Summers Fruit Barn

Driving along Baseline and there is this little gem on a cold winter day. I see red pepper rhistras and I must stop! I have been on a mission to adorn my home in something red and southwestern since being home and not in the skies this year to celebrate the season. I see small ones, medium ones, LARGE red peppers dried and hanging brightly from Summers Fruit Barn! Who knew a girl from California who spends her days and nights in the clouds could get so excited over hanging red peppers?! Well. I can. I scrambled in and was made a ‘deal’! I wanted two small for my carriage lights outside my garage and one red pepper wreath for my door! These rhistras are pretty pricy, if you can find them in various sizes like this, anywhere else. I got all three for a bargain! Since I was there, I walked around and was amazed at the fresh fruits, nuts, honey, jams and jellies, pickled things here and there! I ended up buying a lot more than just the red peppers! They had samples of citrus and a grapefruit known as ‘blanca’ that I had not ever tasted. This reminded me of growing up in a rural area where you get to sample the fruit before you buy! I love it! The staff is helpful, fun, friendly and these kind of little gems just don’t exist that much anymore. One tip, pay cash and save the credit/​debit card usage fee of a dollar.

Great place to do some local and fresh shopping. The ladies are extremely friendly. All products and produce are reasonably priced. Definitely will be come by again.

I’m all about supporting your local farms but this place is a joke. Cashier has no clue what good customer service is and the owner makes no apologies for nickel-​and-​diming their customers. And their not smart enough to post a sign that they charge $ 1.00 for debit/​credit cards so not only do you not get my $ 1, you do not get my business.
Also, read through the reviews… you will see other customers feel the same about their terrible customer service and the owner’s reply is always rude. I’ll gladly take my business elsewhere!

They do NOT have the sandwiches anymore, and haven’t for a long time. So go there for the produce but don’t expect to eat lunch there. Summers Fruit Barn has fresh local fruits and veggies, homestyle jams, soups, salsas in jars, local honey, and chili peppers and even gift baskets. Prices are very reasonable. Sometimes she does insane deals, like 10 cases of strawberries for 10 bucks. It’s the only place in this area that has heirloom tomatoes and several varieties of local citrus.
Most of what Fruit Barn has is organic — not sprayed with killer chemicals — so expect «imperfect» looking fruits. It’s supposed to be that way and the taste is incredible. There really is a difference between locally grown, organic produce and the green house stuff you get at Fry’s.
Unfortunately she closes for a good chunk of the year. But when Fruit Barn is open, it’s awesome.

My only real complaint is they’re not open year round. They are open while the seasonal fruits and vegetables they sell are fresh and in season which makes perfect sense. They also have lots of fruit spreads, marmalades, jellies, honeys, nuts, treats, juices, and more.
Friendly staff (I haven’t run into the grumpy staff other people seem to have), good prices, and fresh product. I also haven’t run into the spoilage at least one other person mentioned.
I haven’t tried this, but I understand they ship products so you can share Arizona’s bounty with friends and family out of state.

We had seen Summers Fruit Barn quite a few times on the way to South Mountain last year, unfortunately it was closed each time. When we were in the area again, we saw it open so immediately we turned around to go by. It’s actually quite a bit bigger than expected with many varieties of citrus fruits & honeys for sale along with some other other produce and various packaged good. As we were walking around an employee who came by was a bit rude but he offered us some samples of oranges/​grapefruit/​etc. He seemed a bit pushy and we had to say a few times, «thank you, we are going to look around to see what we want.» The fruits seemed fresh & the prices were pretty much as expected so we bought a few things. The people at the front weren’t all that pleasant either. The older lady was rude and was talking to us but didn’t make any eye contact. We were asking her regarding what seasonal items are offered /​when they’d be there. She was dismissive & not all that helpful. I left with the impression that they don’t care about repeat customers — If I were driving by I may stop in because, as previously mentioned the prices are good but I see no reason to drive out of the way to return.

