Fry’s & Fry’s Marketplace

My parents have lived in the neighborhood for over 50 years. For 50 years we have attended the store located on the Northeast corner of 43 Avenue and McDowell, currently Fry’s Marketplace: 4230 W McDowell Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85 009. I will honestly say I have never hated going to that location until recently. All the hanging signs, such as the aisle signs and pharmacy signs are printed largely in Spanish and very, very, tiny in English. Even with my good eyesight it is hard to read the English print. How rude and inconsiderate to us people who have been loyal neighbors. I don’t even speak Spanish! And a lot of workers don’t speak English. I feel uncomfortable, and foreign in my own store. SHAME ON YOU FRY’S MARKETPLACE! You make my shopping experience and others miserable!
Also! When I buy a case of water I get charged for the case and for an extra bottle water because your scanners scan the item twice!
And your advertised prices at the store show a discounted sale price on the aisle but at checkout it rings up the item at a higher price! Ripping people off! You should be closed down!
And the line at the pharmacy is always a 20 minute wait just to talk to someone.
I feel for the elderly that have to go to your store!

I wasn’t all that impressed. I moved to the area and put «Fry’s» into my iPhone map and this monstrosity is what came up.
While they did have some unique and delicious items, the place is cavernous and I started to get irritated trying to navigate my way around it.
When I went to check out the cashier and the bagger (or courtesy clerk… whatever you want to call it) were deeply engrossed in a conversation about how «sick» some rap video was. Neither of them looked up at me until I was handed my receipt. No greeting, no how are you today, just the semantics of the stupid rap video. I’m not saying they’re not allowed to have a conversation but save it for when a customer isn’t standing right in front of you, being ignored.
I won’t be back to this location.

I stop here occasionally for needed items. The fresh-​made salsa is excellent. There’s a vast array of chiles, Mexi-​brand spices, different beans, cooked and do it yourself, plus many Mexican cultural food items not found elsewhere. Plus a large usual Fry’s inventory. The manager of the bakery sold me a fabulous multi-​layer lemon cake while letting me know she’s got the most productive bakery unit in the Kroger’s family of markets. That’s a giant accomplishment.
Gasoline sold onsite, just south of the Mercado.

This is my neighborhood Frys, and only after visiting others did I realize how unique this place is. Yes, the «Mercado» label correctly implies that they strongly cater to the local hispanic population. Yes, on weekends the entire store is coated in the charcoal smoke from the pollo a la brasa outside. Yes, the background elevator music is noticeably hispanic folk music. And, yes, I now know the words to most of the songs.
The food offerings are solid, and most American items are still existing. The bakery has almost exclusively hispanic-​oriented items, although some bagels and fresh loaves are available. The carniceria offers a much larger range of meats than other American grocery stores, including a few specialty meats (Bull’s head, tripe, some organs, chorizo). They have dried peppers, a wide range of spices, and countless other niche items that aren’t found at other Frys. Granted, it helps to be bilingual speaking with many sales associates if you’re looking for Americanized items.
The best thing about this joint are the freshly packed corn tortillas and their homemade salsa (particularly the rojo). At most points in the day they’re still warm and moist, and always absurdly inexpensive. Get you some once — you won’t regret it. And the salso packs a measurable punch — sometimes you can find portions of chili peppers at the bottom.
With good produce quality and a wide assortment of other items, Fry has become my neighborhood go-​to.

I usually come here to get gas for my truck, however I have been inside the store a few times. This store is diffidently focused on the local Hispanic community. Like any other Fry’s, it’s your typical big boxy grocery store. With a bakery and deli. At this location you will see more Mexican ingredients and spices then other Fry’s. Other then that, nothing special, no big deal.

Do you shop for groceries at Fry’s? If so, you really do owe it to yourself to visit this location. It’s called Fry’s Mercado and it’s all that.
Upon entering, you feel something is amiss — as if someone should have checked your passport at the entry.
Shake it off.
Go check out the produce section to your immediate right.
Veggie bins unlike any Fry’s you’ve ever visited.
A typical Fry’s produce section features many veggies all crowded together on one long cooler bin.
This store has bins of veggies — four by eight feet long with only one type of veggie in each bin — piled so high you can’t reach the top. Three alone dedicated to various types of chiles.
And you know how your Fry’s might have three or four mangos?
This place has a bin of mangos. Hundreds.
Same with tomatillos, green chiles, serranos, onions and tomatoes.
In fact, the tomato bin is the biggest I’ve ever seen, short of a semi truckload coming straight off a farm.
Let’s move on.
The deli.
You’re not going to find typical deli salads or boar’s head meats here.
Here you’ll find entire sheets of pig skin deep fried. Yes, the entire skin of a pig fried whole and hanging behind the glass counter.
Deep fried pork shoulder is another delicacy. In fact, everything here is deep fried.
Look around and pick something for lunch. Hope you like grease.
Now go sit and wait for your number to be called. And wait and wait and wait.
Then, as you go to complain about the wait, you realize they’ve been calling out the order numbers in Spanish. Shit. You look at your ticket — forty two. You were listening for forty two english, not cuarenta y dos (spanish).
Your food is now cold.
Shit again.
Let’s move on to the tortillarilla, shall we? This is where you can watch as they make fresh tortillas of every shape and size, corn, flour, and whole wheat.
And while you’re doing all this, enjoy the in-​store music system loudly broadcasting mariachi tunes.
On your way out, you’ll marvel at the check cashing area; A wall of plexiglass — the kind you see in prison movies where a guy in an orange suit is on the other side talking to some investigator on a phone.
If none of what I’ve described is enough reason to visit, here’s one more.
Cases of bottled water for 2.79.
I can’t even buy a gallon of gas for that.
Note: If you’re worried about whether or not your car will be where you left it, don’t. They have a guy in a golf cart with a sign labeled ‘Security’ who routinely patrols the parking lot.
Try this place. It’s like going to Mexico without all the fuss of a passport — or dysentery.

In my opinion, this is better than the Rancho mkts. BUT. try finding a place to park. You need to have a helicopter hover and lower you down… but the restaurant/​deli/​drink station, etc… is very good, the selections are good and you can find many hard to find items. The draw back (other than parking and language barriers if you can’t speak Spanish) is this store does not honor Fry’s sale items, is more expensive than the other Fry’s on many items (Hey Mathew, I must buy the wrong stuff… LOL) and did I mention the parking? But when I want to visit Little Mexico and not leave the state, I go there to shop and eat dinner with my Hispanic husband!

This is now called Fry’s Mercado. It’s as good if not better than the Ranch Markets. Prices are so low they seem «almost free». Everything looks really fresh because I’m guessing they move so much stuff so quick. They have the same specialty stores within a store as Ranch Market, you know a restaurant, bakery, juice/​ice cream bar and tons of other «stations» for lack of a better word. Muy bien.