Buy spices at an Indian, Pakistani, or Halal market

I do a lot of Indian cooking, which requires special spices than can be hard to find.
Instead of dropping the big bucks at Whole Foods, check out a market that caters to people who use those spices almost everyday. You can get spices and beans in bigger bags than regular grocery stores and they are cheaper too. They also carry spices that are easy to find like cinnamon and cardamom, still cheaper. In case you are wondering, every service employee at the markets I've been to speaks English.