Con’s Fresh Fruit & Veg

Con’s. My go-​to place for onions by the bag.

This is one of my favourite fruit and veg haunts in the Central Markets. The produce is cheap and always fresh plus it lasts at least a week when refrigerated. Very rarely does anything I buy go off or wilted within a couple of days.
The fruit and veg on offer is not really strictly seasonal but a lot of it SA grown and you can get a good range of most things (aside from more unique things like baby spinach, rocket, chinese greens, broccolini etc).
Service is always quick and I can get a full bag of produce for under $ 20.

I often pick up a bit of fruit and veg from Cons on my way through the markets. They are very competitively priced and the produce is usually of a good standard. Or at least, what you see is what you get.
The best selection is in the way of standard fruit and a couple of mandarins, apples, bananas and avocados will set you back only a couple of coins. I don’t understand why anyone would bother shopping at the supermarket when this quality and value is available.
There is less choice in the veg department but they cover off all the seasonal basics.

As Alison P. pointed out Con’s Fresh Fruit & Veg is one of the cheaper f&v stalls, which is why I often frequent it. The frontage might look a bit old and dusty but it is just as good as the next door neighbour Thompson’s. The prices are pretty competitive down near Grote St, and you can easily duck back and forth between stalls, choosing the best prices and quality.
The stock here is of reasonable quality, although be sure to give everything the touch and smell check. I once bought some sweet potatoes here without carefully inspecting, and they were actually quite mouldy. The great thing about buying fruit and veg from small family stalls like this is if you really want, you can probably find out where the stuff is grown, and other details like that.

This isn’t a stall I shop at a lot but whenever I do I get a lovely warm fuzzy feeling. What I love best about this stall it that it is run by a Greek family and it is like dealing with lots of lovely Greek mothers when you shop here, which always puts a smile on my face. They still have the thick Greek accents. If you are over 40, you probably remember Con the Fruiterer on the Steve Vizard show, Fast Forward, well this is real life Con the fruiterer. I can just imagine them laying back, relaxing and saying «Couple a days!» to any request or pressure. I think that the only reason I don’ t come here more often is that it is on the Grote Street side of the market, whereas I tend to stay around the Gouger Street end. Their fruit and vegetables are good and they are certainly cheaper than the fruit and veg stalls in the middle of the markets. So it is worth walking the extra distance if you want to find some cheaper produce.