Shoppers tired of pushing their carts down conventional grocery store aisles have a lot of options in Snohomish County.
We’ve scoured the county looking for places that don’t fit the standard grocery store mold, including warehouses, discount stores, ethnic markets and a few businesses that defy definition. Like any shopping experience, you’ll have to take the good along with the bad, sometimes swapping out convenience for variety, when frequenting these stores.
Visiting some of these establishments is a taste of adventure. Find specialty items, imported goods and off-the-beaten-path produce at many of these businesses. When was the last time you bought quail eggs at Albertsons or duck foie gras mousse at Safeway?
If you’re looking for international foods, the county has much to offer. For instance, JD’s Market in Lynnwood offers not only a large selection of goods to prepare Indian cuisine, but also those for different Asian and Mexican dishes.
Shoppers expecting to pay a premium may be surprised that prices are often reasonable or even less expensive than conventional stores.
Trader Joe’s, a small grocery chain that features specialty and natural items, boasts of bargain prices for its brand of goods. Imported cheeses and wines are priced to give major grocers a run for their money.
If you’re looking for big savings and are willing to buy big quantities, Costco may be just the thing for you. The warehouse sells many of the items you would see in a standard grocery store but in large quantities. The advantage to you: lower prices, if you’re willing to pay the $50 annual membership fee.
There are disadvantages, of course, to shopping outside the conventional market.
Many of the smaller stores we visited carry no household products or have fewer frozen and refrigerated goods. Some are hard to get to.
We’ll let you decide what works for you. In the meantime, consider the list below a sampling of the places you can shop beyond the typical grocery store in Snohomish County.
Grocery Outlet
What it offers: Name-brand items ranging from frozen entrees to canned goods, from housewares to seasonal items, from produce to beers and wines. You can find low-cost clothing, organic bath products and gardening supplies while picking up a gallon of milk. Products typically distributed in other parts of the country or world show up on the shelves, such as Poconos beer from Pennsylvania.
Limitations: The availability and variety of products vary with shipments, so you can’t expect the store to have what you’re shopping for each visit. Items can arrive not long before the sell date, so watch for expiration dates and freshness. The store tends to get cluttered with items placed in odd places: gardening items sit next to the coffee grinder and bulk coffee.
Price points: 128-ounce Hershey’s Syrup jug, $4.99; Suzanne Somers’ Somersize convection oven, $69.99; Red Beret 2004 Rose wine $3.99 a bottle; Campbell’s mushroom with ham soup (Chinese label) 79 cents for 10.5 ounce can; Dreyer’s Cinnamon ice cream, $2.79 for 1.75 quarts.
Where: 19800 44th Ave. W., Lynnwood; 710 SE Everett Mall Way, Everett; 9620 State Ave., Marysville.
More information: 425-774-0198; 425-353-6224; 360-659-9909 or www.groceryoutlets.com.
JD’S Market
What it offers: The store labels itself as an Indian, Mexican and Asian market but specializes mostly in Indian foods. If you’re looking for rice, spices or legumes, you’ve found the right spot. There’s also an aisle featuring pickled products: mangoes, red chilies, lemons and tomatoes. The market offers a variety of produce not found in a typical grocery store, including burro bananas, big taro and lemongrass. The small meat counter carries both fresh and frozen items such as frozen Bangladesh hilsha (fish).
Limitations: JD’s has a limited supply of household goods. You won’t find much selection of cleaning products (14 ounces of Ajax sells for 89 cents) or personal hygiene items (the last bar of Irish Spring cost 79 cents).
Price points: Iranian raisins, $4.99 per pound; split red lentils, $13.99 for 8 pounds; goat liver, $1.89 per pound; lemongrass, $1.99 per pound; fennel seed, 99 cents for 7 ounces.
Where: 4419 200th St. SW, Lynnwood
More information: 425-672-3497
La Tienda Chapala
What it offers: The store combines a meat counter and market featuring an array of products imported from Mexico as well as fresh produce and pastries. You’ll find a stash of corn tortillas, sodas and hot sauces. There’s a good selection of chilies and a variety of both dried and canned beans. You can pick up a piata for a party or choose from a small offering of cookware.
Limitations: Tienda Chapala carries a limited amount of refrigerated goods such as milk, butter and eggs.
