Sierra Produce & Finer Foods

Sierra Produce and the owner’s attention to true quality was rare — our family always looked forward to getting the best produce here.
Heartbroken too that they’re gone. Does anyone have any news? If the owner sees this, please know we wish him and his family well and thank them for having been such a special part of the neighborhood for so many years.

I am bereft and broken hearted! I have been shopping at Sierra Produce since the mid 80s. What happened? Where have they gone? I had the flu earlier this year, so did not shop for a couple of weeks, when I returned they were closed — what a shock.
I started out every shopping trip by going to Sierra Produce first. Everything was fresh, and high quality. Their prices were very good. They brought in the best of each season. They even carried Hawaiian pineapples. Not until I picked out the newest and freshest fruit and vegetables would I start considering my menus.
I considered Jack, the owner, a friend. We had many interesting conversations and quite a few laughs. I’m sorry some people had a negative experience with him, but in that case you just weren’t tuned into his sense of humor. Jack liked to come off as a curmudgeon, but he is really a kind and generous man. I will miss him as much as the produce!
I don’t know where I’m going to shop now, I’ve been so spoiled! I wish Jack and all of his good employees good luck and future success.

Same response as everyone. I’m sad that this place is closed for good. I went there today and learned it is closed. Good luck to the owner and family.

For MANY years we shopped here and loved the freshness, variety and price of the fruits and vegetables.
I’m very saddened to report that Sierra Produce has closed its doors.
Indeed a dark day for Arcadia!

Sad that Sierra Produce, my go-​to mom & pop neighborhood farmer’s market, closed its doors for good on Saturday, January 31^st. Thanks for carrying the best fruits & vegetables for so many years. The big store chains can’t match the quality produce I found on your shelves. Best wishes to you!

I can never imagine how a business owner of a mom & pop store will treat his customer so rude. I have been in this store a few times and found that its produce is not as good as some other reviewers say it is, so I don’t normally come here.
For convenience reason, on 7÷25÷2014 around 3:30 pm, I stopped by the store to get some cherries when I went to the bank next to it, although I knew I would pay almost double the price. When I checked out, the owner pop ran the cash register for me. I took out my credit card, just as I would when I shop in other supermarkets. This man, with a very impatient face expression, used very rude hand signals, as if waving away my credit card. I asked him «Don’t you accept credit card?» He replied «It’s only $ 28 dollars!» I felt irritated and took out some cash to pay. However, I thought I should let him know his attitude is not nice, so I told him, «People use credit card sometimes just for $ 5.00 dollars. It’s OK if you don’t take credit card, but you don’t have to tell me it’s only $ 28 dollars.» I thought he would say SORRY, but guess what? He told me «Nevermind! I think you are a person with mental disease!» Oh my! I was shocked! How can he insult me in public. I asked him «Are you trying to do business or what?» He used his rude hand signal again and told me «Forget it!» Should I still compliment his mom & pop store, and pay cash to buy his so call «fresh fruits»? Of course not! I better get lost from his store, as he instructed with his hands.

Cherries. 2014 seems to have been a bad year for cherries. It’s mid June and Bristol Farms and Whole Foods are selling cherries for $ 10 a pound… and the ones from Whole foods were not very good. Here the cherries were 6.99 and VERY good. I’ll be back tomorrow.
When a store focuses on produce, you can expect good stuff and employees who ‘know their stuff’. Owner on site and helpful, he helped me pick out a ripe cantalope and has helped me interpret the instructions for making tsukemono from a package mix.
You’ll find imports from many countries here, German sauerkraut, Italian pastas… spend some time and browse, you’ll be glad you did.

This place has been here forever and I only discovered it recently. The owner is a character and is very knowledgeable about the produce here.
They have a huge variety of fruits and vegetables here. Prices are higher than Pavilions across the street, but there are so many things you can buy here that Pavilions does not stock. Because of Sierra Produce, I’ve been able to try several exotic fruits and vegetables that I normally wouldn’t be able to try.
Quality of the produce here all depends on when you shop. It is a small market, so the turnaround of produce is not as high — that means that there will be some slow selling products that can sit and not as fresh. They get shipments of different produce on different days, so if you are looking for something specifically to be fresh, you can call in and ask when they’ll receive it. For the most part though, I don’t have any problems.
Also, the owner is Japanese so you can find some Japanese items there such as edamame, tofu, fish cakes, noodles, etc.
I would watch out for non-​produce items though, because sometimes I see really old items, where packaging has faded from the sun or other items that are dusty.

I never knew this place existed until recently despite living in this city for the past 30 years. Lots of fresh produce and choices to choose from. Prices aren’t the best but you know you’re supporting your local mom and pop store.

The quality of the fruits have gone done… I don’t know what happened. I bought a couple a really expenseive Korea pears, and they were rotten at the core. Second time, I bought a mini watermelon, and it was old and stale… had to throw all this away. I don’t mind forking out the $$ for premium items, but you can probably do just as well, if not better, at 99 Ranch or Pavilions across the street.

