Jons: Successful Armenian Grocery Store in L

· December 30, 2024

y Karen PalmerSFGate.com

It’s no secret that Los Angeles has all manner of grocery stores, from warehouse-style behemothsto well-stocked neighborhood markets. Jons Fresh Marketplace falls somewhere in between the two: It’s both a full-service grocery store with everyday essentials and a purveyor of specialty items that reflect the demographics of each of its 13 locations in Southern California, spanning from Orange County to the San Fernando Valley.

Today, the company is still family-owned and -operated, and while it would be all too easy to brand it as a kind of sitcom-esque spite store, the reality is very much the opposite: Jons has long differentiated itself by stocking hard-to-find items that remind diasporic communities of home.

“You can find anything you’d find in a standard grocery store, but significant portions of the store are tailored to the taste and preferences of the customer base,” a representative of Jons tells SFGATE. “Whether you’re an immigrant who wants a taste of home, are first- or second-generation and grew up eating a certain type of food or just someone who likes to travel, this is a great place to explore.”

At the 30,000-square-foot, Santa Monica Boulevard location on the edge of East Hollywood for instance, the “International” aisle stocks countless brands of eggplant spread, jars of grape leaves, Ararat mango juice, pomegranate molasses, liquid saffron and rose petal preserves to serve the residents of Little Armenia.

An extensive deli offers prepared food such as beet salad, tabbouleh and cabbage rolls. In the dairy section, there’s a vast selection of labne and kefir, and one can find ready-to-cook ground and spiced beef and chicken for luleh kabobs in the meat section. Caviar and smoked fish abound as well.

Baked goods include guava-filled gata and sugar-dusted cigarette cookies from Lilit Bakery in the San Fernando Valley, and there’s an entire display case devoted to various types of lavash. Frozen pelmeni dumplings and pierogies fill up one freezer, and over in the produce section, fresh walnuts (another staple of Armenian cuisine) are sold in bulk (During the height of walnut season in the fall, Jons has to place a 50-pound — yes, pound — limit on walnuts per customer).

“Our store in Van Nuys has a heavy Central American population nearby, so it caters to those cuisines. And we have a location in Westminster that has a large Vietnamese population, so it sells a lot of frozen ducks,” the representative says.

In East Hollywood, the city’s large Hispanic population is also well represented, with countless brands of tortillas, marinated al pastor in the meat case, frozen pupusas and cheeses from brands such as Mexicana. In all, the store’s international flavor spans several countries and cuisines: You’ll find Prosciutto di Parma from Italy, imported Borsec water from Romania, chocolate-covered Spanish figs from Rabitos (in an impressive section devoted to chocolate gift boxes), Danish preserves, Dadu ice cream from Lithuania, Brazilian pastries … The list goes on.

Of course, Jons has changed over the years and, according to a store representative, likes to keep up with current trends. Cases in point: Up near the cash registers, there are boxes of Dubai, the kunafa- and pistachio-filled chocolate that became a viral sensation earlier this year. The chain also recently went on Instacart to enable online shopping and delivery.

The representative says, “We didn’t have organic or gluten-free sections years ago, but we want to change with our customers while staying true to our foundation.”