In a viral clip, TikToker Roy Cisneros (@101marketplaceca) shares the "cheapest store in Stockton, California"—the TikTok has accrued over 365,000 views as of Saturday.
Cisneros, who owns an antique store in Oceanside, California, begins the video in the parking lot of a retailer that, on the exterior, looks like the location of an action film that probably has an opening scene that begins with: "INT. - WAREHOUSE."
However, as he enters the building, it becomes apparent that this warehouse doesn't contain some soon-to-be-heisted computer chips that'll tip the scales of the geopolitical structure, but a slew of "#frugalfinds" and "#cheapeats" as indicated by Cisneros' caption for his TikTok.
@101marketplaceca #FrugalFinds #BudgetGroceries #SavingsHaul #DiscountDeals #CheapEats #NorthernCaliforniaSavings #ThriftyShopping #LowCostFinds #AffordableEats #GroceryHacks #SmartShopping #BargainHunting #FrugalLiving #CheapNorCal #budgetfriendlyfinds ♬ original sound - RoyCisneros
"Here we go, it's called Curry's," he says. It appears that there are two Curry's locations in Stockton—one that indicates it's a "Warehouse Sales" retailer and the other that sells "groceries." The above-linked website for the store does indeed pop up, but there doesn't seem to be anyone managing the pages on it, because although there are placeholders for product images, they're all blank as of this writing.
But Cisneros demonstrates that while there may not be any images of the low-cost goods for sale at Curry's, there are very much available IRL.
The set up of the store could best be described as a no-frills Costco—there are long aisles of steel wire shelving, along with large bags of product resting on pallets. If there was an interior designer hired for the store, they probably had one design philosophy in mind—fast, accessible, cheap.
Cisneros then shows a host of different products and their respective prices as he walks through the store, and their costs would make any budget shopper looking to combat the harsh spikes in inflation happy. Some items include:
But shelf-stable, pre-packaged foods and condiments weren't the only deals available for Curry's shoppers—the store also carries a variety of different medicines and health and beauty products.
"We got hand sanitizer...tampons...airborne...they're all a $1 a piece," he says as he walks past shelves containing cardboard boxes of different products.
He then shows a variety of medicines, which came in at $2.99 apiece. Items like Vick's Flu Therapy packets, Gas-X tabs, and Tylenol, all came in at that price. Sunscreens, sun lotions, tubes of toothpaste, just any kind of product you can think of with prices that range from 50 cents a piece to $2.99 for a single item.
The warehouse store even sold tubs of protein powder for $7.99, along with single-serving snacks like apple sauce packets and granola bars that would be perfect accouterments to add to your kids' lunch bags.
Although some of the brands aren't ones you'd widely find at popular chains, the TikToker did show off some name-brand products, like Tylenol and RX Bars (which were 3 for $1) during his jaunt through the warehouse.
"Yeah they got a bunch of stuff but pretty much everything's cheap," he says.
His post inspired a variety of different comments, and it seems some folks were familiar with these kinds of stores. However, one commenter mentioned that the prices at their own grocery outlet store didn't last very long.
"Thats what our grocery outlet prices used to look like now it looks looks like whole food prices," the user wrote.
Oftentimes, many budget retailers offer low-cost food items for so cheap because they often carry products that are nearing their expiration dates. The retailer buys overstock items for little to no cost and then makes its profits off of high-volume margins from customers. A number of consumers opt to purchase foods that are nearing these best-buy/expiration dates more frequently in a bid to save themselves some money.
Folks like this TikToker, however, don't seem to mind products that may potentially expire before they get a chance to consume them.
"Forget the expiration date, that store would save me $100's a month!" a user commented.
Someone else didn't seem too perturbed by expiration dates, either, writing, "Expiration dates are only for you to keep spending money. It’s not a deadline for food spoilage because foods can go bad before or after the date."
One user on the platform said that they are very familiar with Curry's and replied that the business accepts EBT as a form of payment.
"And they take foodstamps," the user shared. "I forgot about them they have 2 locations in stockton"
Some said they would never purchase food from grocery outlet retailers like this, however. One person says they didn't have the best experience when shopping at one of their own local food warehouse outlets.
"We have a store like this locally, but most of the food is 6+ months expired," they wrote. "I bought some food and wish I didn't."
The Daily Dot has reached out to Cisneros via TikTok comment and Curry's via phone.
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