Grocery Is a Credit to Neighborhood

The woman driving down Bloom Street abruptly pulled over as she saw Eduardo Garcia’s large white truck.

“I was just on my way to the store,” she told Garcia, as she rushed over and picked out some tomatoes from crates lining the inside of the truck. She asked for two gallons of milk, which Garcia pulled out of a large refrigerator in the center of the truck.

The woman walked back to her car armed with plastic bags containing $8.40 worth of groceries. As she drove home, happy that she had saved herself a trip to the supermarket a few miles away, Garcia looked after her with a smile--even though he hadn’t received a penny in payment.

Garcia’s willingness to provide groceries on credit and the convenience of his well-stocked truck have made him one of the most popular people in the William Mead Homes housing project, east of Chinatown near the county jail.

Another truck vendor also frequents the neighborhood of about 1,500 residents but offers only produce; Garcia’s truck is stocked with everything from vegetables and Mexican-style cheese to toys and diapers. The smiling, soft-spoken Garcia stops at the housing project every day except Sunday.

“When I need milk, tortillas, cheese, this is my grocery store,” said Marcy Rosete, a 25-year resident of the neighborhood, as one of her granddaughters ran up to buy a bag of chips from Garcia. “You don’t need to walk far, and the other store (a small market down the street) is too expensive.

“Plus, he gives me credit. I only get Social Security (payments) once a month.”

Garcia, who came to the United States from Mexico seven years ago, began his mobile grocery business five years ago by cruising around the William Mead neighborhood in a tiny truck stocked with only fruits and vegetables.

Soon, residents were asking for more. “I always asked him, ‘Why don’t you have chicharrones (deep-fried pork skins)? Chorizo (sausage)?’ ” Rosete said. Within a year, Garcia moved up from being a simple frutero to a full-scale grocer.

The truck’s shelves are stocked with produce, canned goods, Mexican breads, candy, small toys, even diapers. Stored in the refrigerator are packages of cheese, gallons of milk and canned sodas.

Although sidewalk food carts are illegal in the city of Los Angeles, selling ice cream, prepared foods and produce from trucks is allowed as long as the vendor obtains county and state health licenses, according to city officials.

Garcia, who lives in the Mid-City area, spends several hours each morning buying fresh produce and baked goods from wholesale grocers Downtown. He then drives to William Mead, parks his truck in any available parking space and spends about three hours each afternoon serving his customers.

The residents flock from their homes as soon as they spot the truck or hear the blast of the horn. Children rush out to buy bags of chips, candy and trinkets. Garcia often hands a child an extra piece of candy or bag of chips and sends the beaming youngster off with a smile and a pat on the head.

He said he gives credit because he has had few problems getting payment eventually from the customers. He understands that most of his 100 regulars are low-income residents who live on one paycheck a month and have many young mouths to feed.

Garcia only gets to keep about $250 to $300 a week for himself out of the average $1,800 in sales. But he said he enjoys his job and is so satisfied with the business at William Mead that he sees no need to expand to other neighborhoods.

“I like it,” he said. “I work for myself.”