Ayoub’s Dried Fruits & Nuts

Deliberate theft! I was in this morning and admittedly in a huge rush to get back to my car so I wouldn’t get a parking ticket. I got $ 8.15 worth of goods and handed over a $ 10 bill and a quarter. The man at the register handed back a whole 10 cents. As I was rushing out the door I realized that I was missing $ 2. I really couldn’t go back in. A little while later I looked at my receipt and noticed that he had rung me up as giving him $ 8.25 with 10 cents change back. Not true! He intentionally did that to rip me off. What a sleaze! I’ll never go back. Watch you money there. He is a thief.

Good products but way overpriced for what they offer…
A for marketing, displays and variety.
C for service.
I now go to places like Persia foods, for equally tasty treats at almost half the price… but where they don’t spend the money on the bells and whistles of displays and marketing

I have been meaning to write a review of this place for a while… I used to stop in weekly to grab a bag full of goodies on Wednesday nights on the way to pottery class as I never have time for dinner.
The last 2 or 3 times I stopped by my nuts were very stale. So I decided to make sure I had snacks at home to grab before pottery class!
So today there was a dog tied up to a garbage can next to ayoub. She kept going out on the street and got close to getting hit several times. I decided to stand between her and the street until her owner came back.
Long story short I finally went into ayoub as 2 people said they had thought the owner had gone in there.
A woman admitted the dog was her’s and her main concern was that I didn’t go ear the dog as she was afraid of people. I told her dog kept going on the street and came close to getting hit. She said «well she’s not now».
I was dumbfounded but insisted she move the dog which she finally did.
The girl in the shop got very testy — no doubt afraid she was going to lose 1 of the 2 clients in the shop and asked me to move on. Fair enough but there is NO WAY I will ever step foot in there again.
If that had been my dog my response would have been pure gratitude for letting me know and I would have run to move Hope. People astound me!

This place drives me nuts, nuts I tell you!
They’re cashews come in so many different flavours that I just can’t decide which one I like best. The lemon and saffron is probably up there as a contender with garlic. The veggies are really good too. I like to get a variety of flavours and come back every couple of weeks to get something new. Staff are friendly and helpful when you need them. It is a self-​serve but if you’ve got questions or concerns they’ll help out, though the process is pretty straightforward.
The good: so many nuts and flavours.
The bad: nuts are deceptively fatty, so think moderation when buying.
The ugly: when I say moderation, I mean it because you can walk in there casually not meaning to spend all that much, but $ 20 + later, bah this place really makes me a nutbar.

This place is an absolute delight. In general, terrific quality and selection.
— like Sara F. — I’ve had some bad customer service days — but I think staff does try their best.
I spend a significant amount at this place. A couple of concerns — are nuts steam pasterized or irradiated — staff don’t seem to know.
WARNING — I often find shells — especially walnut shells which can be sharp. On occasion I’ve had small pebbles!!!

This is a place that you can find any kind of nuts or dry vegetable. The quality is good, but they have the worst customer service. There is a rule in the store. If you want to try nuts, you should pick them with the scoop. Unfortunately, some customers don’t care, and they put their hands inside the dishes. Because of that I always ask them to bring my order from back. They always give me dirty faces or they say NO. While I am their best customer and I spend lots of money there. I’m NOT going there any more because their attitude and the customer service. They don’t respect their customers.

Oh my Gawd, I love this place.
I need to find some Persians in the Okanagan. I’ll pay them to bring back some of my favourites (like mulberries.)

Take a big deep whiff when walking in, you can smell the spices and tasty smells! Like my family would say…“Look at the smell”!!!
I really like this place, so much variety to choose from. Where do I even start? Just browse around and find something you like, use the scoop and put it in the plastic bag, pay and eat. There are signs that tell you that sampling is ok. Please dont use your fingers.
I like the veggie mixes, pumpkin seed varieties and cashew varieties. Dang… all so tasty! From chili flavor, salt & pepper, lime, etc etc etc. You can watch the gentleman in the back making the mixes too… he seemed like he was using traditional methods with using some leaves dipping it in some oils and sprinkling/​draping it over the nuts.
It didn’t seem too pricey at all so we got 2 good size bags for snacking!
A definite place to grab some snacks when heading over to English Bay.
Happy Nut’n!!! (uhhh…)

Love this place. Wide variety of stuff I don’t normally see. Product looks and tastes like it is made very naturally. Free sampling ability appreciated. Prices reasonable. Also liked the packaged stuff on the far wall, such as nougat.

Good for getting souvenirs :) The dried blue berry was delicious, and my parents loved it!!! Veggie chips are also a must-​try. Too bad they don’t have a packaged version for the mixed veggie chips. My parents would have loved it!