This is good for specialty fruits and engines you can not get in an American market. The 99 ranch has lower quality fruits but definitely cheaper…

I love mom and pop markets. This one is my favorite of all of southern california (more than produce world in Orange). Why? They got quality… and they have Japanese stuff (they’re family owned Japanese Americans). I find them must better in flavor and freshness than the usual suspects — whole foods, trader joes, mothers market, etc etc. If you’re in the area, highly suggest the visit.

I have rekindled my love for this place. It’s been quite a long time since I’ve been here (more than 10 years for sure). Delicious fruit, a bit on the pricey side (it’s Mom and Pop so of course their costs are higher) but quality & deliciousness are well worth the higher prices.
Their golden kiwis are cheaper than 99 ranch’s (individually).
Cash or check only!

I used to go here as a kid and remember getting cookies and beef jerky. Well, I’m all grown up now, and this place is still awesome. There is a great selection of fresh fruits and veggies and some other Asian food/​goodies. It’s a great little store and really has that hometown/​community feel.

I absolutely loooveee coming here to buy my fruits and veggies! They pretty much have every kind of fresh produce imaginable (even blood oranges!). Prices are a little bit more compared to your average grocery store, but you definitely get what you pay for! Everything is super fresh and delicious! They have some random Asians snacks and drinks here and there as well.
Don’t forget to bring cash (or a checkbook)!

Like the other reviewers have mentioned this produce store carries fruits and veggies that seem fresher than most places, save the farmer’s market, and are sold at a premium price. I honestly don’t think that they are fresher than the 99 Ranch Market and Arcadia Supermarket. They do carry some organic produce, but it’s the usual Organic Earthbound produce you can find at other grocery stores. Still, I like the concept behind mom and pop places and try to support them.
HOWEVER, the older Japanse man at the cash register really killed it for me. I asked him to help me find some vegetables and he would simply point aimlessly at a general direction. I asked him one more time was met with a similar unhelpful response. Finally, I asked him if he could help me pick some taro. His response: «For that you’re going to have to consult the higher authorities.» WTF!!! Tell me where the farmer is at and I’ll ask him!
I was being polite and friendly, so I don’t think I deserved that response. AND it definitely wasn’t busy and there were other people working the cash registers. I would think places like these would know better customer service.
I’ll stick to the 99 Ranch Market and farmer’s market.

Sierra produce is everything that you want in a local grocer including low prices. It’s the kind of place where other customers are happy to weigh in on a food dilemma you are having, and the owner is awesome.
I write this while I am out of town, which attests to how fond of it I am.

Wow! This place rules! Freshest fruit and veggies besides the farmers market. Very reasonable and they have some really rare finds. We were looking for a Japanese owned produce store and now we found it!
Be prepared for crowds. Cash only.

Interesting to find this little produce market on busy Baldwin Avenue. Parking is a little challenging in the crowded alley behind the store, but worth the effort. They have an especially great selection of fresh fruit: apples, pears, and citrus of all kinds.
GF can fill a cart up in mere minutes here. The store is small, but packed full of delicious stuff. The Asian pears and large grapefruit we bought the last time were magnificent. You don’t often find produce of that quality in the supermarket. Once again, this place is clearly independent and family-​owned. From the other reviews, I’m not surprised to find out that this little store has been around for many years.
If we don’t make it to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning, we go to Sierra Produce instead. I recommend.

The smell of Sierra Produce is very comforting. You walk in, and it smells like fresh fruit. That’s how a produce place should be. It is the same smell I remember from (yikes) 20 years ago when I would come shopping with my parents here. Sierra Produce is an old school Japanese-​American produce market remarkably surviving in the 21^st century. It still looks the same as it did back then. Well except I think they’re making their handwritten signs with weird highlighters.
I love this place because I know I will find good fruit here, and interesting varieties you can’t find at boring supermarkets. Like even at the new «Henry’s Farmers Market» in Monrovia which is like a Whole Foods, I went assuming I would find delicious dark Concord grapes there… but no. But Sierra Produce did, along with other things I didn’t expect to find, like juicy French Butter Pears, unusual apples, teeny tiny crabapples which I’d never even seen before… I hate it when I have a fruit craving and go to a supermarket and nothing catches my eye. The apples all look hard and polished and everything looks the same. Here they’ve got seasonal produce and it’s yummy. They even had ‘Lady Melon’ samples recently.
That this mom-​n-​pop produce market still survives is amazing to me, and must mean that enough people love them and their produce to keep them going. Thank goodness! Though it doesn’t look special or even open from Baldwin Ave., it is; there’s also a few parking spaces in back too. They need to put some giant wooden fruit signs on Baldwin Ave. the front of the store so people know what’s there, I’m sure many people pass by never knowing what they’re missing. They also sell some gourmetish side things, but the fresh fruits and veggies are what they’ve been doing for years. Great place to put together a gift fruit basket, we used to do that for our family friends at Christmas.
Little-​known fact! They used to have a second Sierra Produce store at San Gabriel Blvd and Mission. It had the same old wooden feel and giant walk-​in fridge. And I want to say they had ceiling fans too. I remember entertaining myself by taking their plastic bags, blowing them up and twisting them to make balloons, and hitting them around the store til my aunt was done shopping.
If you enjoy good produce, shop here. And just ask one of the people to help you pick good fruit if you need help.