without any damage to my hair.

Save money at these cheaper dollar shops

Daiso, from Japan, probably popularised the idea of the dollar shop and how much money you could save from just spending one dollar at a time.

I urge you to do the same at the smaller ABC Shops around town.

You will be surprised at what you find.