Delicious and plenty varieties to choose from! Free sampling available, as the shop attendant told me friendly and firmly, «Please use the scooper, and just one, please.» I sampled brown date, chickpea, spicy hazelnut, spicy and sour cashew, okra chip, red beet chip, dried fig, green raisin, dried cranberry, dried goji berry, dried mulberry, and dried barberry, and ended up buying 7 or 8 different products. I bought the mixed vegetable chips instead of individual okra and beet chips. I like most of the stuff (carrot, zucchini, eggplant, green bean, okra, and beet) in the mixture, but mushroom is a little too tough. So if you are not sure, try the mushroom first before you make a purchase.
The secret is to choose a lot of varieties but choose a small amount of each. The temptation is strong to purchase a whole lot of things you really really like, but you can always come back, right?

When you get to the the point of life where you crave more than just some greasy snacks, and the healthy food department just doesn’t have the same kick in terms of taste and satisfaction; This place will solve your dilemma.
Most would review about how nutty the nut is in this nut store, So I am going to skip that part, it is a given, buy yourself some nuts and try not to finish the whole bag in 1 go. If you leave this place without trying their vegetable chip or dried berries, I suggest that you should just quit reading review here in Unilocal,cause you are just wasting your time.
Check their price out here,
Pay them a visit and taste it for yourself. Do yourself a favor, buy a bag of dried berries to please your lady or comfort your men. Don’t waste those dollars on kids, get them cheap nuts and real berries.

License to go NUTS for nuts!
I have to say that I had my doubts. Product that sits out for too long cannot be all that good. The dried fruits and nuts do not sell fast enough for it to be a fresh bowl everyday. No matter, I can tell from the reviews that we do not mind that!
For me, it’s all about the chick peas. I love snacking on raw chick peas! I buy $ 5.00 worth of raw chick peas per time and they last me a good week. I have tried the other nuts and dried foods available; can’t say I love ‘em all. What can you do. Although, the prices do seem fair! Chick peas are $ 0.88/100g.
There isn’t much service around here. You are allowed to sample anything you want. Customers are expected to self-​serve and scoop up a sample for themselves. There are rolls of bags lying around the shop when you are ready to buy. Again, you fill the bag with as much of the desired food product as you want. Then, approach the counter where they will weigh it and charge you accordingly.
I think that the info above is extremely helpful as I got really confused the first time I visited Ayoub’s. I stood around waiting for service until an employee finally came up to me and told me I could sample anything and help myself with the bags.
There you have it. GO NUTS!

What an interesting find!
An aimless wander on Denman yielded this odd little shop, charming in its décor and plentiful in its nutty offerings. I couldn’t help but come inside and take a look.
Firstly, Ayoub’s Fruit and Nuts has a enticing and delightful interior. From the shelves, to the chandelier, to the handmade display bowls, to the guestbook in the back, ready to be scribbled in; everything is a treat to the eye.
The selection and quality are far superior to anything you will find in the bulk section of your supermarket. Pumpkin seeds, hazelnuts, pistachios, almonds, cashews, and more, just waiting to be tasted. And it doesn’t stop with nuts and seeds, there are plenty of interesting choices in the dried fruit category. Your basics like dried cranberries, raisins, side by side with dried figs, dried mulberries, goji berries, and other things I (shamefully) have never seen. Bonus! They sell pistachios both with the shell on, and shell off, for those lazy ones like myself that avoid doing any sort of work.
After circling this small store a few times, to really make sure I’d looked at all there was to offer, I chose five walnuts for tasting, which brought me to a grand total of $ 0.18. I gave the cashier a shiny quarter and told him to keep the change, and off I went to bask in the sunshine with my sample.
Great crunch to the walnuts, but not too dry with just the right amount of moisture, and this is a place where I will surely return, with more than a quarter to spend!
My advice: Leave your mystery munchies in the dustbin of the bulk section where they belong, part with a few pennies more and get a product of quality.

I stumbled upon this cute, local gem and affordable shop with huge + fun selection of nuts and dried fruits with prices ranging from $ 1.50-$ 3/​100g after a walk in Stanley Park. This shop is owned by an Iranian family, as answered by the lady who helped me out that day. The display of the products was so cute and so unique that I just couldn’t help but be so excited checking everything out!
I had so much fun checking out different variety of fruits and nuts there. There were so many interesting looking products (e.g. garlic-​like looking dried figs, etc) that I never saw before and the lady there was kind enough to help explain and let me sample products that I asked her about, too. I ended up vegetable chips, dried figs, mixed lime/​salted flavored nuts (cashew, hazelnuts, almonds, etc) and finished everything in just a day! :) They were good! In addition, I got a box of chickpea cookies and the total came to just $ 18.60…really reasonable.
I wish they have a similar shop like this in Seattle as I would have loved to visit this place more frequently. Sadly because the US doesn’t really allow fruit/​products across the borders, I couldn’t buy so much of these :(

I’m giving this place one star because I had condescending service from a girl working there. Having disdain for your clients is unacceptable.
There should be clearer instructions on how to get samples and collect and pay. This should be easy enough to do and it may have been fairly straight-​forward if I hadn’t been so turned off by the salesgirl.
Unfortunately, when I receive service like this I rarely go back.

