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GROW To Close After 19 Years in Manhattan Beach

Jul 18, 2024 06:13PM ● By Jeanne Fratello

Kathy and Barry Fisher, owners of GROW (photo via GROW South Bay)

GROW - the independent grocery store that has served Manhattan Beach and has been an active community contributor for nearly two decades - has announced that it is closing.

Barry Fisher, who along with his wife Kathy founded and own the store, wrote to friends of GROW:

"After a lot of soul searching (tears) and facing economic reality, Kathy and I have come to the decision to close GROW. 19 years ago we were building out our little market- wide eyed and so excited. We wanted to create something special that showcased the freshness of American produce. The first shopping point at GROW, we highlighted the best produce we could source- and we still do to this day. It's been a challenge to be viable with a small store concept with ever increasing rents to try and compete with large formats, and because of this, we are not willing to commit to a long term lease."

GROW was known for its farm-fresh produce and for its generous contributions to the community. The "GROW tent," where the Fishers would hand out grapes or oranges, were a familiar sight at just about every local race and public event.

"Barry and I would like to thank you very much for all of your support," said Kathy in a video message to followers. "We have made some great friends and many still feel like family. We've watched your children grow up, and some have even had jobs here. We've enjoyed the hundreds of field trips, the Mommy and Me classes and the nights at GROW, and we've enjoyed sharing recipes with you and all the recipes you've shared with us."

Whereas in the past GROW has asked community members to stop in for "a bag a week", now GROW is asking for customers to shop "four to five" bags per week in the next few weeks as the store closes down. "We have a lot of product on our shelves and a short time to sell through it. As we move through our inventory, we will continue to stock our meat department, prepared food and high volume produce," said Fisher.

(Editor's note: Another specialty market, Mother's Market on Rosecrans in Manhattan Beach, closed quietly earlier this month as well.)


GROW Began With Cherry Stand


The story of GROW began with a simple cherry stand.

The Fishers had run a produce export company in the Central Valley before moving to the South Bay in 2003. When their son wanted to earn money for a boogie board, he opened a curbside cherry stand in Manhattan Beach, selling cherries from one of the family's grower friends in Lodi. The cherries were so popular that the Fishers began receiving notes in their mailbox from neighbors asking when they could get more cherries.

The family opened GROW on Sepulveda Blvd. in September 2006, as a way to bring grower-fresh produce to the South Bay. GROW later expanded its offerings to include specialty groceries and a delivery service, with brightly colored delivery vans that had become a familiar sight around the South Bay.

Having educated its customers about the best produce available, it developed a devoted following of fruit and vegetable connoisseurs who learned to ask for specific varieties - and even specific farms - by name.

Most notably, GROW was the first store in America to carry Sumo mandarins - the popular extra-large and extra-sweet citrus fruit with a distinctive top knot - as the Sumo season began.

GROW was also locally famous for its annual Pumpkin Guess-A-Roo contest, asking kids to guess the weight of a giant pumpkin trucked in from a farm. (Fisher's favorite guess was from a kid who measured the height of the pumpkin fist-over-fist from the bottom to the top, and then after reaching 32 "fists" high, declared that since his fist weighed one pound, the pumpkin must weigh 32 pounds. "I wanted to load it into his car that second," remembered Fisher.)

GROW had come close to closing just before the pandemic due to competition from larger grocery stores. But with peoples' desire for an "intimate" shopping experience, compared to massive grocery stores, suddenly GROW was booming again.

Nevertheless, in the last year, GROW has once again been challenged by the resurgence of larger grocery stores.

"It's kind of fitting that as the U.S. cherry season comes to an end... we do, too," said Fisher.



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