Apna Bazar Norwood — Local services in Norwood

Apna bazaar is an Indian grocery store stacked with all sorts of products from fresh produce to frozen naan breads and veggies, Indian spices along with dairy products and other miscellaneous items. The quality though of those products is a whole different story at this store.

Let me start with the good bits- there are a lot of products to choose from in here. You’ll find even some exclusive Indian items if you look around. The sheer quantity of goods around will make you a little dizzy. The isles are packed till the roof. The staff was friendly and COVID precautions like masks are mandatory.

Let’s go over the bits I didn’t like - although the isles are stacked with items, not everything is a quality product and a lot of items were expired. I went in the other day to buy some tea and to my surprise, an entire shelf of tea packets was expired. I don’t know how any of the restocking people working here didn’t notice this. The isles have little room for two people with their carts. The quality of fresh produce isn’t up to the mark compared with other Indian grocery stores.

Overall, the quantity of the goods here is great but if they could improve upon the quality control and some supervision, this would be a great recommendation for Indian grocery. But at this moment, this store needs...

The Garlic Naan bread went very well with The Chicken Tikka Massala. Of course, there were some not so healthy additives, like citric acid, but compared to American frozen food, it was MUCH healthier. The frozen chicken dish had chicken, tomato (tomato concentrate (water, tomato paste), citric acid), cream, water, onions, soybean oil, yogurt (grade A Pasteurized Milk), FD&C Yellow #4 & #5, cashews, butter, sugar, spices, sour cream, (cultured pasteurized light cream, non fat milk, enzymes), ginger, garlic, salt and FD&C Red #40.

I also used to buy naan bread from another store, but it wasn't from India. The naan at Apna is from India. The ingredients are MUCH healthier (Indian Cottage Cheese, wheat flour, water, onions, semolina, butter (milk fat, milk solids, salt, coriander leaves, fresh ginger, green chilli, sugar, chilli powder, cumin, black pepper, mango powder, and...

I decided to give this local market a try aince it was privately owned and not the franchise giant a few towns over. I wish I hadn't wasted my time or my money. The bread I purchased was stale and crumbled upon preparation. The rice stays with a bite after lengthy soaking and is completely flavorless although it is a known brand. The apices I have purchased are completely flavorless and even using a 1/4 measure on gharam masala, coriander and cumin each, the flavors imparted on just 1 lbs of veg or chciken are mediocre at best. The product seems to have had a very cushy shelf life. The management refused to return or exchange my product as " if they had to do this for everyone they would go out of business" Awesome! Nothing like living the American dream! As much as I hate supporting the man, at least the man stands behind...