Without missing a beat, John Chang points towards a stack of gleaming tomatoes on the shelf while continuing to fill a plastic grocery sack with produce for the customer in front of him. He tells the customer, as well as anyone else in earshot, that those tomatoes are grown by the florist across the street. She imports the seeds from Holland each year, makes her own herbicides with hot chile peppers that she also grows and warms the water that she gives them so that they don’t receive a shock from the chill of water straight from the hose. The woman in the sunglasses nods in appreciation and starts selecting the tomatoes she’ll take home with her.
Sue’s Produce started in 1976 as a small outdoor stand at the corner of 18th and Chestnut. In those days, six heads of iceberg lettuce sold for $1 and the current owner, John Chang, was small enough to sleep under the display. His parents started the business as Korean immigrants to this country.
After a full year of working exposed to the heat, humidity and cold, they opened Sue’s Produce in a closet-sized storefront on the east side of 18th Street, between Chestnut and Sansom Streets. They stayed in that location for 29 years. In 2006, the Chang family, which had expanded to include siblings, spouses and grandchildren, moved Sue’s to their current location, across the street and a couple doors over from their old home.
A few minutes later, a woman who has been eyeing the fruit selection offers up her own question, “Which apples would be good for Jewish apple cake?” This time, Johnny’s younger brother Hwan and primary buyer for the store says, “Go with the Granny Smiths. They’re the best we’ve got in stock for cooking.”
Hwan calls himself the one-man procuring team. He wakes up every day at 12:30 am in order to get down to the Philadelphia Regional Produce Market by 2 am. He tastes everything he buys because he knows that if it isn’t fresh and flavorful, Sue’s customers won’t buy it. In addition to making daily runs to the Produce Market, he makes trips out to local growers in New Jersey. There’s a Korean farmer out there who sells them blueberries and honey. Cutting out the distributor enables them to get fresh goods and sell them in the store for less.
An elderly woman, pushing a small folding shopping cart is poking around the display of corn. She asks, “How old is the corn?” Johnny’s wife Michelle answers this time:
- “It came in three days ago, Mrs. Stein.”
- “Feh, that’s too old, it’ll have turned to starch by now.”
- “We’ll have some fresh in for you tomorrow.”
This is an average day at Sue’s Produce. A constant stream of customers, asking questions, receiving honest answers and returning time after time because they know that they will always get the freshest produce coupled with helpful advice and good prices.
Up until four years ago, almost all the produce in the store came from the South Philly distribution center. They would try to bring in some local products seasonally, like Jersey tomatoes and peaches, but back then it was a very small portion of their stock. Then Johnny was introduced to Judy Wicks, founder of the White Dog Café and regionally grown foods booster. She helped him make contacts with local growers and he started carrying more local and unusual products. When they moved to the larger location, they were able to add the dairy case and start selling cheeses, Pequa Valley yogurt and micro organic greens.
Despite Mrs. Stein’s complaints about the corn, for a large part of the summer, Sue’s Produce has some of the freshest corn available in the city. They know a farmer in Lancaster who picks his corn at 6 am and drives it directly to 18th Street from the field. Frequently, it is on the shelves no more than 5 hours after it was picked.
More and more of Sue’s stock comes from local growers these days. Johnny is always looking for local farmers who share his passion and energy for freshness, quality and the ability to make a living honestly, without gouging the customers. You’ll never see pre-cut lettuce on the shelves at Sue’s, because they aren’t interested in selling loyal customers chemical laden foods, even if they are timesavers. Johnny will tell you to tear your own lettuce, it’s better for you. These days he carries apples, cider, jams and jellies from Kaufman farms. The bread comes from Sarcone’s Italian Market bakeries. Sue’s carry local milk and while it isn’t organic, it comes from grass-fed cows that aren’t fed hormones or antibiotics.
The folks at Sue’s Produce care about their customers, they think of them as their extended family. They’ve been invited to weddings and funerals, and have watched many of the neighborhood kids grow up and become parents themselves. It isn’t uncommon for them to know three and four generations of one family. They don’t have an advertising budget or even a listing in the phone book, but people who are looking for quality produce always seem to find their way to Sue’s.