Best Supermarkets In Sunny Beach, Bulgaria (Tourist/Expat/Nomad Guide)

Sunny Beach in Bulgaria is really a great place to go in summer, but supermarket choice is somewhat limited and it’s quite easy to get ripped off in smaller supermarkets in the season. There are some decent choices, but it’s best to know where they are right away to avoid spending more than you have to.

Here’s a summary of your main larger supermarket options closer to the centre of Sunny Beach:

  • Janet – right near Flower St in the center
  • T Market – head south just past bus station (few hundred meters)
  • Mladost – Couple of minutes from T Market on same road
  • MM Supermarket – Heading north, close to Viva Clinic and Waterpark.
  • Lidl – coming summer 2023, north end of resort towards Vlas.

Let’s run through each one in more detail.

Your Main Supermarket Options Summary (From Flower Street)

A great starting point to know where you are in Sunny Beach is the central pharmacy right one the corner of Flower Street (the main street that leads out to the sea):

Here’s a summary of where your main supermarkets are in relation to here:

  • Janet – literally turn around and it’s 20 meters away to your right. A bigger one out of town close to Nesebar.
  • T Market – turn around, head up for around 1 km past the Avtogara (Bus Station), on your right.
  • Mladost – A few minutes from T Market, along the same road it’s on, turning right at the T junction.
  • MM Supermarket – Turn 90 degrees left from pharmacy, head along the road opposite you past Djanny restaurant. When you get to the Viva Clinic, turn right and head down that road the clinic is on, MM is a few hundred metres down there. Very close to the Aquapark.
  • Lidl – Coming soon, towards north end of resort towards Sveti Vlas (near old police station).

Option #1 – Janet Supermarket (Central)

There’s a Janet medium sized supermarket right in the centre of Sunny Beach, opposite from Flower Street:

 

It’s decent size and offers a good selection of essentials, packaged food, meat, fruit/veg, alcohol and bread, and prices are OK, better than the rip off summer supermarkets. There’s also a nice upstairs section as well. But this is a great option for picking up a few things if you’re in the centre of Sunny Beach.

Because of stealing, security is quite strict there, so you can’t take your own bags and backpacks in; there’s lockers on your left as you walk in where you leave your stuff and set a passcode to collect them again when you’re finished.

If you’ve got a car and want to do a mega-shop, there’s also a massive Janet super store a mile or two outside of Sunny Beach, in Neighbouring Nesebar (Map here; walkaround video here).

Option #2 – T Market (Heading South)

If you turn 180 degrees round from the central Flower Street Pharmacy, and just keep walking up away from Flower Street and towards Nesebar (south), past the Flora restaurant, you should get to the Bus Station on your right after a few minutes. Keep going on the main road and after a few more minutes walk, you’ll arrive at a T junction where there’s a T Market (Google Map here):

This is another decent medium sized supermarket where you should be able to get most of what you need. They’ve got a good fresh meat section, plus the usual stuff like bread, canned food, fruit/veg, alcohol, and packaged food. Prices are fair and it’s a nice clean layout inside.

There’s a great discounted aisle just as you walk in, ahead to your right a little, that has meat and other stuff that’s heavily discounted as going out of date shortly. You can get some great bargains there on mince and other red meat.

Option #3 – Mladost Supermarket (Near T Market)

Once you find the T Market, if you turn right facing it and continue on that road for a few more minutes walking (couple of hundred metres), you’ll also come to the Mladost supermarket on your right (map here):

This is another quite large supermarket with a great fresh meat/fish section, plus the usual stuff you’d expect (canned meat/fish, frozen, refrigerated red meat, fruit, beer, water, bread, cakes etc). There’s also an upstairs section with more household stuff in there, and currency exchange right across the road if you’re newly arrived in Sunny Beach and need to change some money.

Some of the stuff here is quite expensive though I noticed, and I was better off going to the nearby T Market instead.

However, this is a great convenient supermarket if you’re in any of the massive clustering of resorts on the south end of Sunny Beach, away from the Bus Station and towards Nesebar (Hotel Tarsis, Continental, Sunny Home, Amadeus, etc – there’s loads of them). It’s basically 5-10 minutes walk from all those resorts and has most of what you’d need for a decent shop, but can be a bit on the expensive side and you might be better off walking a few minutes further to the T Market instead.

