USVI-On-Line

Yo Troops of the Rock that shop on St Thomas before they hit St John.
We roll in on Sat and pick up our car on St Thomas and wish to know where the best place to grocery/beer/wine shop, hopefully the same place you have visited lately. Local input is really OK by the way. Fresh produce important. God bless...Bill

Bill: When we shop on St. Thomas, we tend to load up at Cost-U-Less, which is about a mile past Charlotte Amalie as you head east on Rt. 38. Rt. 39 is a left (north) off Rt. 38, and there is a Cost-U-Less sign at the intersection. The entrance to Cost-U-Less (and Home Depot) is only about 100 yards up Rt. 39, so it is very much along your way. Plenty of fresh produce and fruit; beer and booze in abundance. The packaged food has a bit of a bias towards larger quantities; we were skeptical that four of us could put away three pounds of bacon in a two week stay, but that worked out swimmingly. YMMV! I seem to remember that they don't sell styrofoam coolers, but there are plenty of cardboard boxes to pick among, and a few bags of frozen shrimp or such will do double duty as temporary freeze packs.

All the best,

Kevin

PS: As far as great wine goes, I'd like to give a shout-out to Paul Tsakeres, who left Starfish Gourmet to start Island Cork this summer. It is a small but very cool (literally) wine store located just behind the Sun Dog Cafe. Paul is very knowledgeable about wines, and has personally selected all of the wines in his store. He is open 10 AM to 7 PM, Monday to Saturday; Sunday, "by appointment".

Cost-U Less is a very good choice - great beer and beverage selection and price - good meats, dairy and staples. Fairly wide wine selection - plenty of liqour choices - good bakery products - sometimes the fruits and vegetables leave something to be desired, depends on the day. A pretty good frozen section. If you have a big fruit and vegetable list you cannot beat Fruit Bowl which is on the way to CULess. If you have a serious vintage or vineyard wine list or need Port wine, Gourmet Gallery in Crown Bay or Havensight is worth a stop for sure.

I don't know the wine store mentioned in STJ but suspect it has an excellent selection.

Gourmet Gallery has a great beer list, fresh too. It's pricey, but some of the items are not available elsewhere.

Cheers, RickG