How Do The Locals Do It? The Expense of Groceries on St. Thomas, USVI

In a comparison of the cost of groceries between Maui (2022) and St. Thomas (2023), St. Thomas was higher.

We knew they’d be high — the groceries that is. Any place such as Bermuda, Hawaii, or the USVI has high grocery prices due to the cost of importing much of the island’s food. We’ve encountered this before, having been to Bermuda twice and Hawaii four times. It just worsens over time, as prices in the mainland United States have increased. Some of the high prices are due to inflation, supply chain issues, and yes, living or vacationing on an island.

We’ve gotten in the habit of eating breakfast and lunch at our vacation villa and having dinner out. Sometimes this varies but not often. It does mean a trip to the grocery store shortly after arrival to our chosen vacation spot.

We’ve learned to look at the local places, and consider distance as well as travel time when choosing where to get groceries but most often, it comes down to convenience.

We arrived late on St. Thomas. There was an issue at the car rental agency and the one-and-a-half hours spent there after arrival to get our car took drive time in the daylight away from us. Luckily, the resort welcome employee stayed past 6 pm to check us into the villa. She gave us a very personalized tour of the hotel, and grounds, and gave us some tips (?) on where to shop.

Unfortunately for us, we were leery of driving on the left — although, the 40-minute drive from the airport to the hotel, mostly in the dark, went fine. We ate pizza from a quick pizza place next to the resort on that first night and had a beer to wash it down. We were comfortable going to the store in the dark, and besides, we were tired from a day of traveling.

The next morning we awoke to an empty refrigerator. There was a small bagel shop next to the resort, too, so we went there for bagels, coffee, and a coke for my husband. Two bagels — one with cream cheese and one with peanut butter, a small coffee (black), and a bottle of coke were $14.00. Luckily, since the USVI is an American Territory, all monetary exchanges are in US dollars. It makes it easy to pay and easy to compare with what we’d pay at home.

From there we went to get groceries and decided to go where our villa greeter sent us. It was an upscale market called Moe’s in Red Hook. Moe’s is there to meet the tourists’ needs — near many East-side hotels, condos, and villas. I’m sure that there is a cheaper place to shop, but it also means more driving on the left in a place we didn’t know.

Our bill was $110.00 for 14 items. Yes, it included a six-pack of local beer — $11.99 and a bottle of wine — $14.99 but the rest was food. The biggest expense items were a pound of sliced cheese — $13.83 and the Triscuit crackers, a small box at $7.99.

Still, we choose carefully. A box of Ritz crackers was 17.99 and a box of pre-sliced repacked salami was $34.99. Yikes! We did not price milk or eggs.

Some things were within range of what we’d pay at home. A jar of Jif peanut butter was $5.99 and a large, freshly made yogurt parfait was $3.99 and very delicious.

We did not have to fill up with gas until we were headed back to the airport and paid $4.89 a gallon — which cost us less than $20.00 because we didn’t drive much and the island is small. Nor were we stopped in traffic like we have been caught in when traveling on Maui in the past.

My husband and I are not fancy diners. The dinners we had out were all less than $100.00, including a drink a piece. We forgo the “fancy” place that had just opened at the resort because of poor reviews on their food. This was another place touted by our villa’s welcome employees.

Let’s face it, these islands survive on tourism. They need to import much of their goods and that costs money that is passed on to those of us that choose to visit anyway. And, it was vacation. We save to go somewhere nice and then do it. It’s all okay. But, more than once did we wonder and even ask, “how do the locals do it?” It’s an expensive place to live!

We did find some “secret” values.

The Tap and Still.

We first noted this in a magazine we were handed at the airport at Charlotte Amalie. We didn’t realize there were several of these scattered between St. Thomas and St. John.

We visited the Tap and Still on St. John after our day at Honeymoon Beach. Getting there early — around 4 pm was key. We had some tasty sandwiches and local beers that were all reasonably priced — getting out of there for $41.00 before our tip. And, we were sure to tip well, no matter where we went.

The yogurt parfaits were so good we went back to Moe’s and bought more. So fresh and so tasty. We’re trying to replicate these at home now and haven’t come close, in my opinion. Yes, they’re a dollar more than our local convenience store’s yogurt parfait but they were bigger and tastier.

Paradise Pie

The Pizza from Paradise Pie was our choice for two dinners and a lunch. A 12-inch pizza with pepperoni and olives was $18.00. And, it was delicious! One night we added a Caesar Salad for $11.00 and our dinner was less than $40.00.

The Windmill Bar

One thing that pays is to talk to locals or people who have experience with traveling to your specific destination, just make sure they have similar tastes and budgets.

We met a couple at the Tap and Still and then the same couple again on a snorkel trip. We got along so well, we decided to go to dinner with them at The Windmill Bar. I had one of the best salads topped with 8 shrimp that I’ve ever had! We would have never known about this place, had we not met them!

I realize that eating out, paying vacation prices, and where you choose to do that are all relative. The point is that we enjoyed ourselves, as one should on a vacation. We did what was right for us — eat good food, visit some local establishments, and support the local economy.

There were some larger grocery stores on the islands, too. We didn’t make it to those because our needs were met by what we did. But, we would be interested in comparing the prices at those stores to what we paid at Moe’s.

The local people we talked with admitted to life being expensive on St. Thomas and St. John. They’ve felt the inflation and the supply chain problems as well or more than we have. Twice, I was told I couldn’t have a salad due to a shortage of lettuce.

I wouldn’t discourage anyone from visiting the USVI due to cost, but it is something to factor into your trip. Be prepared for higher prices than you expect and know how you’ll deal with them.

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