Option #4 – MM Supermarket (Heading North, Near Aquapark)

We’ve covered the central (Janet) and south end of Sunny Beach (T Market and Mladost), but heading north towards Sveti Vlas, MM Supermarket is your best bet so far. You’d turn 90 degrees left facing the Flower Street pharmacy, and head on the road directly opposite you, past the currency exchange and the Djanny restaurant.

After a few hundred metres, you’d see the Viva Clinic on your right, turn right and continue on the same road the clinic is on, and after a few hundred metres, you get to MM Supermarket, tucked away behind the Waterpark (map here):

This is a great option if you’re in the Fort Noks, Fort Nessebar, Aqua Nevis or any other resort towards the north end of Sunny Beach or near the Waterpark.

They’ve got a good fresh meat section, plus the usual groceries you’d need, and prices are good there. They’re where I go the most, but as with Janet, you’re required to leave any bags you have with you in lockers at the front entrance and get them when you leave.

Option #5 – Lidl Sunny Beach (Coming Summer 2023)

Competition is set to get hotter for supermarkets in Sunny Beach with a new Lidl being built, also towards the north end of the resort towards Sveti Vlas (facing the Flower Street pharmacy, you’d keep going in the same direction along the main road).

There’s already a Lidl about 6km from Sunny Beach in Ravda (map here), but this new one is close to being finished in spring 2023, and is set to add more choice for shoppers. See the video below for the location (it’s near the old police station, on the main road towards Sveti Vlas) plus an overview of the construction.

New Lidl In Sunny Beach Under Construction

 

What About Smaller Supermarkets In Sunny Beach?

There are also loads of smaller supermarkets dotted around Sunny Beach (Aldo, Mini-market, 24/7 Supermarket etc), but most of them only open in the summer season (May/June – September), and they charge seriously rip off prices. Avoid using them unless you’re desperate or in a rush, as you’ll be paying 2 or 3 times what you would be at one of the larger supermarkets that are open year round.

They might be OK just for a very few basic essentials or a couple of beers, but as a rule of thumb, if it’s a “summer” supermarket that isn’t open year round, you’re likely to get ripped off. They’re banking on people not wanting to go a bit further to a larger supermarket.

There are also some smaller supermarkets that are still open year round (there’s one heading north from the Flower St pharmacy, plus a Djanny supermarket right near the centre), with decent prices, but much smaller selection. Use these rather than the summer ones if you need basic essentials in a rush.

Are There Pound/Euro Stores in Sunny Beach?

If you’re wanting cheap household essentials, there is also a euro store right near the centre, where most things are 2 leva (1 euro). It’s great for picking up kitchen stuff (cutlery, glasses, plates, dish soap, brushes, sponges, colanders, sieves etc), plus shampoo, soap, bin bags and other bits and pieces really cheap.

It’s just 2 minutes walk from the Flower Street pharmacy. You turn left, head on the road opposite you (like going to MM), and the Euro store is there on your left just before you get to the Djanny restaurant.

This is really handy if you need basic stuff for shorter or longer stays. Some of the apartments you can rent over here are not always well kitted out in terms of kitchen/bathroom essentials, so a quick trip here can sort you out really cheaply.

Avoiding High Foreign Bank Fees At Sunny Beach Supermarkets

If you’re visiting Sunny Beach from abroad and constantly using your home bank card at these supermarkets, you’re going to get ripped off with foreign transaction fees every time you spend at supermarkets or elsewhere.

If you want to avoid this, a great option is the Wise Borderless Card, which allows you to open up, and spend, a Bulgarian Leva (BGN) balance with zero fees, including at supermarkets, just like you had a domestic bank account in Bulgaria.

I’ve got a Wise card myself and use it whenever I’m shopping at any of these supermarkets – it’s simple tap and spend like at home, and I’m not getting stung with fees every time I use it because I’m using my BGN balance.

Here’s what the Wise Borderless Card offers:

  • ZERO fee spending (contactless or Chip-n-PIN) on the card in Bulgarian Leva. Tap and spend as you do in your home country with no fees
  • You can also draw out up to $100 or £/€ 200 equivalent in BGN (around 200 or 450 leva at current rates) in max 2 free ATM withdrawals per month. So you can have some cash on hand.
  • Can spend money online in Bulgaria using your BGN balance with zero fees.
  • Can open up and spend in other balances as well if you’re traveling around.

See our full guide on using the Wise card to avoid high bank fees in Bulgaria, for more information.