nettlebed

Just got back from a brief visit to BC.

On the way back we stopped at Costco in Surrey, BC and picked up 16 boxes of 24 Cadbury's Dairy Milk Bars.

In our local rapatorium we get charged $1.79 each for these bars (the real, imported stuff, not the Hershey's wax 'n' dust shite). Our price? CAD 0.75 == USD 0.67.

Each box saves us around $20, so those 16 boxes paid for the stay in the Pan Pacific 4* hotel for two nights ($240 total, thanks PriceLine and William "The Negotiator" Shatner), plus the gas up and back ($40), plus a cheap pub dinner for two.

Gotta love those Canucks!!

Plus the weather was awesome, and there was a nesting pair of herring gulls on the balcony outside our room. Our room had a 180-degree view of North Vancouver (Mount Baker to Vancouver Island), but our eyes were perpetually on mum 'n' dad, plus the two little chicks.

Ain't nature wonderful?

Jerseygirl

Costco Ca sell boxes of other Cadbury goodies too...ie Crunchie etc.

AmerLisa

Thanks for the heads up on Costco in Canada.... As soon as we can afford hub's renewal on his British passport (ugh too expensive!) we will mosey on over one weekend and check things out. Along with the cheaper booze

Jerseygirl

Booze is much more expensive in Canada IMO. You can only buy it in price controlled stores...on top of the store price are the high taxes. I can buy booze cheaper her than the Canadian duty free shops. Although I'm only comparing Ontario with NJ.

nettlebed

I think it all depends on the locality, as you suggest. WA state has a large indigenous wine industry, so foreign wines are terribly expensive here. In BC they are much cheaper.

AmerLisa

So are spirits.... They're even cheaper in California. Actually we went up to Vancouver a few years back and the duty free was pretty cheap on spirits. My husband enjoys Glenfiddich and its pretty expensive here in WA.

joto

Does anyone know if the proper Cadbury's is available in US Costco stores?

Jerseygirl

I've not seen any...although around Easter they sell the real deal creme eggs.

nettlebed

I've seen Dairy Milk occasionally, but it the US crap made by Hershey's, not the proper stuff.

You can get a wide variety of UK choccies in Cost Plus World Markets, and you can usually negotiate the price if you buy a whole box: my local store in Redmond sells me a whole box of Flakes for a buck apiece.

Jerseygirl

I'm not sure about other parts of Canada but in Ontario there are loads of places to buy British chocolate and other goodies. Even the Canadian duty free stores at the border crossings sell Cadbury's chocolate.

scrubbedexpat091

Thats a first, never heard anyone say booze is cheaper. Here in BC the prices are close to double what they were in California.

Most grocery stores/Wal-Marts etc sell some cadbury chocolates, selection varies by store.

AmerLisa

I think perhaps I'm referring to the duty free.... But alcohol is pretty expensive in the Washington State controlled liquor stores here.

nettlebed

Not just the state-run stores, either. The state tax is high wherever you buy it.

For example, the Charles Shaw wines you can get in TJ's here is called three-buck chuck in WA: in CA it's two-buck chuck.

AmerLisa

lol I know.... And its barely worth 25 cents.....

One time (a few years ago) I was visiting a friend in California and went into a grocery store there, had a look at the spirits (of course you can't do that here) and found a bottle of Glenfiddich on sale, no less, for $12. I was flying, so couldn't load up my suitcase with their stock..... lol

nettlebed

So, there's one thing I definitely miss about the UK: no indigenous wine industry in the UK means competitive prices for imported wines. A bottle of French wine that would cost UKL6-7 in the UK is USD25-30 here. Pisses me off no end that I have to pay at least $40-50 for a decent Bordeaux. :curse:

And like you say, no spirits in grocery stores? Pah!

BTW, where IS Ian?