Price: Chilies chipotle, $6.99 per pound; maiz blanco, $1.60 per dried pound; fresh cheese (queso fresco) $4.99 per pound; dry black beans, $4.80 for 4-pound bag.
Where: 9629 Evergreen Way, Everett
More information: 425-355-7334
Matrioshka European Food Store
What it offers: If you’re searching for food items for Eastern European cuisine, you’ve found the right store. The sign says “European” but the store focuses mostly on Polish and Russian goods. There’s plenty of sauerkraut, cabbage leaves in 46-ounce jars, canned eggplant and jars of borsch. A small meat counter offers sausages and hams as well as a small assortment of cheeses. Foreign-language movies and greeting cards also abound here.
Limitations: You won’t shop at Matrioshka for fresh produce. This also isn’t the kind of full-service grocery store where you might find lotions, toilet paper and toothbrushes. From Broadway, the store is tucked away in a strip mall, almost hidden from sight.
Price: German ham, $6.99 per pound; sauerkraut, $5.75 for a 60-ounce jar; millet, $2.75 for 32 ounces; frozen potato and cheese pyrogees, $3.99 per pound; fresh pastry, $1.50.
Where: 1001 N. Broadway, Everett
More information: 425-303-8030
Los Socios
What it offers: The store provides a nice selection of basic ingredients for Mexican dishes, including dry beans, rice, spices and salsa. You can choose from a variety of pork offerings at the meat counter. Pastries, as well as candies and sodas, from Mexico can be found here.
Limitations: Los Socios has a limited selection of household products. Its refrigerated goods section also falls short of the offerings you might find in a traditional store, but you’ll find a few basic items.
Prices: Sixteen-ounce jar of pig feet in brine, $2.99; 4-pound bag of dry black beans, $4.25; 5-pound bag of long-grain rice, $2.99; 4 pounds of corn flour, $3.25.
Where: 1618 Broadway, Everett
More information: 425-252-7104
Sno-Isle Natural Foods Co-op
What it offers: Tucked away in Everett, this cooperatively owned store’s slogan explains much about it: Get Some Local Wholesome. The co-op specializes in health foods and local produce and other goods, such as pitas and hummus from a business in town. You’ll find a variety of organic products and bulk items. In the far corner of Sno-Isle is the store’s deli and juice bar, serving sandwiches and soups and fresh juices. There’s also a wide selection of cheeses.
Limitations: If paying more for organic products, such as milk, bothers you, you should shy away from Sno-Isle. Likewise, don’t expect household items unless they’re environmentally friendly.
Prices: Six ounces of organic blueberries, $4.59; 8 ounces Desert Essence Organics biodegradable Red Raspberry Conditioner, $8.99; half-gallon of Raw Jersey cow milk from local dairy, $3.80; bulk organic soy flour, $1.45 per pound; Vegenaise dairy- and egg-free spread, $3.89 for 32 ounces.
Where: 2804 Grand Ave., Everett
More information: 425-259-3798 or www.snoislefoods.coop
Costco
What it offers: This big-box warehouse offers customers a lot more than groceries, including high-end electronics, clothing and toys, a pharmacy, eye center, a cheap lunch at the food court and a place to buy tires. When it comes to groceries, the focus is on higher-quality goods in large quantities.
Limitations: If you don’t need to buy apples in 10-pound bags or margarine in 5-pound tubs, this isn’t the place for you. Shoppers must pay a yearly $50 membership.
Prices: whole peach pie, $8.99; New Zealand rack of lamb, package of two, $16.49; Seattle Mountain whole-bean coffee, $7.99 for 2.5 pounds; 12-pack Trident salmon burgers, $11.65.
Where: 10200 19th Ave. SE, Everett, and 16616 Twin Lakes Ave., Marysville
More information: 425-379-7451 (Everett), 360-652-4530 (Marysville), www.costco.com
Trader Joe’s
What it offers: This store bills itself as a fun neighborhood grocery store, albeit one with locations around the U.S. The store carries natural, gourmet and specialty products. Shoppers also will find basic fare such as bread, milk, eggs, cereal and produce. This is the store that carries Two Buck Chuck wine by Charles Shaw, priced at $2.99 in this state. Find lots of snacky foods such as nuts, chocolates and cookies, too.
