Dali Everyday Grocery is a great alternative way to buy necessities at home at inflation-resistant, affordable prices.
We’ve seen many of these Dali Grocery Stores popping up in the Metro in recent years. These are actual creative ways to sell products that are inflation-resistant and these help ordinary Filipinos stretch their pesos more.
Dali Everyday Grocery is a concept carried over from Switzerland, the “hard discount” store. These type of stores focus on hyperfocus on selling affordable products by shedding unnecessary costs.
For example, in Dali, you can buy limited products focusing on the necessities. These products are often not known but are by local suppliers. Dali buys them in bulk, which pushes down the selling price. They also test these products using their testing facilities before selling them.
Every possible cost is well thought out, and efficiency is the name of the game. You won’t see advertisements as they rely on word-of-mouth. The prices of their products are typically shown outside the store, comparing the prices with the equivalent known product.
Their stores have limited personnel (around 2 or 3 full employees, no probationary ones), and no security guards. The products aren’t always placed on shelves and some products you can get from the actual pallets/boxes they were delivered in.
They recommend bringing your shopping bags, or you can buy their paper bags at a small fee. You can also get their free boxes if you need them. After paying, you’ll need to pack your groceries into your container of choice.
The store interior is clean and the store location isn’t in commercial districts but local neighborhoods, near the customers that need it.
What I Saw in My Local Dali Store
I went around the small store and noticed familiar mixed with private brands. Typically the familiar ones are the lowest prices they can go. It is no wonder Puregold is trying to undercut Dali by matching the prices in certain “lanes” inside their stores.
Here are some pictures I took of the products, and the prices are as of March 2024:
Take note that these are only a sample, as other products on sale are not food. There were also soap and cleaning products. You can also check out the Dali product slideshows to see other examples.
What I Bought in Dali
I’ve been to Dali a few times already as I wanted to review some of the food they had there. This time these were what I bought:
The products I chose were cheaper than what I used to buy in Robinson’s Supermarket when I did my grocery runs. If I bought equivalent items in a typical grocery, it would have amounted to around Php 800 or more.
Simple and Quick Review of Dali Products
Will Buy Again Group
- Vicente Vidal Original Potato Crisp – pretty good; comparable to Lay’s
- UnoPrimo Brown Sugar – typical brown sugar
- AllGourmet Hashbrown – my kids liked it as it’s similar to other hash brown brands
- Twist-O Super Orange Drink – pretty good, comparable to Minute Maid, but without straws
- Kulina Real Mayonnaise – the taste is close to Lady’s Choice, but it’s still good
- Pinoy Soda Zero (1.5L) – surprisingly almost the same flavor as Coke Zero; also Php 45 for 1.5L is *really* cheap (normally it costs around Php 75)
- Chipsy Potato Chips Cheese 130g – it seemed a version of Pringles with lighter seasoning; also the chips are bigger than Pringles
- Mauxion Salut Milk Chocolate with Hazelnut – a large bar of chocolate with nuts that looks imported and tastes premium, which costs less than Php 50
- AllTime Mixed Vegetables – typical mixed vegetables
- AllTime French Fries – typical fries, close in taste to Frenchies
Hard Pass Group
- Pan Americano Wheat Bread – the bread is too airy and can be easily taken apart by hand
- El Ranchero Corned Beef – I was not too fond of it as it was too greasy and it quickly solidified after cooking; the taste is close to Argentina Corned Beef
- Manny Mani Garlic Peanuts – the peanuts were soft and tiny and covered with a white powder which made them cake up your fingers while eating; also, I was not too fond of the taste as it seemed too salty
- La Fiesta Capel Sangria 1L – pretty cheap, but the quality is pretty low so I don’t think it was even worth it
Wrapping Up
I’ve talked about how Dali Everyday Grocery works and how it makes everything cheap and affordable. I’ve also shared my recent purchases and found that the quality is comparable to the mainstream alternative but with lower prices.
I will keep on going back.