Bear with me, I am about to sound insane. Last week while shopping for groceries at Target (AKA, “Oh God, please let me just buy toilet paper and leave with only $200 more in receipts”), I swung by the H&M that’s right next door to grab a jacket I had been wanting. Except…I didn’t want to anymore.
I was tired from shopping, my phone battery was low, and I just wanted to get home and post TikToks about how poor I am. Then I realized my mom had mentioned to me recently she’d scored some cute basics at…grocery store clothes. Sounds insane, right?
As soon as I read that, I immediately thought my mom had lost it. Clothes at grocery stores?
Like, why?!
Unless you’re grabbing a banana at the food market next to H&M you’re talking about, there’s no way that’s actually a thing. But, intrigued, I kept tabs on the clothing aisles next time I was grocery shopping…and boy oh boy am I glad I did. tl;dr: department store brands have been quietly dominating supermarket clothing aisles for years, and if you know what you’re looking for you can score some great deals on things you thought you had to splurge on. I’m talking about those mini clothing stores you blindly speed walk past every time you’re shopping for groceries.
You know the ones I’m talking about – wedged between the Bed, Bath, and Beyond’accinos section and the pharmacy, with racks and racks of utterly disappointing pieces. Well, it turns out that majority of my favorite well-dressed influencers have been buying their whole closets at these markets, and nobody wants to ruin the aesthetic by letting on that they basically wear Target brand clothes. Well, okay fanny-pack, let’s ruin this aesthetic.
I was halfway through mindlessly watching Instagram stories when I saw it. The girl I’ve been religiously following for years (who I will refer to as She-Herde from now on, thank you very much) who has roughly 500k followers and always looks like she just stepped off the runway in her posts, rocking a simple oversized white button-down shirt. I immediately swiped into our direct messages to ask where she got it, because girl drop those links like…well, you know.
But then I scrolled down to her next story. And she was shopping. At Target.
Target. The SAME store I was at right that second shopping for groceries. Are you guys seriously losing your minds right now like me?
Target seriously has the ability to stop selling food AND people would still shop there for clothes. Coincidence? I think not.
Long story short, I ended up paying attention to the miniature clothing store section when I left the produce and got…pleasantly surprised. I figured I’d start with basics, because that was safe game. Plain white tee, black leggings, things I knew would fit me and wouldn’t scare me if they sucked.
I assumed the quality would be horrendous, as most trendy/fast fashion clothes are nowadays – especially at that price range. But soft! These cotton t-shirts actually fit!
They weren’t skin tight and transparent like some overly-priced fashionable shirt I got from Shein two years ago. The shirt cut was actually nice, no weird bunching or twisted seams. And then I tried everything on when I got home.
And you know what? They fit better than some of my “real” clothes. The white tee wasn’t utterly translucent upon putting it on (fun fact: 90% of plain white tees under $30 are).
The leggings didn’t roll down when I sat down or get weird and saggy after I wore them for more than an hour. How could grocery store clothes beat the same shirts and pants I could find at Express? I pride myself on buying “ethically” and from stores that I know don’t use child labor.
Why were these basic clothes, from my go-to grocery store brand, so much better than things I spent $3x as much on? As consumers, we pride ourselves on where it’s “acceptable” to shop. I’ll drop $40 on a plain tee from Urban Outfitters because why not?
But buying clothes at the grocery store had this mental stigma attached to it that made me feel gross purchasing them, even when they were literally the same quality for half the price. I began looking into other influencers’ outfits versus where they said they shop. You know how Instagram is littered with influencers shouting “outfit details linked!” but half the links are to fucking $200 jeans?
I started screenshotting outfits I liked and playing detective, trying to find similar pieces for less. And you guys what I discovered about a lot of those ‘effortless, high-end brand basics’. They weren’t.
You Might Also Like
Nope, you can get that plain white crewneck sweater at Target too. But you have to be strategic. Here’s what you should and shouldn’t buy when grocery shopping.
DON’T BUY trendy items. Seriously anything that has more than one print/color going on, cutouts, or other attempts at making “modern” cuts are almost always cheap-looking. Thrift those.
You want to stick to the plain Jane stuff. Plain tees, basic knit sweaters, simple cuts. DO BUY plain clothing items.
Solid cotton tees, simple jeggings or leggings, easy dresses. The type of clothing that doesn’t try and follow micro-trends and add extra details that make the pieces look cheap. I have slowly been curating a grocery store capsule wardrobe for myself, and holy shit some of my favorite pieces that I actually get compliments on come from there now.
I wore a ribbed long sleeve tee (that cost me $8) under a leather jacket to grab coffee with someone last week and she asked if it was from Everlane. I told her where it actually came from, and then proceeded to ask me which location near her because she was grocery shopping later that day anyway. That, right there is the fun part.
Stock changes depending on your location and sells out quickly, so finding a really good piece can feel like winning the lottery. I scored the best oversized blazer a few months back and I’ve yet to see it online or in stores since. It’s been tossed under my ‘nice’ blazer pile and nobody would ever know I got it from Walmart.
Another bonus? This kind of shopping is actually better for the environment than fast fashion. I’m not going to sit here and pretend that H&M overnight shipping doesn’t suck for the planet, but hear me out.
If you’re buying good quality items that will actually last you instead of falling apart after three wears like most ‘cheap’ clothes do, then you’re winning. Yes, it’s better to buy sustainable when you can. But if you can’t afford to buy enough ‘ethical’ clothes to have a functional closet, then what’s the point?
I have grocery store clothes I bought over a year ago that still look new after endless wears and washes. Not to mention, grocery store shopping > actual clothing store shopping any day. No judgmental sales associates lurking behind you while you try things on.
No weird energy about what you’re wearing. Just cheap clothes and the hum of shopping carts. I’ve even thrown some content about my grocery store outfits on my Instagram story because quite frankly, it breaks my heart when I see people ONLY posting clothes that are thousands of dollars.
Sure, I love giving OOTD’s from my favorite high-end brands, but realistically that isn’t feasible for the majority of my followers who are college kids or just entering the workforce. Yes, don those $300 jeans as your birthday treat to yourself. But for DAY TO DAY shopping, how can I expect you to build a cute wardrobe if I don’t show you how?
Sure, my thrifting haul videos do great. But my grocery store haul videos have been blowing up lately because people are legitimately shook by how good the quality is. The comments are literally a mix of LOL I shop here too’s and people thanking me for sharing because they never would have thought to look.
There’s actually a huge community of secret people who buy grocery store clothing and have found that some of the best basics come from nowhere you’d think to look. Now we’re all just stalking each other’s grocery store hauls in silence, pretending we ONLY shop at Alohas and Madison Park.
Believe it or not, but throwing one of these plain grocery store shirts under a cool jacket or throwing on a statement necklace can make people think you spent way more than you actually did.
That $8 shirt underneath a vintage leather jacket? Looks like a hundred dollar outfit. Basic black grocery store pants, thrown with an investment belt and a pair of good shoes?
Who’s looking down at your pants now? I’m not saying go into your local grocery store and strip down from head-to-toe in that clothing section. But if you’re already walking past it, might as well take a peek?
Start with the boring stuff. Plain tees, simple crewneck sweaters, basic cuts. Sticking to neutral colors will also help you branch off into other stores and sneak these pieces into your outfits without screaming, “HELLO I AM BASIC AND CHEAP!” And please for the love of everything don’t ever feel ashamed for buying clothes at grocery stores.
Nobody is judging you. Your closet will thank you.
