TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums US VI and Puerto Rico Provisioning

Are there company’s in St Thomas that you can provision through like Riteway or Bobby’s? Also alcohol, like Caribbean Cellars or Tico’s? Seems like you might have to do the shopping yourself?

TIA

I've always shopped myself, but a quick online search shows two upscale grocery store (Moe's and Gourmet Gallery) and a provisioner (Timesaver) that will do the job.

Edit - Oops. Gourmet Gallery closed after Irma, and hasn't reopened last I knew (November).

We’re planning on Cost u less and Target. We’ve prebooked a 1day rental for airport transfer to the Marina, shopping, and transfers to and from dinner the first night as we are doing a sleep board. Have read other cautions bring your own grocery bags, as plastic isn’t allowed in the USVI. I plan on bringing our own plastic, and using those for the heads too. Plus I always bring kitchen size garbage bags and a couple of BIG yard size garbage bags to consolidate garbage bags, stored in forward locker.

Note the restrictions on sunscreen?

We do not have a Target.

Some options:

http://www.moesvi.com/provisioning.html

https://www.viprovisioning.com/

https://islanddirect.com/

Cheers, RickG

quote=CaptainJay]We do not have a Target.
[/quote]
Duh! I was thinking of a big box store, but realize it is a Home Depot nearby, not Target. My bad!
Edit: And seeing Carol's note below, I guess I was thinking of the KMart which went out of business after bankruptcy.

Wondering if the Wallgreens might be a source of water toys, floats, etc? Or is there a pool supply store on St Thomas?

There used to be a K Mart and a Cost U Less on STT. No idea if they both are still there or not.

Cost-U-Less was still in business when we were on the island in November.

STT has an open Cost-U-Less - a Pricesmart - 2 K-marts - Walgreens -- Home Depot -- Ace Hardware

Numerous supermarket stores
-2 Pueblos - The Market/Plaza - 3 Moes - Food Center
These are all OPEN and Operating as of 2/18/21

++2 Pueblo markets. Grocery stores sell liquor and beer.

Cheers, RickG

You will find that it is much more practical to shop yourself - the delivered options are WAY more expensive than in the BVI...

Thanks, that’s what I’m seeing. There are 8 of us for 10 days, so we will need a lot of beer...lol. We will plan on doing our own.

I recall seeing some guys on the dock in Marsh Harbour...loading 10-cases of beer on a cat for six of em!
Our group may have three. But at least a couple bottles of 80proof stuff and a case of wine. Not as much as jbard though!

One trip we had 9 of us, most big beer drinkers, we had 28 cases of beer, for 10 days.

OMG! Unbelievable! I can’t imagine, thinking of the storage for full and empty’s.

Sounds like a lot, but that’s only 7 beers a day, per person.

We are here now. We have a generous baggage allowance so I brought a Polar Bear hard cooler filled with frozen steaks, meats, cheeses, etc. We brought a large duffel filled with dry goods (rice, pancake mix, tortillas, etc.). Everything else was provisioned by Moe's (eggs, dairy, produce, breads). They did a fantastic job.

Cost U Less is going to be your best bet. You can fill in any gaps at Plaza Extra / The Market in Tutu. It is worth checking the weekly flyer for The Market first - https://www.themarketstt.com/. The bacon and sausage patties at Cost U Less are a good deal.

Cheers, RickG

Definitely agree on Cost U Less. Very good selection and pricing on Beer, Wine, and Liquor. In the past, we assumed we would do 50% provisioning at Cost U Less and the remainder at the smaller grocery stores, but have ended up getting 90% of our provisions there. We'll be back down Saturday for a week and can't wait!

The Market/Plaza Extra has a nice website for online ordering and grocery pick-up. Cost U Less has a similar website MINUS the beer/alcohol...online at least. Looks like I can get everything I need at The Market. Are the price THAT much better at Cost U Less? I like being able to order online and get everything I need at one stop doing grocery pick up.

@cajunscuba **** I like being able to order online and get everything I need at one stop doing grocery pick up.*****
That would be ideal -- let us know how that works out please.
After living here 45+ years I can rarely find 'everything I Need' in one grocery store but my list may be different.

Excuse me
I appreciate your local knowledge. I really do. I should have put "almost" everything. Didn't think I would be taken so literally. This is my first bareboat charter out of St Thomas. I understand I may not be able to get "everything" in one stop. The ones I've done out of Tortola I did have to get a few items once there, but 80-90% of my provisionings were onboard when I arrived. That's what I was hoping for this time around as well. I'm just here for advice

One other point..The first time we tried Cost U Less, we did try to provision on-line and just pick up. Nothing was gathered when we got there. I am not sure if they just aren't equipped to do that as you would expect in the BVI, or if it was just our one experience. So we have just done it the old-fashioned way the past 2 times and shopped ourselves. But I do think pricing is much better and a very good selection.

@cajunscuba -- I wasn't being critical - just expressing a realistic opinion and overall you seem to have good expectations. Which service are you using to put them aboard?

I was thinking of ordering most of my provisioning online and doing grocery pick up at Plaza Extra Tutu supermarket when we get on the island. They seem to have a good variety of both alcohol/beer and food. If we can't get everything we need there we'll make a run to other stores. The delivery options I have seen so far mark up their prices and have limited options, but may be worth it for us. I'd have to look into it more