Smart & Final

About this location

A few stories people tell about this place

1. One morning, a delivery driver noticed something odd while unloading boxes in the backroom of Smart & Final. Among the usual cans and packages lay an old, dusty crate with no label. Curious, he opened it—only to discover a stack of ancient newspapers wrapped in brown paper. As he flipped through the yellowed pages, he found articles about long-forgotten celebrities and events. Turns out, these papers were from the early nineties! Excitedly, he showed them to his colleagues. From then on, every time someone needed a newspaper for a project or a laugh, they’d head straight to Smart & Final—and yes, everyone agreed those old news stories sure had some funny headlines.

2. One day, a little boy followed his mom into Smart & Final. As she pushed her shopping cart down the aisle, he stopped abruptly and pointed at an unusual display of canned goods. "Mom," he whispered, "why do they sell cans that look like they’re smiling?" His mother smiled and said softly, ‘Honey, those aren’t really smiling—just some clever labels on tomato sauce cans.’ The boy nodded thoughtfully, then looked up with a twinkle in his eye and asked, ‘So why does everything here try so hard to be happy?’

3. At dawn, when most supermarkets are quiet, an early bird spotted a mysterious shopping cart slowly rolling down the aisles of Smart & Final. Curious, they followed it until it stopped near the canned goods section. Inside was just an old shopping list and a note scribbled in pencil: ‘Please return these items to their rightful places.’ Turned out, it was only a delivery driver who dozed off while making his rounds.

4. At midnight, when the night shift cashier locked up for the evening, she heard a strange rustling sound coming from the produce section. Curious, she peered around the corner and saw only shadows dancing on the wall. Turned out, it was just a squirrel gathering nuts for winter. The next morning, everyone had a good laugh over coffee, including the usually grumpy old produce manager who said, ‘Guess that’s our secret squirrel stocking the shelves.’