Smart & Final

Best store ever!!! If you want to shop for items that have a box store price without the membership fee and without buying 10 items shrink wrapped together– this is it. Finally a store that isn’t the size of 4 football fields and set up perfectly. And there are more and better brands with better prices than anywhere, plus their house brand, which is pretty good, saves you even more. Service is better than most lower price stores. Everyone is friendly and efficient and the place is super clean. And alcohol!

I wanted to like this store, I really did, but it’s costing me money. When the store first opened the produce department was beautiful; filled with perfectly ripe produce. The last three times I have visited this store there were many items out of stock. Most recently, I purchased a 10# bag of potatoes which I found the next day to be emitting a toxic smell. When I looked inside the bag, I found more than ¹⁄₃ of the potatoes were beyond rotten!
Aside from rotting produce, I am not fond of the woman at the register. She is ahem, middle age, and has a surly attitude! She does not acknowledge you, nor does she thank you. Who needs it!?! I can’t wait to see what grocery chain will occupy this spot next! So far it’s been ABCO, Fresh and Easy and now Smart and Final.

I’ve been here a few times. I typically watch for their ad to see what’s on sale and only stop if they have a few well priced sale items I want.
They have a nice produce department. Good selection. Everything else is okay. They are limited in each department on the brands and variety they carry. However, they do have things in bulk or larger packaging if you like to buy things that way. The meat department is decent. They usually have a good sale price on one type of meat each week. I have also gone in and gotten some super low deals on meat that was unadvertised.
It’s a clean store with wide aisles. The biggest negative is they only have one or two cashiers during the weekday morning making checking out take too long.

The last time I was in a Smart and Final was over 40 years ago and you had to have a resale license to go in. This is one of their new «Extra» concept stores. To me it has an identity problem. It is basically a typical grocery store with some items, mostly those associated with entertaining, available in case sizes at a discount. It has a good produce dept. The meat section was just sort of OK. The offer some items in bulk bins but not near the selection of Sprouts or Whole Foods. The store is clean, and where they are not restocking, there is not much clutter in the aisles. The pricing of the non sale items was similar to an Albertsons. I can’t see this becoming a regular stop but I spotted some items I don’t see often and it is nice to have a source if I need them near my apt.