Local Economical Produce/Vegetables/Fruits Store in Myrtle Beach-Conway area (Garden City: 2013, home)

[spalam01]

Please advice the local independent stores in Myrtle Beach-Conway area, who carry more local, cheaper (economical) produce/vegetables/fruits than a warehouse chain or grocery chain might carry.

[neecewh]

I buy almost all of my produce through local produce stands when available. If you are looking to buy this time of year I would recommend you visit Deville Street in Market Commons on Saturday, Surfside Drive in Surfside Beach on Tuesdays, or if you are up in Myrtle Beach Myrtle Market on Joe White Ave on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. There is also a stand on Atlantic Ave in Garden City that is open daily this time of year as well as one next to Oasis Shopping Center in Garden City. Also, in the off-season when those are closed you can find a couple stands at Hudson's Flee Market in Surfside Beach (the people who have the stand on Atlantic Ave sold there last year after they closed their other stand).

[Global Friend]

Back to Basics - Hours and Location

Also, Saturday mornings local farmers come together downtown Conway and sell produce. I was trying to find a link but could not. If I find it, I'll post but pretty sure they are there every Saturday starting about 8:30am.

[vrexy]

I agree with the suggestions of the above posters, but also want to add this place:

Lee's Farmers Market | Myrtle Beach

Not always local, not always cheaper, but they do always have excellent produce, etc. They have local produce when it is available and also carry Jersey tomatoes, etc. They have their own farm and you can buy farm fresh eggs, etc. from them.

[spalam01]

Originally Posted by Rapture

Back to Basics - Hours and Location

Also, Saturday mornings local farmers come together downtown Conway and sell produce. I was trying to find a link but could not. If I find it, I'll post but pretty sure they are there every Saturday starting about 8:30am.

Is the farmers market location is 217 Laurel St. Conway, SC
Waccamaw Market Cooperative - Conway Farmers Market

Thanks!

[CTyankee54]

I will probably be tarred and feathered for this post but my experience is that the quality of local produce at the roadside stands and at the Conway Farmers Market and the market at Joe White is generally lacking and the prices are no better and sometimes higher than many grocery stores. We eat a significant amount of fruit/vegetables and find that local zucchini, squash, peppers, etc are smaller and more expensive (based on size) than grocery stores. We also have trouble finding good local watermelons...in the past we probably threw out 50% of the ones we bought due to lack of quality. Now, we just buy them at the grocery store. We are a big fan of the "peaches and cream" local corn but it's hard to find even at the Conway Market...it's hit or miss whether they will have any. Most of the tomatoes are just as tasteless and hard as those in the grocery store...even when I ask to be sure that they are grown in SC (don't ask if they are "local" because some sellers consider local as grown anywhere in the south...not just SC).

My wife feels that Lowes Food has the best produce and, yes, it's more expensive than other grocery stores but the quality is worth the extra price. The best prices on peppers, by far, are Sam's and Costco.

Given all that, I've found that Ann's Produce on Rt 544 near the CCU football stadium has pretty good quality and she'll tell you whether it's SC local or not. She even has half-runner beans which we haven't found anywhere else. I think one thing that helps her quality is that her building has a/c and the produce isn't sitting in the heat all day and withering.

I apologize to those of you who are big "buy local" fans. We are too, but this has been our experience.

[neecewh]

CT, have you tried Deville in Market Commons? This year I found it took a while to get going (I think because of the weather) and I feared anyone who shopped there the first few weeks may have been put off, but eventually the better produce was there. Some of the same vendors come to Surfside on Tuesday.

Originally Posted by CTyankee54

I apologize to those of you who are big "buy local" fans. We are too, but this has been our experience.

At least you didn't say Walmart!

[CTyankee54]

We tried Market Common this past weekend and found some pretty good squash and peppers. The tomatoes we got were better than we typically find but still not what I would expect from local produce. We asked a vendor who was selling watermelons to pick us out a good one, but when we got it home and cut it open, I regretted buying it...just another disappointing SC grown watermelon.

Thanks for the suggestion, though. At least we found some good squash and peppers!