Grand Mart - how is their produce so much cheaper than other grocery stores?

[Anonymous]

I just went to Grand Mart for the first time and loved the produce section. So many vegetables I've never seen in a regular grocery store, and everything was so fresh and cheap! I bought a few things but now I am wondering - how do they sell things for so much less than other stores? What I am really wondering - is there anything wrong with it - i.e., is it grown with worse pesticides or other gardening practices that make it less healthy? Or is it just cheaper because they have less overhead (less fancy stores), or are the other stores marking things way up? Or something else?

[Anonymous]

Produce has a notoriously high mark-up in most mainstream stores - 40 percent in many cases. In places like H-Mart you can find good quality for far less money.

[Anonymous]

But their stores are smelly, and a lot of the fruit my mom buys there (and keeps giving us, because it's such a "deal")isn't anywhere close to ripe. You get what you pay for.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I did not realize produce had such a high mark up.

We had beets from there yesterday and they were every bit as good as the beets I've been getting at WF for almost twice the price. I think that until local vegetables are available I'm going to be buying more veggies at Grand Mart.

PP - does the fruit ripen if you leave it out, or does it never get to an edible point?