Recommends

Mar Yvette

Joined 6 years ago

This little taste of Tokyo is where Japanese locals--and the people who love their cuisine--go for the goods.. Ever wonder what it would be like to go grocery shopping in the middle of Tokyo? Well, unless you're catching a 12-hour flight across the Pacific, the closest thing you're going to get to the experience is heading into Nijiya, SoCal's booming chain of supermarkets specializing in imported organic and Japanese foods. Here, you'll find everything from 15-pound bags of organic rice and air-sealed packets of dried shrimp to carbonated lychee drinks and sweet treats packaged in cartoonish, eye-popping colors. There's fresh produce as well as a large refrigerated section, which includes a mind boggling variety of fresh catches: ika (squid), unagi (eel), shredded anchovies, and, of course, sashimi-grade fish. But lest anyone forget that this is Los Angeles, the store stocks plenty of Tapatio sauce right alongside its array of Japanese hot sauces.

Doesn't Recommend

Fritzz

Joined 5 years ago

TERRIBLE parking. Beware of the con-artists who run the Nijiya center parking.

You are supposed to get an hour of free parking if you are shopping at Nijiya,...but don't count on it.

Last Saturday, I was shopping with my wife and I parked in the parking lot as usual. As I was about to leave, I rolled down the window to show the parking attendant my receipt. An old man approached me and started asking me weird questions about getting a massage at a massage parlor. What a creep!

I had only parked at the center for forty-five minutes, but he rudely insisted that I was parked for over an hour and that I wasn't shopping at the Nijiya market, but that I was visiting a massage parlor!

After I showed him my grocery receipt, he simply said, "you shopped too long". He demanded I pay him $1.75. I gave him two dollars, he took it, but he refused to give me change.

Don't let these con-men take advantage of you! Shame on them.

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jhoolko

Joined 6 years ago

Makes Grocery Shopping Fun!. I love this market, possibly more for the experience of wandering around its aisles than anything else. After eating elsewhere on Sawtelle, I'll very often stop in here to pick up some kind of fun sweet for dessert. Aside from having an impressive selection of authentic Japanese groceries crammed into a relatively small (but very clean!) space, there's also a huge array of adorably packaged sweets and a good selection of products for the home and kitchen. The last time I was there, there were about four different ladies handing out generous sized samples, which were all delicious! The prices are very reasonable, too!

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rudette

Joined 8 years ago

Liven up your grocery shopping!. Authentic japanese supermarket. Small but good selection. I usally get some frozen dumplings, kobe beef (their meat and seafood is very reasonably priced), and some Japanese dessert treats. Fun to wander around, make fun of the wacky packaging, and throw random things in your cart. While you're there, get a cream puff at Mousse Fantasy/Beard Pappa in the same mini mall complex.

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junko0916

Joined 9 years ago

I love it! I feel like i'm in Japan!. This is a small japanese market but it has almost all your japanese grocerey needs. I love coming here to buy bento which are japanese lunch boxes. It is always freshly made and tastes homemade (which they are) and i recommend getting them in the morning or for lunch when you don't have the time. Also its convienent and clean. It's almost like those convinent stores in Japan. There are few japanese markets in LA area where i live but I compare to everywhere else, i love this place and i recommend everyone to go shopping there.