SACRAMENTO, CA - I’ll admit it. I don’t usually shop at Smart & Final, but that might have to change after my last visit. Inside my local Smart & Final Extra! store in the competitive Sacramento market were merchandising displays featuring high-quality fresh produce, a consumer-friendly atmosphere, and local growers represented front and center everywhere you looked. 

As a local shopper, what’s enjoyable to me about Smart & Final’s “Extra!” format is that it emphasizes fresh produce and makes a concerted effort to ensure that not only the produce on the aisles or in bins look appetizing and naturally fresh, but the entire produce department as well. It’s hard to ignore the work that must have gone into making this part of the store as big and bold as possible. 

While you’d normally find products like apples, tomatoes, avocados, or citrus items sitting in floor displays or crates, Smart & Final Extra! shows them pouring out of wooden baskets. The store’s “rustic” aesthetic and substantial fresh produce selection goes a long way in presenting a natural and clean store design. The club store appeal and discount prices encourages you to look as much as to buy.

Interestingly, Smart & Final’s Extra! format doesn’t require its shoppers to buy in bulk. While larger portions are still available, like a club size 6 romaine heart pack from Tanimura & Antle, I saw lettuce, cucumbers, green onions, and almost everything else you could find on the wet rack selling by the each, as well as bundles of produce priced individually. For example, I came across a 4-pack bundle of Nature's Partner avocados with a tag that read "$3.99 each."

There’s also a distinct emphasis on California-grown. Signs in front of bins or above the merchandise displays proudly declare where the produce is grown and the faces behind the company. Some notable names included Roy Nishimori from San Miguel Produce and Casey Houweling from Houweling’s.

Locally grown is such an important aspect of buying produce to an increasing number of shoppers, so it’s great to see that Smart & Final Extra! is taking a refreshing step in the right direction.

The retailer’s strong confidence in this format is also leading to further expansion. In Smart & Final’s Q4 2014 report, Dave Hirz, President and CEO of Smart & Final, said that the format continues to be “the key to our new store growth” and that the company has “completed twice as many new store openings and conversions to Extra! in 2014 as compared to the prior year. Smart & Final expects to open a total of 20 new Smart & Final Extra! stores and complete nine conversions of legacy stores to the Extra! format, including three store relocations.

While further specifics on where the stores will be appearing haven’t been announced, seeing a retailer bring an authentic market feel to a large store format was encouraging. It will be interesting to see if this locally grown feel gains traction, because it definitely made me feel at home.

Smart & Final