Henry's Marketplace
4439 Genesee Ave
(between Derrick Dr & Mount Foraker Ave)
San Diego, CA 92117 (858) 268-2400
- Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Private Lot
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
26 Reviews for Henry's Marketplace
This place had a lot of FRESH produce, and it was cheap! I think it was 89 cents for a box of strawberrys, and they were sweet as hell. The staff had a lot of humor, seems like a boring job, but they make it fun. The guy talking over the speaker was impersonating Arnold Schwarzenegger, and how he couldn't believe that the peaches were 9cents each..
We came here for fruits&veggies, and ended up making a pizza for the night.
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Ok, I gavet his place 3 stars, not because I don't like it, but because EVERY time I've gone there, I've been overcharged. The scanners aren't programmed to register sale prices. This place is good, but watch when they're checking you out...
Instead of regurgitating what everyone has said, I will summarize in bullet points:
-Fresh produces at reasonable and affordable prices.
-Great service whether behind the counter or register.
-Amazing deli foods: potato salad, chicken salad...etc.
-They sell Terra Exotic Vegetable Chips!!!!
-They do not carry generic brands though.
-Conveniently located across Cotixan's and next to Pep Boys!
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This is my other favorite grocery store. I like it better than trader joes because it is more likely that I will find what I am looking for here. I like to get my fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains here. The prices are great and the selection is excellent. The deli and meat service is always very quick and friendly as well. I've never waited more than a few seconds for service. In fact sometimes it is too quick. Gotta have a few minutes to think about what I want!
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This is, by far, the most aloof Henry's ever. I like Henry's in general but at this location, a majority of the staff just don't give a crap.
The meat department at this location is unacceptable. I've found a piece of hair in a package of teriyaki chicken breasts. I keep going back thinking that they've changed but no.
About two times now, I've grabbed a package of chicken breasts and as soon as I pick it up, chicken juice spilling out. I think this Henry's is E. Coli friendly.
So I wipe my hands on my shirt in disgust. Then I rub my hands really fast trying, in vain, to kill thousands of bacteria on my hands.
Some or most (but not all) of the cashiers just need to shut up and do their work. I've been Henry's cashiers stop scanning to carry on a conversation with a customer.
Henry's is a great place but this location makes a mockery of it.
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Great Produce & Bulk Items
My comments are about the chain in general- I haven't found much difference between locations. Overall, I get most of my produce here- it's fresh and often offers a wider selection than the typical grocery chains. It's also a great place bulk items like rice, grains, cereal, nuts, dried fruit, flours. If you bake, this is a must.
Great selection of organic and special-diet fresh and prepared foods.
It also offers fresh, quality seafood and meats. I recently took home some fresh sea bass that was priced around $7/lb-- it was excellent!
As other reviewers have noted, you can't beat the prices anywhere.
A bit of trivia: The first Henry's was started in El Cajon before the 70's, nothing more than a small produce store called Boney's Market. (I remember going there as a child). The chain grew, changed its name to Henry's (note to the SF reviewer-- less of a weird name!) and most of the locations in So Cal were eventually sold to Wild Oats, which was later acquired by Whole Foods. (see: http://en.wikipedia.or...)
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do you like creepy older-middle aged men who look like child molesters and apparently don't work during the day? what about lots of old people? yes? now what about older punk girls and their babies? yes, yes? tattoos and toddlers? yes? this is your store!
I've been here about 4 times after going to my dentist across the street during the day - last time I was here I pissed off the old couple behind me by not writing my number of my bulk almonds, which then required the cashier to look it up and eventually me to run back to the bins - suck it old people - see what it feels like to wait? think about it next time you yammer about your day for a half an hour while I'm waiting behind you -
all that said, this is the least annoying of the henry's about town and the cheapest I think - it still has that old time Henry's charm - good $3.99 deli sandwiches.
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Their bulk bins are just delightful. yup...delightful. Chocolate covered pretzels, granola, spicy peanuts, gummy worms - they've got it all for snackaholics like myself.
Produce is very reasonably priced and their french bread...omgosh their french bread is a mere 99cents! And it's always warm, toasty, and FRESH. Pair some french bread with their deli chicken salad, grab some strawberries and chocolate, and you're picnic-ready...and date-worthy ;) !
Also..their sandwiches are pretty delicious, for only $3.99, you get fresh deli meat with bread of your choice/lettutce/etc. Not bad, not bad..
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Ok, I'll start by saying that I don't really do my grocery shopping here, except maybe for specialty meats, kabobs/bbq items, and sometimes when they have sales on the VitaminWaters. For all those things, Henry's is perfect. As far as more specialty items/delicatessen items go, they may be more expensive than other supermarkets, but I haven't really paid much attention in that department.
WHAT IS GREAT however about Henry's in general, and this particular store is their ability to make delicious, healthy, and cheaply priced sandwiches. All under $5. Whopping layers of meat and cheese and all the fixins (tip: get sprouts free of charge to beef it up a bit... no pun intended). I usually grab a bag of Kettle chips and a Vitamin Water to go with it, makes for the perfect lunch meal. god I miss it... :-/
I love Henry's. I easily shop there twice a week, sometimes more. Until someone can recommend a GOOD farmer's market to me that is not only on Saturday's at 8m, I will be a Henry's regular.
If you can't stomach the ridiculous prices the "regular" grocery stores like Vons, Albertsons and Ralphs charge for their produce- Henry's is your answer. The produce department is just great here. I've had mixed luck with some of the other Henry's (I dont' like PB's selection at all) but this location has consistently good veggies and fruit at dirt cheap prices. And I buy a lot of produce so I need cheap prices!
Henry's also has a good fish/seafood/meat department where everything looks FRESH and is not terribly overpriced. Nothing is more unappetizing to me than meat or fish that looks like its been sitting in the store for days. Egh. There's none of that at Henrys.
They also have good dried food, snacks, spices and other grocery store essentials. I like the nutritionary philosophy that says when grocery shopping you should stay on the perimeter of the store where all the healthy food is- produce, dairy, fresh meats and seafood... and that's Henry's. It basically IS the perimeter of regular grocery stores so you know you can't go wrong health-wise when shopping there!
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Unlike most girls, I don't have an addiction to clothes shopping. I'm addicted to grocery shopping, and Henry's is my drug of choice. This is the biggest thing I miss about no longer being in So Cal. (Not the beaches or the sun, but the grocery store...)
I love love LOVE Henry's. If I could, I'd give them so many more stars. I always thought it would be expensive like Whole Foods is, but it's not. Their produce is always cheaper than Ralph's or Vons, especially the seasonal items. I was so happy when zucchini was in season. I also love Puffin's peanut butter cereal and get it on sale here. And the "healthier" (not healthy) cheese curls. My friends find the last one kinda dry but I love it!
I also love their bulk bins. I always crave something and only need to eat a bit of it or I need 1 tsp of something for cooking, and then the food sits around for ages. With the bulk bins, I can buy as little as I like. I'm the girl who's rolling through with 6 plastic bags (all reused from previous trips) filled with 2 cents of product. The granola is one of my favorites.
I also like how they let me reuse my old grocery bags and give me a discount (5cents/bag) rather than look at me clueless like Vons.
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i dropped by this henry's on my way back from shopping errands. these days it seems more important to drive less and i was not disappointed. while the produce selection seems to be the same as the pb selection (excellent), they do have a better selection of shelf products.
things about this location that were awesome:
1. muir glen fire-roasted tomatoes. i love these canned tomatoes and so glad i can buy them here rather than bristol farms.
2. knife sharpening services every thursday. didn't try it out, but good to know since i don't trust myself to sharpen my kitchen knives properly.
3. bread selection. like the pb store, they have a great freshly baked as well as commercial bread selection.
the meat and wine here are less than impressive. though, if you need cooking wine, there are some really cheap bottles here.
To quote someone else from below:
begin quote: "Once when i shopped here i forgot to write the number on one of the 5 or 6 bags of dry goods i got. the cashier muttered something like "couldn't write the number on all them could you?"
NICE CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS, BITCH." end quote.
We had the same experience. I suppose I missed the part where you have to tell the cashier what you're buying, too. The bulk items are nice, but that's about it. Service seems unorganized and scattered and sometimes the lines can be pretty long.
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I love this place. This is my favorite place to go for good but cheap produce and other healthy stuff! I mean it's not dirt cheap for everything but all of the essentials are reasonably priced!
I love their items in the bulk bins/barrels.
I don't know why, but Southern Californians must be attracted to stores with Dirty Old Man names (Safeway = Von's here). Henry's (though Wild Oats isn't a really clean name either) is no exception.
I usually do a little thing akin to a rain dance, but for produce before I come here. I wish for stocks of cheap fruits and veggies that I love like oranges, peaches, corn, and green beans.
Half of the time I'm disappointed. Aw man...not squash again! The other half, I seem to hit the jackpot. Five pounds of oranges for a dollar! Score! Once, during a corn bonanza, I found a giant caterpillar in an ear of corn while peeling off the husk. barfs. I also bought some avocados that never ripened. I found them two months later on top of the refrigerator. Oh, wow. They transformed into fuzzy balls.
The bulk foods section is decent. I liked their cranberry trail mix until I got sick of it. Their packaged food (veggie burgers, Fig Newmans, etc) tends to be more expensive compared to other stores.
Come here for a chance to hit the produce jackpot, but buy other necessities elsewhere.
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almost exactly like traders joe's and wholefood except HALF THE PRICE
goodness. this calls for a celebration!
Yes, i seriously started buying all my grocery at Henry's, not ONLY because it's cheap, it's ONLY five minutes from where I LIVE. I love this place. I love all the different snacks they have, there were like rows and rows of them. Their veggies and fruits are pretty fresh. :)
Their bakery is EXTENSIVE. gooodness! I LOVE their sourdough bread, especially when it's RIght baked from the bakery. oh man, yumyum!
I really miss the bulk bins and bulk spices from Henry's. I hate being forced to buy a $6 bottle of a spice (hmmm...let's say, ground cloves) that my recipe only calls for 1/2 teaspoon of. The lack of Henry's (or stores that offer bulk bins in general) in the Bay Area has forced me to collect tons of practically unused bottles of random spices. I loved being able to buy a couple teaspoons of whatever it was I needed, and I would occasionally only pay $.10 because that's the smallest amount they would charge me if my little baggie didn't weigh in on the scale. The bulk bins of snacks were such a great way to control what I ate too. If I was craving something sweet, I would get a few chocolate-covered almonds or a scoop of trail mix, instead of buying a huge bag of junk food that would probably be devoured entirely in guilt. The produce at Henry's is cheaper than that at Von's, Ralph's and even 99 Ranch. I'm a bargain shopper, so it was a weekly ritual to read the Henry's flyers that arrived in the mail on Tuesdays, and make my shopping list.
This location was extremely close to my part time job, so I was here at least once a week, if not two or three times a week. The butcher is personable, the produce guys are helpful, and the cashiers are friendly. Don't forget to bring your earth-friendly canvas tote bags, you'll receive a $.10 discount off your entire purchase...woohoo!
I stopped in here with a couple coworkers for lunch the other day.
What a pleasant surprise! We each got a sandwich at the sandwich counter. We had them wrapped up to go, and supplemented with a six-pack, some macaroni salad, and chips. Cheddar and beer chips! You can't beat the selection that a full grocery store provides.
Thirty minutes later, we were eatin' our sandos. They were still fantastic. Good bread, great meats and veggies. I ate every last bite. My friends also devoured their meals.
Oh yeah, it's also a grocery store! I loved all the bulk bin stuff (I got some Turkish dried apricots for $2/lb). I think everything in the store is 'natural'/'organic'/whatnot. It's all been very tasty, and the prices seem reasonable.
