Before I left social media months ago, I was part of a Facebook frugality in Israel group.

In that group, someone mentioned going to a store that sells to smaller storeowners and directly to the retail buyer as well, and finding significant savings. This is a unique shopping opportunity, since almost none of the wholesale stores sell to private individuals.

Naturally, I made a note of the details and put it into my schedule to check it out.

The first time walking into this store was a bit overwhelming. It’s different, and you feel that as soon as you get your shopping cart, which is a heavy duty loading cart. I learned that it’s a good idea to find several discarded boxes and put them on my cart as soon as I go in, to put your small items in, since they would fall off a cart like this. (Empty boxes are discarded as they are unpacked throughout the store.)

Once inside, items are available in standard sizes with a minimum purchase of six or twelve, or in larger sizes just one can be bought. Prices, if listed, are all listed before ma’am (17% sales tax). Lots of things don’t have the price listed, and when I first went in, I wasn’t impressed since I saw items I could buy for less at my local large supermarket chains.

However!! It was worth continuing on past my initial impression, because if you’re a discriminating shopper and you pay attention to item pricing, you can definitely save a lot of money. Just don’t assume that everything will be cheaper. Which is true when you go into any store, really.

When I shopped for my fifteen year old’s bar mitzva, I saved a ton by getting many of the items here. They have almost everything you would get in a regular store, but in bigger quantities. So you’ll find paper goods, cleaning products, drinks, food – but not fresh vegetables or chicken and meat, and there’s a very limited dairy/refrigerator section.

It’s not a store I regularly shop at, since it’s so far away. But when I’m ready for a group buy of staple items, it’s worth the trip. So don’t be quick to dismiss this as an option for you, because even if you don’t have a big family, if you shop with a couple of friends, you can all save money.

Spices – these are available in bags of a kilo, and I haven’t found anywhere cheaper for them. Previously I was buying the largest size spice containers at Osher Ad, but this is definitely a much better price.

Dried fruits, nuts, seeds – also all available in 1 kilo bags, and also good prices. Again, I haven’t found cheaper prices.

Canned goods – you can get flats of twelve of whatever items you usually buy, but that’s more than I can store so I generally don’t get them. They also have 10# cans, which I find more helpful for items I use a lot of like tomato paste, olives, and pickles. (There are all kinds of canned goods in both sizes, I’m just mentioning what I get.)

I used to get vaccuum packed tuna in kilo packaging, but I haven’t seen that for a long time. Then I got the 2 kilo packages of tuna instead, which I didn’t find nearly as useful because there’s just too much in each package, but now that’s no longer in stock either. And it’s been over a year since the canned salmon I used to buy has been available. It definitely makes me wonder. Maybe it’s there at other times than when I’m there. But although it’s not personally as helpful for me, there was still plenty of other canned fish items in different sizes when I last went.

Refrigerator items – there is a built in dairy room that reminds me of the walk through freezers when I used to shop in Amish country, though this is on a very small scale. They have cheeses, butters, large containers of chummus and a few other dips.

Snacks and candy – there is a huge selection of these things, and though I don’t buy any of it, I see it’s a big item for the kiosk owners. (Most of the other shoppers are restaurant or store owners – you can tell if someone is shopping for a store or for themselves by a glance at their cart.)

Condiments – this is interesting, because there is such a huge variety of sizes. For example, you can get a liter container of soy sauce or a five gallon bucket. I like getting the four liter container of vinegar since I use vinegar and baking soda for cleaning, and I rarely see that size in regular retail stores. They have all the sauces that restaurants use in their cooking.

Legumes and grains – they have packages with ten or twelve standard sized units, or you can get 5 kilo bags. Or 25 kilo bags (other than sugar, five kilo is as much as I buy here – but again, with friends, splitting bigger packaging could be a great option).

They also have things like eggs and packaged baked goods. Other than for the bar mitzva, I haven’t bought any of that but the savings were significant then.

I took this picture to show you the biggest sizes available in the very back, but in most of the store the items are packed in a more user friendly way for a family. I didn’t think of taking a picture for you until the end of my shopping, though.

You can find other pictures and videos if you want to get a better sense of it from their FB page, which also has address details. Shimurei Eichut, Holon. (In case you’re wondering, I have no financial links to them and receive no compensation for sharing this information.)

As prices move up, it’s helpful to know there are other shopping options that can help keep your budget in check!

Avivah