Limitations: Much smaller than a traditional grocery, so you won’t find items such as batteries and eight kinds of toothpaste. The store and parking lot can get crowded.
Price points: organic mango fruit spread, 10 ounces, $1.99; four fresh chicken enchiladas, $4.79; cooked rack of lamb, $9.99; Meridian Central Coast Sauvignon Blanc, $4.99 a bottle.
Where: 19500 Highway 99, Lynnwood, and 811 SE Everett Mall Way, Everett
More information: 425-513-2210, www.traderjoes.com
99 Ranch Market
What it offers: An Asian market with fresh produce, seafood and meat, and a variety of imported goods Northwest folks aren’t likely to see elsewhere. The produce section contains off-the-beaten-path veggies such as fresh lotus root and chunks of aloe vera, as well as plenty of familiar fare. Find loads of live seafood in tanks, including sturgeon, geoducks, prawns and clams. One sign on a tank of crabs warned shoppers, “Live crabs do bite.” Cooks searching for special ingredients such as fresh quail eggs can find them here.
Limitations: The market includes a limited selection of toiletries and paper products. The store stocks a few mainstream American brands among the imports.
Price points: box of 10 mangoes, $5.99; case of 24 cans of coconut milk, $14.16; quail eggs, $1.29 for 10-pack; geoducks, $16.99 per pound; Taisun grass jelly drink, $7.59 for a case of 24 cans.
Where: 22511 Highway 99, Edmonds
More information: 425-670-1899, www.99ranch.com
Mekong Food and Gifts
What it offers: This longtime Everett business is an international market with wares from just about everywhere. The store carries interesting sauces, spices, dry mixes and canned goods. Find plenty of imported snacks and sweets, including a good selection of European licorice. A freezer case running along the back of the store is filled with frozen seafood, and another area holds fresh produce cleaned and neatly packaged. The business recently moved from its longtime home on Hewitt Avenue to the Public Market Building a few blocks away.
Limitations: Since this store dabbles in items from around the globe, there isn’t a wide selection from any single region. “Everett has a little bit of everything,” explained Thuy-Van Duong, who owns the business with husband Thanh-Thuc Pham. “If you have one or two things you focus on, you don’t get the business.”
Price points: hot mango chutney, $3.95 for a 12-ounce bottle; Dutch licorice, $1.69 for 3.5 ounces; canned Peking vegetarian roast duck, $1.65; tin of grapeseed oil from France, $5.55.
Where: 2804 Grand Ave., No. 100, Everett
More information: 425-259-5225
Everett Oriental Grocery &Gifts
What it offers: A family-owned neighborhood grocer offering Asian produce and dry goods. This grocer has squeezed a lot of items into a small space. Lots of interesting sauces and spices, plus hard-to-find canned goods.
Limitations: No seafood or meats beyond what’s in the frozen cases.
Prices: Thai eggplant, $1.49 per pound; mango pudding dessert mix, $1.69; 3-ounce bag dried shiitake mushrooms, $2.89, chili sauce for spring rolls, $1.89 for 24.4-fluid-ounce bottle.
Where: 118 SE Everett Mall Way, Everett
More information: 425-347-6966, www.juicyjuns.com
Central Market
What it offers: This is an upscale destination grocery, a place serious foodies go to find specialty items such as duck foie gras mousse and an antipasto bar with a dozen different olives and chunks of fresh mozzarella. Find all the expected elements of a grocery store – aisles of dry goods, a deli, a bulk section, a bakery, produce, wine and beer and meats and seafood – but with a focus on natural, organic and upscale products. The seafood section contains tank after tank of live seafood, for instance, and the produce section rivals the selection and quality of a top-notch farmers market. The deli area includes an array of domestic and imported cheeses and prepared foods, including a vegetarian bar and dinners to go.
Limitations: Good deals can be found here, but this store is focused on quality and variety, not price.
Prices: heirloom tomatoes, $7.98 pound; wild porcini sauce, 28-ounce can, $3.99; duck foie gras mousse, $21.99 per pound; live Penn Cove oysters, $7.99 a dozen; bulk soy flour, 1.59 per pound; Seventh Generation chlorine-free diapers, pack of 48, $12.79.
Where: 153rd Street SE and Main Street, Mill Creek
More information: 425-357-3240, http://millcreek.central-market.com
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