So very disappointing! I bought a TON of citrus from here, and it all turned bad within 24 hours. Actual mold. The beets that I bought from here were amazing and well priced though. So 2 stars for the beets, NO stars for the citrus. :(They are friendly though.

This is a great place. Everything is fresh. Many people are used to fruit being sprayed with wax to make it look shiny etc. I have grown up around fruit trees and this is how real fruit looks. I was able to get a couple free samples. You can even eat the skins because they are naturally good. You can’t do that with store bought GMO fruit. I was even able to see blood oranges. Yes I will be back. They even take checks.

Although I live nowhere near Summers, I happened to notice their produce stand on the way to an event at the Humane Society, so I stopped on my way home. Lots of produce, of course, and a good selection of pickled and canned items as well.
I found the staff to be so friendly, offering samples of a few different fruits and even going to the trouble to point out that they had less expensive lemons than the locally grown variety I was purchasing. Both varieties of dates I purchased were excellent, although, why do they have to look like big ‘olé cockroaches? Can’t someone engineer a more attractive fruit?
Anyhow, definitely worth a stop if you live in the neighborhood. Keep in mind their prices are for cash payment. Using a card will cost you more, but I’m not sure how much.

Not impressed… Prices were steep for most items that were packaged… And I was an audience for the owners family fight right in front of me. They don’t have smoothies anymore nor do they care about customer service at all… Total disappointment

Being born and raised in South Phoenix among the other fruit and flower stands it is real nice to see at least one survivor. Summers does offer a great variety of products that are unique and some of which you will not find in your local Fry’s or Safeway. The thing I did find odd is that they resold Kirkland raisin bread with a Alpine breads sticker over the Kirkland logo. The only thing that really bothered me was the lack of patience and respect Mrs. Summers had for the two young men working there at the time I was there. Since I am sure she will read this and may ever post a rebuttal I would like to say you have a charming produce stand, delicious fresh squeezed orange juice and I hope you stay in business for many many years to come as your business is one of the last displays of South Phoenix original culture. The only reason I did not rate you higher is because when you made your lack of respect for your employees blatantly apparent in front of me it made me not want to support your business. As someone with a Bachelors of Science in Business and Minors in Management and Small Business Development, you are only as good as your employees and your employees will only be as good as you treat them. I wish Summer’s Fruit Barn the best of luck!

For years, I have been shopping at «the fruit barn» (my name for it.). It’s about 15 minutes away from my house so I have been extremely inconsistent in making it my go to place for produce… Until recently. I have been making it a conscious decision to get nearly all of my produce here now. I also buy my bread, raw honey, and dates here. Why do I make the extra effort? Because the fruit barn is that incredible. Here are just a few examples of why I love this place…
1. The staff is über friendly. Anyone who says otherwise either came on an off day or a super busy time.
2. The prices are incredible. Some of the prices may be comparable to grocery stores, but never higher AND a lot of the prices are MUCH lower.
3. It is a small local business. I love that I get to support this business and they are providing my family the best quality products they can. Grocery stores don’t do that.
4. After I shop there, I feel happy. Sounds crazy right?!? Have you ever been to Walmart? You know how you feel when you leave there… frustrated, exhausted, like you never want to go back? This is the exact opposite. In fact, I often call my husband to tell him how much I love the fruit barn when I am on my way home from there.
So if you have the luxury of living nearby (or just being nearby), go there. You will get some great produce at fantastic prices and you may just leave happier. And if possible bring CASH. They do accept credit and debit cards, but charge slightly higher prices if not paying with cash or check.

I’m so surprised by the high reviews of this place. I live very close by and have been twice. Both times I was less than impressed. I was super excited when we moved it to have such a cool thing — a roadside fruit barn near by. Both times I went the service was HORRIBLY slow. The place felt hot and there were flies everywhere. I found the quality of the product to be bad as well.

