I’m currently back in San Diego for work and one thing we’ve taken for granted, when living in California, is how awesome the grocery stores in California are. The Vons’ and Ralphs’ are pretty nice, but nothing compares to Trader Joes, Henrys, Boneys and Bristol Farms. Here are some snaps that I took of the Bristol Farms in La Jolla, California:
They even have Vicious Cookies!! 
Look at all that amazing produce! The local grocery store in Rincon, Puerto Rico (the Econo), pretty much sucks. The produce is horrible, the meat is bad and they run out of shit for long periods of time (who runs out of bagels for 5 weeks?!). I do understand that being on an island means that items need to be imported, but come on…It took me 2 days to ship my computers from California to Puerto Rico. Why can’t you keep bagels in stock?! Or yummy produce?! Sigh…
Popularity: 74% [?]
Summer,
Try Superfresh on Route # 2 near the Walgreens on the way to Aguadilla, they have a much better selection of fresh vegetables than Econo ( Econo really does suck but alas unless we want to travel a littel bit it’s the only large supermarket in town) Also Pueblo will be opening in Mayaguez and their choice of fresh meats is much better than Econo. We have learned to eat a lot of fish and chicken in the 20 years that we have been in Puerto Rico.
Joan:
Thanks for the recommendation. I am going to hit up the Superfresh on Rt. 2 on the way back from the airport on Friday. Hmmmm…near the Walgreens? Is it by the K-Mart or down at the bottom of the hill near the shortcut into Aguadilla?
Where do you get fresh fish? I see frozen stuff everywhere and haven’t been lucky enough to find the fish market over by Villa Orleans open.
Summer:
Looking at those pictures just made my jaw drop in awe. We really did take all of our food options for granted when we lived in California. We’ll get the Rincon fruit stands and fisherman dialed in after construction when we have some more time. We’ll start our garden before rainy season and plant everything we can’t get around here. We’ll be living larger than life again real soon.
Summer,
Econo sucks, no matter where you are on the island
Here in SJ, I do my shopping mostly at Grande and Costco. Sometimes I’ll deal with Pueblo, but they’re going through a lot of changes at the moment, including some merger/sale with Econo, so that scares me. I’ve heard decent things about Supermax, but I haven’t tested them out myself. I know of a few people in Aguadilla/Mayaguëz/Ponce that come once a month to Costco in SJ to do large shopping (oh yeah, I’ve seen rashguards/boards/wax at Costco before, but not always… that’s just cool to me)
Also with Econo, I avoid Amigo like the plague… not because they’re a bad place, but because they’re owned by Wal-Mart and I gotta stick with my principles.
uh oh Robert…you trash talked Wal-Mart! I was a man of principals like you (Have you read “The Wal-Mart Effect”: some great compelling arguments for both sides of the fence) until I fell in love with Summer. Then, Wal-Mart just became a part of my life…I must have abandoned my principals or something.
Principles are also very convenient when there isn’t a Wal-Mart nearby
I can imagine what it must be like, when we went to Belize I thought oh we we will just eat fresh fruit and fresh fish all day. I could barely find either. Crackers and that trippy non-refrigerated cheese was more like it.
I had an all new appreciation for our stores when I came home.
So can you post some photos of the store there??
Maybe you can do Mailorder. I get the craziest food catalogs from the people that used to live here. This store has amazing fresh fish and they say shipping to anywhere in US, it might include you.
http://poulsbo.central-market.com/newSite/poulsbo/shops/index.php?shop=seafood
Alicia & Brad
I just emailed the store through the contact form on their site asking if they will ship via FedEx to Puerto Rico. I’ll let everyone know the outcome. Thanks for the tip!
It’s by the shortcut, on the same side of the street as Pitusa/opposite Walgreens. Have you tried Sam’s for Meats? I find that they are not too bad especially chopped meat for burgers. I gave you the wrong name of the place it’s Fresh Mart and it’s hit or miss sometimes also. The fishermen come into the fishing village around 2:00 p.m. daily with their catch, that’s the best time to get fresh fish in Rincon. Good Luck!
In my opinion shopping in general sucks in PR…let’s not talk about customer service, at its best is not existent!
The variety and quality of products leaves a lot to desire…people in PR are very loyal to brands, they have been using the same products for generations…If it’s Goya, has to be good! That could be one of the reasons we don’t have the variety you wish…
Get to know your neighbors…they will bring fresh fruits from their trees once in a while…and steal from yours too! Lol!
Dorian
Dorian:
You are so right…our neighbors have so many fruit tree’s and they have all opened their doors for us to take what we can consume.
I like your ’spin’ on the variety and quality of products in PR….it really does make sense.
Alicia & Brad - Really? No good food in Belize? I always had the best food in Costa Rica, so I figured it would be similar in Belize. Although Costa Rica has that gross cheese too…They call it Tico Cheese. Yuck!
O.K. Guys, late to the party here. My partner and I are moving to Puerto Rico, Mayaguez this summer (new job for me) and I’ve got to ask. Has anybody tried the meat at Costco? (San Juan, Caguas, Bayamon) We buy the Costco meat here in the Virginia area and it’s actually pretty good. Vegetables I can improvise (At least I can grow those). Bad meat? I don’t know what I’d do.
Econos in PR are for low income people. Good options are Costco, Sams, Ralph’s, Amigo, WalMart and Grande in order of preference. You may not find atractive supermarkets in small towns, but you may trade taht for the beauty of the place: like Rincón or Boquerón.
You can also find good restaurants.
I’ve started buying my produce from a street vendor in front of my neighborhood, and the quality is noticeably superior to what is offered at my local Pueblo & Grande.
Victor - The Econo’s I’ve been to don’t exactly have bargain prices (I pay the same price for things I would buy on the mainland). Costco & Sam’s are great, but very limited when it comes to food and Ive never even seen a Ralphs in PR. BUT, you are 100% correct when you say “trade that for the beauty of the place”. I love Puerto Rico for what it is! If grocery store selection was that important to me, I would move back to CA
Hopefully good news: Word is that every Saturday morning from 8am to noon, there will be an Organic Farmer’s Market at Natural High Juice Bar & Café. I missed the first one, which was yesterday. I’ll be very interested to check that out.
The fist sunday and the third of the month there an organic farmer market at Placita Roosvelt in Hato Rey.
In Caguas the second and fourth of the every month.
I will be making fresh organic breads from August 2008.
I dont have any problem buying good stuff in the mountains.Feel free to ask me where you can find what in Puerto Rico.