I toured Spar, a popular European grocery store, and the snack aisle rivals even the best US chains

Maria NoyenMar 8, 2022, 23:35 IST

I toured a Spar in Austria.Maria Noyen/Insider

I toured Spar, a popular European grocery store, while on a family ski trip in Austria.
The snack aisle was filled with brands I'd never heard of before and packed with shoppers at 5 p.m.

I was in St. Anton, Austria, for a family vacation and was craving snacks, so I decided to check out the local Spar.

Spar is a popular grocery store chain in Europe.Maria Noyen/Insider

I didn't have to travel far to get to the only grocery store option in this tiny ski town.

Spar was the only grocery store on the high street in St. Anton.Maria Noyen/Insider

The first big difference about grocery shopping in Austria is that wearing masks is still very much a thing.

Shoppers have to wear specific types of face masks in store.Maria Noyen/Insider

An early indication about how elite the chocolate options were going to be was this massive wall of Lindt chocolate bunnies on my way in.

The first sign that Spar's chocolate and snack options were going to be great.Maria Noyen/Insider

I couldn't help but obsess over the in-house freshly squeezed orange juice machine.

Spar has a fresh-squeezed orange juice machine.Maria Noyen/Insider

It wasn't too far to the snack aisle, which was packed with people just after 5 p.m.

The snack aisle was packed.Maria Noyen/Insider

While I waited for the main snack aisle to clear, I spotted some ski-shaped chocolates I'd never seen before.

What's not to love about ski-shaped chocolates?Maria Noyen/Insider

Spar's snack aisle had some familiar favorites.

There were tons of Haribo candy options.Maria Noyen/Insider

Speaking of totally new snacks, these were two were I'd never heard of or seen before.

There were also snacks I'd never heard of before.Maria Noyen/Insider

These Mozart-themed chocolates explained the Mozart cardboard cutout at the entrance.

Mozart was from Austria so of course, I had to try Mozart-themed chocolates.Maria Noyen/Insider

Another product that caught my eye — Spar-branded cookies that looked identical to the Oreos right next to them.

Spar's own version of Oreo cookies cost one euro less.Maria Noyen/Insider

Much like the snack aisle, there were plenty of drinks I'd never heard of before, and some I had.

I'm partial to an Arizona green iced tea.Maria Noyen/Insider

As I headed around the corner, I saw a wall of Milka chocolates with flavor variations including strawberry cheesecake, peanut caramel, and yogurt.

I hit the jackpot with all of these Milka chocolate variations.Maria Noyen/Insider

If I was on a different kind of vacation, this meter-long Schnapps stick looked like it would've been fun to try.

A meter-long stick of Schnapps.Maria Noyen/Insider

As I brought my haul to the checkout, I saw even more Schnapps shooters flavored with apricot.

Speaking of Schnapps, there were little shooters at the check-out.Maria Noyen/Insider

Looking down at my grocery store haul, I think I went slightly overboard with the snacks.

My total came out to 20.58 euros, or around $22.Maria Noyen/Insider

Back in my hotel room, I decided to do a mini taste test on all my snacks.

I was a fan of Spar's knock-off Oreos.Maria Noyen/Insider

Two items I was not a big fan of, both visually and taste-wise, were the chocolate-covered banana snack and the Mozart-themed chocolates.

But I was not a fan of the chocolate-covered "banana" or the Mozart-themed treats.Maria Noyen/Insider

The best part of the haul was the chocolate wafers, which I shared around with family and friends at the hotel.

My favorite snack would have to be the wafer chocolates.Maria Noyen/Insider

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