Summers in Phoenix… So great, all year around!
I come to Phoenix a couple times a year on business, and one of a handful of things I do, without fail, is come to Summers Fruit Barn. If I’m having a rough week, just going there is relaxing to me. It is, essentially, an old, classic roadside attraction that offers some amazing stuff.
The place has been there as long as I can remember, way back when Baseline Road was quite rural, and now that the area is growing up all around it, I really hope Summers stays. My trips to the area would be incomplete without a stop by to pick up some goodies.
Great people, simple style, excellent seasonal collection. Cash is best, but not required.
I saw «K. D.‘s» review, said he returned honey. But over on Google, Kabir Duggal (same person) griped about returning bread. Methinks Kabir has a personal problem with Summers, I’d take that review with a grain of salt.

How often do you see fruit stands on the roadside anymore? Not much in Phoenix. But Summer’s Fruit Barn serves that role excellently, as Lisa the owner has maintained relationships throughout the area to get fresh fruits and veggies, as well as other goodies, at great prices. On my last visit she even taught me how to sort through the huge batches of AZ sweet oranges (the reason for my visit, looking on behalf of a friend). She peeled a few to demonstrate how to spot light to moderate frost damage, and then hand selected a few pounds of her best specimens. I love having this place nearby.

Poor horrible quality! Half of the things are at the end of their shelf life and some are even beyond that– basically some of the things are already gone bad that they are selling. Good luck returning things as the old lady will go psycho on you and start screaming… haha what a joke! I feel pity for them and anyone who might get an experience like I did when i tried to return honey that they sold me which was already bad, probably due to poor temperature control they have in their shop.
In summers they rely on air coolers and you can imagine AZ 110 degree days. You would feel like you just walked in a oven…
The old lady (owner) is rude and has no etiquettes of how to deal with a customer… I would recommend never walk into that shop or learn from your own bad experience. I wasted my time, money and had bad experience that is going to stick with me for quite some time. Feel bad for other single owners as she is representing them in the worst possible way. For the first time I realized some of the good things that big chains offer. Sorry for being so verbose… but she made us and my wife real upset!

This place is a little wacky… but there’s no better place on the south side to get a sandwich, and when the season’s right there’s nowhere cheaper to buy berries, avocados, or other short season fruits.
Be aware that there is an upcharge for using a credit card here, best to bring paper cash if you want the best deal.

Smoothies are delicious!

Where do you go When an Alaskan Wants to Take a Box of Oranges Home?
Summers. They also ship.
On a Saturday I could head West or South and find any number of Estebans and Juans selling naranjas, elotes y muy mas from the back of a pickup or car. Wednesday?
Baseline Road, once the home of many fruit, vegetable and flower merchants.
Summers is the last one in Phoenix, and a good one it is.
Clean, neat, a wide variety of fruits, produce, jellies, sauces, salsa, honey, dried fruits, nuts, dates, bread and a host of old timey tourist products like cactus candy, grow a saguaro cactus, agave, etc. kits, and things I can’t remember this evening. They also have newer items like scorpion pops — the embedded scorpion bolos, or any bolo, are out of fashion, long live scorpion suckers!
If you bake bread, you must add value, right? Summers has a large variety of fresh breads and a wheat field’s worth of of sandwich choices, plus a milk parlor’s worth of shakes and a mango plantation worth of smoothies.
It’s a great place. Don’t keep driving past like me. Swing by, get some produce, grab a sandwich and drink, and sit down at a table under the east portico and enjoy old-​style AZ.

I’ve got something of a love affair with this place. It’s becoming a regular part of my life now… and I am okay with that.
In the past, I would go here for lunch… their freshly made sandwiches are absolutely delicious. Given that I now work about 25 miles from here, that’s somewhat… difficult. So instead I now go here after my early morning South Mountain hikes. Turns out their smoothies are quite fantastic as well. I believe the general consensus amongst my friends and I has been «heaven in our mouths.»
On top of that, their selection of local produce and related products is unrivaled. Delicious fresh fruit (of which they’re usually handing out samples), local honey, locally made salad dressings, salsas, jams, and much much more, make this place to die for. I get all of my best fruit here, without a doubt.
One thing to note though is that you should bring cash here! There is a small additional charge for paying with your credit card, as it’s expensive for them to process.