Spent $12 on a sandwich at the Zurich train station, then found the grocery store downstairs
I was in Switzerland last month and grabbed a ham sandwich and a bottle of water at the station kiosk near my platform because I was running late for a train to Bern. It came to about 12 francs, which stung but I figured that is just how it goes there. Then I walked down one more level to catch my connection and there was a full grocery store with the same sandwich for 4 francs and water for less than 1. I just stood there holding my receipt like an idiot. By the end of the trip I was hitting the Coop or Migros in every station before boarding, and it saved me probably 150 francs over 9 days. The kiosks price for people who did not plan, and I was that person for one very expensive lunch. Does anyone have a go to station grocery chain in other parts of Europe, or a trick for spotting the cheap floor from the platform?
Gotta disagree with the idea that kiosks are just a tax on people who did not plan, because sometimes you really do have three minutes to catch a train and there is no time to hunt for the cheap floor. The real trick is not planning ahead, it is knowing which stations have the grocery store right under the platform, like Zurich and most big German hubs, so you can grab it in the same two minutes. Spend one trip learning where the Coop or Migros hides in each station and you never pay kiosk prices again.