I love my nuts.
They are essential to my well being with fond memories.
On most occasions that is.
Earliest was my grandfather’s hazelnut crop. Piled 6 feet, on a giant tarp, under the sun drying. That was our play-​pool back then. We would swim, play catch, wrestle in it for hours, snacking at the same time.
We didn’t have the fancy, colorful, perfectly seasoned, chemical western TV snacks. It simply was dried fruits and nuts. Good eats. The Spice Bazaar was the royal one. The ancient cool marble and hundreds of nut, spice, fruit and, preserved meat store with smell of saffron in the air, looked just like out of a fairytale. These stores were very typical in design.
That’s how the corner of my eye caught Ayoub’s nut store as I was scooting by. I had to stop and come back. Not exact same look, however close enough get my attention, while I was speeding down on Denman, scaring pedestrians and possibly everybody else.
North American society consumes decent amount of dried fruits and nuts. The usual quality you would get at a regular store is extremely poor. When you bite into a nut you would like to have is a good crunch, moister and rich fat level which you can identify with the residue on and around on your palate. And same with the dried fruit; condensed strong sugar taste and intensified natural acid which rounding the whole thing up with a pleasant chew and moister level again.
Ayoub carries probably the best selection of this Middle Eastern tradition at an incredible quality level. Their pistachios are insane, dried mangoes, excellent almonds, veggie chips like you have never seen, one of my favorites in the kitchen, the Iranian barberries, sultanas, best figs from the Turkish Aegean region, probably from city of Aydin or Izmir, dehydrated citrus of all kinds… Just like back in the Spice Bazaar with very reasonable prices. The hazelnuts though, I have to say, I have seen and had better. And the mulberries. Oh the good quality dried mulberry… Silky and buttery, the queen of the dried fruits… They have them all.
Ayoub is my only to go to store to buy dried nuts and fruits.
Do yourself a favor, drop the pre-​shaped, full of unknown snacks and eat something in its natural form, which is a great way to identify quality. Spend that extra buck and get yourself some real nuts, and see how that feels rather than the bulky-​bulk shitty ones.
Because the real good ones are fun to have and essential to your well being with an option of leaving you with fond memories.
On most occasions that is.

Ayboub’s gets five starts for its presentations (see Canada Day Window photo) of it’s dried and roasted nuts, speciality mixes and dried fruit. Ayboub’s gives you the feeling to shopping in a Middle Eastern Market place with the bare wood floor and sliver coloured terrines that present it’s products to customers.
During Yesterdays visit we purchased some; dry lemon roasted Cashews and Pistachios that both tasted outstanding. We tired two of the speciality fruit and nut mixes, My wife asked about more details about the origins of the ingredients in the mixes the person at the cash was short on answers.
I really want to know where ingredients I eat are sourced. I’m willing to pay a premium for items but I want to know items are premium. Are the products I’s buying organic, fair trade, halal or kosher I want to know.
Prices are appeared fair based on the quality/​taste of the products I bought. I think the store can have better labelling and details of the products they are sell

«Go nuts!»
What an awesome awesome store! We saw it while waiting for the Robson bus and was instantly drawn in by the beautiful layout and the variety of nuts and seeds and berries on display. The place is so cute, and reminds me of the awesomeness that is /​was bulk barn. I miss bulk barn. Who’s with me? Anyways, this place is like a much nicer, more up-​scale bulk barn with only the healthy options.
Good prices and very helpful service. We had to run out to catch a bus while paying for our purchase, but will definitely stop by again soon! LOVE!

If you’re NUTS about nuts, nuts about nuts (that’s me)…
Just strut your stuff over to Ayoub’s Fruits and Nuts
With endless options to fill your gut
Pistachios, almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts
Plenty of sunflower seeds too to fill your needs
But if you like (dried) fruits, don’t dispair.
There’s plenty to show they care.
Kiwi, pineapple, mango, oh my
Ample samples before you buy
Fill them baggies with what you’d like
Or pick any one of those pretty packs.
I know I’ll be back for my holiday run
Cause plenty of peeps just can’t get enough.
Chk out my pics of their fabulous layout: