Vegiland Market is a popular go-to spot for locals when looking to purchase some fresh vegetables. The place is located on the corner of two busy streets and is usually quite packed inside. The inside is quite packed with produce as well which makes navigating their selection of items potentially hectic with other people browsing about and also waiting in line. They are busy for a reason though as their produce is of good quality and quite fresh overall. Before placing the produce in their appropriate locations, workers can oftentimes be found cleaning up and cutting unwanted edges off the vegetables which is a nice touch. The line can appear to be long here but they usually check out customers in a fairly speedy manner so the wait to pay is typically not very long.

There are many choices in Chinatown to shop for Asian vegetables, dry goods, condiments, meat and seafood, bakeries items, Chinese deli foods, and more. But where do you go to shop? Having grown up near Chinatown and shopping there with my parents over the years, I've become familiar as to which stores to shop for specific items as these were their go-to's. Located at the corner of Jackson and Stockton, you can't miss Vegiland. It's gone through several ownerships so the name has changed over the years. There's display bins of vegies by the entrance with bins on the Jackson St. side of the store. This is where I get my gai laan / Chinese broccoli and Yau choy as they are in bundles or packed in bags if you get the mue or the tender stalks of the veggies. The two aisles inside are on the narrow side and to pay, the waiting line is on right side of the store and there are usually two cashiers. The line usually goes quickly. They do have a small selection of condiments and frozen seafood. But for Asian veggies, it's my go-to for freshness and quality.

This little grocery shop on the corner of Jackson & Stockton is one of my moms and mine favorite stores to buy our veggies. Their produce is always fresh, deliveries every other day. Brings out fresh boxes of 菜 to sell and organize because they run out so fast. Some times they run out before noon so we aren't able to purchase. My mom and I buy 3-4 bags of 菜, along with other items, from them every week because theirs is always fresh and few cents cheaper. My mom and mine favorite phrase- 'it's not pretty here, let's go to Chung Eey' The lady that helps us pack our 菜 does an amazing job. She lines them up neatly, slices off the dry ends, bags them well and fast! One time we waited for 20 minutes because she was helping 2 customers ahead of us, we wanted 4 bags. It was raining heavily and cold so we just stood there and waited. While standing and waiting, 2 more customers stood and waited as well. We love buying their egg tofu, broccolis, eggplants, string beans and quail eggs from here. Their line to pay is extremely long!! ONE LINE ONLY! 2 cashiers. Since it's such a small and narrow store. Line will go out the door, some times even curve the block. The cashiers are fast or try to be, as many other shoppers are buying 5 or more items. At the cashier table, they have their fruit of the day. FRESH FRUIT, may it Logan (one from Florida and one from Hawaii), blueberries, lychee, etc), my mom will buy a bag full. They take cash and EBT only. NO CREDIT CARD!!

This corner produce market is at a landmark location in the heart of Chinatown's shopping area. Located at the corner of Stockton and Jackson Streets, this store is better identified at Orange Land (chaang dei in Cantonese) by most old time locals and those who grew up in the neighborhood. I still remember the huge bins being filled with Sunkist oranges or apples from clearly marked Washington State boxes. Let's not talk about the prices back then. Well, the family retired and either sold the business or subleased it to another produce seller for many years. Fast forward thirty years, and those bins are now filled with a variety of vegetables, mostly grown in central California (Jackson vegetable shelves - Yelp). They still do have a small selection of fruits inside the store such as bananas and durian, but vegetables are the focus here now. Wanting to cook my Cantonese version of jia jiang mein (dry noodles topped with a brown bean paste sauce with ground pork and a variety of ingredients). On a weekday afternoon, my mission after trying another store and coming up empty took me here. I was able to get my bag of water chestnuts (https://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?select=pkcChPHV2bqVekWFUbVvfA&userid=saJuyv784apZzH--psHZ3Q) which we minced and added to my sauce. They were fresh and crunchy with little if any bruising or soft spots. I've bought green beans, Napa cabbage, and kaboucha pumpkins here in the past so they do have a decent variety of vegetables. Do be careful under the current situation in shopping here as the walkways to the cashier are quite narrow and sadly many locals still do not observe the social distance protocols as they should. They also offer a limited supply of Asian cooking sauces and condiments on a shelf inside the store. Glad I was able to find a hard-to-find ingredient here.