Sheng Hing Market

I would have to agree it’s cheap prices for produce. I owed the lady $ 1 and some change. So I handed her the dollar while I shuffle through my wallet for loose change. When I gave her the coins she told me I still owed a dollar. Even though I told her j already gave it to her. Then she wanted to scream at me. Whatever! Broke b! tch want to squeeze me for an extra dollar. While j was exiting a notice a bunch of flies and gnats on the fruits. So I took pictures… It scares Chinese people when you whip out your camera on their establishment.

Sheng Hing Markeis is noticeable for it’s produce that encroaches the sidewalk. the shoppers they attract makes passage difficult. inside are chinese groceries.
buys: bananaes. .39 cents/​lb
–just a bunch. c
–cheapest seen in chinatown.

Decent place for inexpensive produce. It’s not on the most-​crowded portion of Stockton and on the edge of North Beach so I drop by fairly often.

one of the cheapest places for produce in chinatown – but man, you get what you pay for. you can find bananas for, on average, 25 cents/​lb and as low as 10 cents/​lb at the end of the day (they usually start packing up around 5:30 pm), but they’re likely to be bruised or ripe as all hell.
broccoli is around 39 cents/​lb, peaches at 59 cents/​lb, etc etc.
you have to push your way through a lot of little old ladies, it’s often loud and smelly, and if you don’t pay attention or confront them, they’ll overcharge you.
but hey, it’s cheap as fuck. so who really cares if they ring up a total of $ 1.59 versus $.59 for pounds and pounds of produce? just make sure to bring small bills and get as close to exact change as possible — my friend told me they charged me the extra dollar because they had to break my $ 20…who knows…
(p.s. i think they do take credit card but i’m sure there’s a minimum)

Pretty good Chinatown market with decent produce. We came near closing time and while other shops had pretty sad looking veggies, Sheng Hing was pretty bustling and had good selection. Towards the end of the day they will have some discount items. My mom bought a big bag of persimmons for $ 1. 70% of it was still good and it was a great deal.
One day, maybe I’ll be a legit Chinese woman and know how to buy Chinese produce in these market stalls. Until then, I just watch my mom or wait outside where there’s fresh air and not cramped. I did make sure to check-​in on Unilocal,though! Being an old Chinese lady will be awesome one day. I’ll rock my best Kim Jong Il fro and get the best produce deals!

Their oranges are super-​sweet at $ 0.39 a pound. It’s a hit-​or-​miss with Chicago; I can’t seem to come across them as flavorful as the ones in SF. Individual wrapped salt crackers are $ 0.69 a pack. They can be found in Chicago for closer to $ 4.

When you grow up in a FOBish asian household (or, more specifically, you grow up quite close to FOBish asian grandparents) you learn the lost art of competitive grocery shopping.
Many Caucasian people or those raised in suburban neighborhoods may not understand what I mean. Let me briefly digress to explain.
Competitive grocery shopping is the art of getting the best quality food for the lowest prices. It’s embodied by those spry women who will elbow you out of the way at the farmers market and the mothers who gently caress every damn avocado or peach before picking the three they want. It’s the people who will point to the particular piece of fish (or particular whole, live fish) and try to haggle you for a better price on veal shanks than they have at a competing grocer.
Multiply this times ten. Add open stalls and fussy 70 year old asian women not afraid to push you out of the way and yell loudly in other languages. Add in people who have been shopping at this store since they moved to the neighborhood and they never intend to change their ways.
Throw in some hard to find items like tripe, coagulated blood, dried herring, lychee fruit, kim chi and matsutake mushrooms, and you have yourself competitive grocery shopping at its finest.
I did my grocery shopping here all summer, as it was only 5 blocks from my work. I didn’t do meat or fish shopping here as I had to take BART back to the east bay, but when I can buy an entire week and a half of produce for $ 5, that’s pretty spectacular (usually asian pears, white peaches, bok choy, broccoli, crook neck squash and japanese eggplant). Really can’t beet 69 cents per pound for peaches, 50 cents per pound for eggplant and broccoli and $ 2 for a giant bag of baby bok choy
Only complaint was that it smells a bit funky, as it is squished in between and offal meats shop and a fish market, but that’s to be expected. It smells like childhood this way.

Great open-​air market with vegetables and fruit as cheap as you’ll find in SF. There are a few similar stores nearby which keeps the prices really low. Jostle with elderly Asians for the choicest produce.