Sunland Produce — Local services in Los Angeles

A mid-sized Supermarket with an unrivaled selection of fruits & vegetables but, also with 'not-so-super' service.

Located near the Gateway to Shadow Hills, at the intersection of Sunland and Glenoaks Blvds. this single location operation has offered the East valley an outstanding selection of fresh produce since 1990. Following the closure of Ralphs last year it is now the ONLY grocery store within a three mile radius, a situation which has certainly increased sales volume...unfortunately at the expense of prompt service. I would recommend avoiding weekend visits, unless you enjoy full parking lots and long lines!

The store offers a full Meat Counter with reasonably priced weekly specials, for example: ground beef @ $1.79 lb or T-bone steak @ $4.99 lb. The service at this counter is usually prompt and the sale items are generally in stock. My only complaint is that (like most local markets) they don't seem to employ a trained butcher, instead their "meat cutters" slice everything except the roasts almost paper thin.

A "full service" deli counter offers a good variety of meats and cheeses, but delivers them in an almost comically lackadaisical manner. For example; while holding a "take-a-number" which had at least nine people ahead of me in line, I watched as three employees engaged in a 5 minute debate about who was gonna sweep the floor...which was only resolved after a fourth employee joined. THEN, all four went in different directions to search for the dust-mop, without so much as a glance toward the 11 or 12 unfortunate souls who just wanted some Swiss Cheeze!

The general merchandise is heavy with eastern European offerings as is their dairy selection. The store is not the cleanest that I've ever been in, but not filthy either. Beware, they close very early at seven (7 PM) so don't go looking for a late-night snack!

Oh yeah. One last little complaint: This is the ONLY store I have ever been two which charges an additional dollar for Marlborough 100 cigarettes (above the price for Marlborough Red kings)! So if Marl. Reds were $5.49 a pack, then Marl 100 Reds would be $6.49 per pack, the problem is that they both have the exact same amount of tobacco per cig. AND they both cost the same to buy wholesale.

Despite my tepid review, I must admit that I do shop here at least once a week - the produce selection...

I’ve been coming here for nearly 15 years and I love it. The variety here is wide, and the quality is really good. The variety of herbs and veg is amazing, I find stuff here I can’t find elsewhere consistently. Sometimes other stores have what they have but it’ll come and go or be rarer, but I can come here and they almost always have the same stuff. But that’s a good thing! Because the selection is so big. I can pretty much say everything here is good except I don’t care for the apples you get. For some reason that too is constant. They’re always flavorless no matter which variety I get. Strange. But considering all the rest of the store I don’t even think about the apples. What I also like in here are the fresh pitas and breads, the hummus selection, pre weighted nut bags and the selection of canned fish. I’ve never personally used the meat deli, since I don’t actually buy meat that often. But the counter is always crowded so there must be reason to come here for it too. This place is pretty crowded a lot of the time too but it’s worth it. Glad it’s popular so it’ll...

Big, clean space, not particularly aesthetically pleasing. That is not the point. For the most part, its main draw is the bargains you can find here, e.g. 5 lbs of dates for $10, Bulgarian feta cheese for $2.98, big Panettone cake for $5, etc.

Vast area reserved for vegetables & fruits much of it discounted. (Don't buy too much since they may spoil earlier because they may be older hence the possible discount). Huge spice & herb selection. Dried fruits, nuts, seeds. Large display of cheese, meat & processed meats such as sausages, Bologna not necessarily made in Italy but somewhere in Eastern Europe.

Much of the processed foods veer between Latin American & Armenian. But with Armenians spread out over Iran, Lebanon, Syria as well as having been part of the former USSR, there is good representation of Middle Eastern & Eastern European.

Nice presentation of food from far corners of the world. Good way to stretch your dollar if you know the prevailing undiscounted price of the food items you are buying in order to...