I can't find a shortcoming. So ... five stars!
Update: I've gotten a few more sandwiches (and done some more grocery shopping), and it's even more 5-star. The sandwiches are some of the best I've found anywhere. Super fresh. Yum.
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This Henry's is much cleaner than their PB store. I love love love their wheatgrass in the little squares. I'm also a big fan of the bulk stuff in the bins.
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When I recently moved down from Oakland, one concern I had was grocery shopping. I HATE Albterson's, safeway et. al. Why? Because their prices, to be blunt, SUCK. Don't believe me? Go to wal-mart and see how much that box of cereal costs. Nearly half the price. And produce? That $1.79 for a a head of lettuce costs $.69 at a produce market. What a load of crap.
So I wasn't too happy when I went into von's and saw it was the same deal. I NEEDED to find a store that wouldn't gouge you up the wazoo. Thanks to fellow yelpers, I found out about Henry's.
Produce is fresh and nearly the same price as Berkeley Bowl is. They have non-big brand cereals for reasonable prices. They got all those bins for snack food. They have fresh bread. I could go on and on.
Basically, if you want fresh food for good prices, Henry's is the place to go. Screw Von's and those other crappy grocery stores.
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Here's a tip for you allergy sufferers: Henry's stocks local honey, which is a God-send for those of us prone to sleeping through our local farmers' markets. For some reason, ingesting local pollens (through produce and honey) can significantly ease your seasonal allergic reactions.
Honey aside, Henry's is my favorite grocery store. Not only do they stock dry goods (oats, grains, granolas, nuts, candy, etc.) in bulk barrels the way I remember (why did this go out of style? Even Safeway did it when I was a little girl), the clientele is heavier on the types of people whose children dress themselves---I've seen some fantastic fashion statements involving fringed cowboy boots and tutus from the under-8 set--and lighter on the bottle blonds in Juicy velour track suits. Not to stereotype other natural food stores, I'm just sayin'. They also have whole spices available in large jars for one to take as-are, or to grind with provided mortar and pistils.
Henry's tends to have good meat and fish, and knowledgeable, friendly butchers. Their produce is among the best and most fresh, and they have a large selection of organic goods. They also stock a variety of vitamins, supplements, and natural and/or eco-friendly hygiene products.
While I prefer Trader Joe's for my free-range organic eggs and dairy products, Henry's is where I purchase most of my groceries. Between the two I am able to satisfy just about every fair trade, locally-grown, and organic desire of my little heart.
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Good work at beating the PB location. They have fresh fruit galore with bananas at 2 lbs for $1. I don't know if it's cheap, but it sure as hell sounds pretty good. They smelled darn sweet too! The cashier was a hilarious woman with weird jokes that I laughed along with. They have two color carts: green and black, and the people there wear funky clothing. I think I saw a jean button-up and some real farmer gear. I love places that require costume. Their Luna bars are 99cents which beats everywhere but Trader Joe's which is the same. BUT BUT, they're conveniently located at the front. Good marketing.
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Local produce and products means it's got to be good, at least for that aspect. I give Henry's four stars for providing the cheapest and most excellent produce possibly in Southern California. I mean, where else can you buy 10 pounds of perfectly ripe, deliciously sweet navel oranges for $5? The rest of the store is okay. Unfortunately, you can't really get all of your shopping done here, because a lot of items on your grocery list may not even be available at all, but the produce makes it all worht while!
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once when i shopped here i forgot to write the number on one of the 5 or 6 bags of dry goods i got. the cashier muttered something like "couldn't write the number on all them could you?"
NICE CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS, BITCH.
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I always go here for my produce and bulk items. The produce is way cheap and fresh and there are barrels and barrels of bulk items, from malt balls to powered sugar to dried fruit to bag up and snack on during the drive home.
I agree with Jennifer A - the produce is cheap and fresh here. Go here on weeknights if you don't want to deal with the weekend crowds. The variety of candy in the barrels are reaalllly good too :)
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