You can buy freshly-made sushi, specialty ramen, Japanese snacks, and other delicious products at Mitsuwa Markets. This is a Japanese grocery store chain that has several locations in the Los Angeles area as well as a few locations in major cities in other states. It carries lots of specialty Asian snacks that you won’t find at other grocery stores as well as high-quality meat and seafood. Here are a few other supermarkets that are similar to Mitsuwa.
H Mart
The Korean supermarket H Mart operates supercenters that have in-store food courts. Mitsuwa also operates supercenters that have in-store food courts as well, but it’s uncommon for other grocery stores to provide this amenity. H Mart also carries lots of imported Asian tropical fruit and Japanese snacks that you’re unlikely to see elsewhere and its stores have large seafood sections as well.
H Mart is a national retailer with stores throughout Southern California but as far as I know it doesn’t have any stores in Ventura County. Of course, the nearest Mitsuwa to me is in Northridge and that’s not in Ventura County either.
99 Ranch
Another prominent Asian supermarket with many locations in Southern California, 99 Ranch also sells products such as tropical fruit, imported Asian snacks, and seafood. This is a Chinese supermarket so it’s a good place to go to pick up Chinese specialty products. Of course, you can also buy popular Japanese products like ramen and tofu there as well, and American grocery stores also carry these products in Southern California.
But 99 Ranch also has delis that serve Chinese prepared foods such as barbecued meat. Like other Asian specialty stores, one of its attractions is prepared foods that aren’t available elsewhere.
Nijiya Market
This is another Japanese supermarket that has several locations in the Los Angeles area. Its stores carry lots of fresh produce, which isn’t always available at Japanese grocery stores. You can also buy prepared specialty food at its delis including sushi, desserts, and bento boxes. While there are lots of stores that sell dried and frozen packaged food from Japanese manufacturers, one of the big benefits of a supermarket like this is that you can also get specialty produce there.
This might be the store that’s most similar to Mitsuwa so you might want to go to the store that’s closest to your location so you can avoid the traffic in LA.
Island Pacific
This Filipino supermarket sells lots of seafood as well as prepared food that’s popular in the Philippines. If you want to try Filipino street food you can do that at this supermarket. Additionally, since this store is positioned as a specialty seafood store it might offer more selection in this category than even other Asian supermarkets. You can buy imported packaged seafood there as well as freshly caught fish from local harbors.
Island Pacific has several stores in Southern California including a location in Oxnard, so you don’t have to travel to Los Angeles to go there if you live in Ventura County. Again, Mitsuwa has no Ventura County locations.
Seafood City
The supermarket Seafood City is another prominent Filipino supermarket that has locations in Southern California as well as other states. It’s another store that sells lots of freshly-caught seafood and has delis that can prepare Filipino street food. You can also buy other Asian specialty foods like ramen there. Additionally, there are pop-up Jollibee restaurants that serve Filipino-style fast food in some of the Seafood City supermarkets in Orange County. While Mitsuwa also has large stores with multiple pop-up restaurants, many people are fans of Jollibee.
Like Island Pacific, Seafood City also has relatively low prices so you might also want to go there to buy produce and seafood at a discount. Mitsuwa isn’t a discount store and it sells some premium products such as sushi.