Monterey Market — Attraction in Berkeley

One of my fave places to shop – on the planet!! (5/5 green stars) When I moved to the Bay Area I was lucky enough to stumble upon Monterey Market. It’s really a wonderland of fruit and veggies for anyone who’s not used to having such a wide selection. I usually encourage all new-comers to go there – and then pester them from time to time to ask if they’ve gone yet. Now I know that Berkeley Bowl is a larger store (and I love the Bowl too) but Monterey Market has such a great concentration of amazing produce that it seems to have a larger selection. And for some things, like mushrooms or pesticide-free oranges, does. Even for items that have fewer varieties available, they’ll usually stock a local and organic option if possible. It has much less floor space devoted to freezers and packaged snacks compared to most other stores, and that encourages better shopping habits for me! Good bulk section too, that’s often overlooked. Final thing – their prices are good (see pics for a few examples) and that’s a good thing if you want to support sustainable farming but are on a budget. Doing away with the more expensive processed food, I can buy a huge bag of fruit and veggies to last almost 2 weeks for about $35.

I’m giving them 5/5 “green stars” for social and environmental impact. I thought it would be as easy as pie to write a “green star” review of Monterey market – and in a way it still is – but I did come across some controversy in the past. Basically, Bill Fujimoto stepped down as the manager in 2009 amid some disagreements that were not revealed. There was some concern among locals over whether they would maintain their ethos. Having shopped there since 2001 my opinion as an outsider is that it’s as good, if not better than ever. They still clearly favor local produce that’s sustainably farmed (organic, pesticide-free, etc.) – much of which comes from local farms that are well-known for their sustainable practices. As mentioned above they don’t stock a lot of frozen and processed food (that’ a good thing!) and the staples that they do stock are from responsible companies. To take a few examples, coffee from Ritual, Bicycle and (my fave) Counter Culture, kitchen supplies from If You Care, bread from Acme, organic or grass-fed cheese, etc. I can’t comment on wages paid to staff but many of them stick around for years and seem to be pretty happy these days; they run the store very efficiently and seem to have a good time in the process. If you’re avoiding waste in your life, Monterey Market is a good place to come – aside from standard bulk items (flour, sugar, etc.) you can also stock up on things like good local dried beans and nuts in (or out of) their shells. If you really need a bag but want to avoid plastic, they have small paper bags beside the mushrooms – my favorite section :)

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We have shopped at Monterey Market for years (decades)and this is one of my favorite places HOWEVER they have recently instituted big box store practices, checking exit receipts and today when I bought a marked down bag of produce the bag tie had come undone waiting in checkout. The clerks held up the long line of customers to study whether I had somehow cheated and added an extra potato. Even IF I had done so the difference would have been under a dollar (they wouldn’t believe the tie had simply come undone). So the clerk first inspected the bag, then went to weigh it, and dawdled over mistrust. I didn’t think quickly enough to tell them to just drop the purchase. But I’m NOT liking the changes - I assume in management. Be prepared for even longer lines, parking hassle, and now a new antagonism and...

This is my favorite place in the East Bay to do produce shopping. It is a small-ish space and they have managed to squeeze so much in. Parking can be difficult and sometimes there are long lines but there is a reason for that. They have organic and non organic options, clearly marked (and it also says where the item is from). They have a whole row of mushrooms, they have a bulk section, they carry bread from both Acme and Semifreddi's. They have a smaller selection of most packaged items such as cheese, milk, cereal, pasta, jam etc. They carry some very unique produce items such as cape gooseberries that change seasonally. They also sell items that are ugly/past their prime. So you can pick up a bag of bruised organic tomatoes, or avocados that need to be make in to guac ASAP, for...