As a general rule supermarkets in Tokyo aren’t particularly cheap, in fact with many of the major stores focusing on quality rather than low price they can actually be pretty pricey. We’ve talked about picking up bargains at the end of the day, but it’s not ideal to subsist entirely off half price bento. So where are the Cheapo friendly supermarkets in Tokyo?
Well I discovered one of Tokyo’s cheapest supermarkets only last week – “OK – everyday low price”. This supermarket’s selling point is low price, a big tick on the Cheapo check list. And having shopped there a few times now I can give this supermarket chain my Cheapo mark of approval.
The fruit and veg was cheap for Japanese standards, (but still pricey compared to Europe) and I was reasonably impressed with the quality too. For example a large organic (yes organic) lettuce for ¥200, and single grapefruits for ¥88 each. Away from the fruit and veg isle I found even more pleasing discounts, for example almond chocolate ¥150, normally retailing at ¥205. And to top it all off I bumped into an old (Japanese) friend who concurred that OK was indeed ちょう安い (very cheap).
Finding Your Nearest OK
And for your shopping convenience, we’ve compiled a little map of all their stores which you’ll find at the bottom of this post.
One of the things you’ll notice from visiting your nearest OK supermarket is that you can benefit from further discounts by paying an annual subscription and getting a free members card.
p.s. The slogan in Japanese on the picture above is aimed at recruiting new staff. The text is “柔軟な素直さと目標を持ち続ける方を歓迎します” I’ll leave this as an exercise for the reader to discover the meaning.
