Argyll Foods

This place is incredible.
I went to Mexico back in early 2012 and brought back a delicious hot sauce. I was sad when it started to run low because I was sure I would never be able to find it again.
A quick google search proved me wrong. Argyll Foods was the only store in the city that sold it. So, once I needed to restock, I headed into this little store for the first time. It was one of those places that I had driven by for years and never gave a second look at.
This place seems to sell every latino food/​spice/​sauce you could possibly want but would never even bother looking for in a regular grocery store. I’ve now gotten my friend hooked on this place — she loves going in every few months and grabbing random hot sauces to try. This weekend I stopped in for the first time in a few months… and to my surprise… they’ve renovated! Like… I don’t just mean they painted the walls, they’ve taken over the space next to them and the store is now twice as big!
The store always has people in it… so I’m happy to see that everyone else knows how fantastic it is too.

Argyll Foods gets my 5 stars for being the only spot I could find in town with banana leaves! Everywhere else I looked they either did not carry them or some banana leaf monster had been in before me to buy them all. Weird!
Anyway, it also carries an array of Latin American products… rows of beans, tortillas and chips, rice, frijoles, hot sauces, tomatillos, queso and so many other goodies are packed in those little grocery shelves.
Back to the topic of banana leaves, one package was $ 1.99 and was enough to make my little pockets to steam minced chicken in and double layer my banana leaf wrapping.

Since our great move north two and half years ago, the husband and I have been fiending for a Mexican grocery – even a crappy one would have done. Thankfully, we now know we don’t have to settle, as Argyll Foods/​Tienda Latina is great. We discovered an awesome selection of hot sauces (Cholita is my favourite, and this is the only place I’ve seen it in Edmonton), fresh tomatillos, lovely, melty queso, fresh tortillas from El Mercado, and de la Rosa, an addictive marzipan-​y peanut candy. Hubs squeed when he found chicharrones, and I was similarly delighted when I happened upon strawberry Jarritos. After ten minutes of walking down the aisles and haphazardly grabbing items as we remembered we missed them, he said, «We have to leave. I want to buy everything.»
I do wish they had a selection of fresh peppers instead of dried, as the Mexican varieties are particularly hard to find up here. But I’ll take what I can get.
If you want a regular convenience store, it’s that, too, but the real attraction is all the deliciousness hiding behind the chip and candy racks …

This is the first Mexican/​Latin grocery I have seen and Edmonton and I don’t think I have to look any further.
An enourmous selection of ground/​dried chilies. Local favorite beverages and frozen food favorites for the truly lazy like me. They even have some hard to find fresh stuff like Tamarind.
Lastly 100 tortillas for $ 5.99. Simply awesome.