It’s an unusually warm November day in Beirut, but inside an air-conditioned warehouse, shoppers find a moment of relief perusing piles of local and exotic produce that line the 20,500-square-foot store. As they make their way through the brightly colored rows of guavas, persimmons and cherimoyas, they pause to nibble on a date or a grape. This vast space has been the home of Fadi Fruits for the last four years. Once considered one of Beirut’s best kept secrets, they are now one of the city’s most sought-after fruit and vegetable vendors.

In 1994, founder Hassan Alhabra began selling produce at a local vegetable souk from his van near the Egyptian Embassy. When the market closed in 1999, Fadi Fruits moved to Wata al-Msaytbeh, a suburban area in Jnah. Working out of an old garage, Hassan’s four sons — Fadi, Houssam, Ayman and Hasan — slowly began taking over the day-to-day operations.

In 2003, they were faced with the unlikely opening of a store of the British supermarket chain Spinneys just across the street. Instead of cannibalizing their business, their presence had the opposite effect, Houssam told Al-Monitor. People would shop for general supplies at the supermarket, but came to Fadi Fruits for fresh produce. Ironically, Spinneys Jnah has since become the de facto landmark for locating Fadi Fruits — “just opposite Spinneys,” people would tell each other to describe its location.

In the decade that followed, Hasan, the youngest of the four, said the family attended annual agricultural trade fairs and forged relationships with growers and sellers in Africa, Europe and Australia to source their produce. Armed with discerning taste buds, the brothers shipped in fruits and vegetables from all over the world that became equally known for their taste as their high price.