Asian supermarket

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Exterior of Hong Kong Supermarket in Monterey Park, California, USA

In the western world, an Asian supermarket, sometimes called an Oriental supermarket, stocks items imported from the many countries of Asia.

They carry items and ingredients generally well-suited for Asian cuisines and not found in most western supermarkets. These markets often have Indian food, large sacks of Thai jasmine rice, soy milk from Hong Kong, chrysanthemum tea from Mainland China, Japanese seaweed, bamboo shoots, various chili, soy, and black bean sauces, as well as Asian snacks - for example, prawn crackers and rice cakes - and other imported foodstuffs. Asian vegetables such as bok choy, bean sprouts, welsh onions, ginger, kang kong, and mustard greens are frequent items in produce sections. Other merchandise like Japanese rice cookers and woks, as well as imported fashion magazines, newspapers, toiletries, and drugstore items are also sold in these markets. Some have in-store bakeries that sell fresh baked goods. In seafood departments, they may sell varieties of live fish (which they can sometimes deep-fry right in front of you in large vats of boiling oil), clams, crabs, lobsters, oysters, abalones, which are kept swimming in aquariums. Delicacies such as sea cucumber, "Century eggs", ginseng and shark fin may be stocked as well. Asian markets also carry Asian brands of beverages and cigarettes.

These supermarkets are often started and operated by Asian immigrant entrepreneurs and their families Others are started by investors and corporate conglomerates headquartered anywhere in Asia, namely Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Asian supermarkets can range from small mom-and-pop grocery stores to large supercenters and may cater specifically to one ethnic Asian immigrant group or to a wide pan-Asian crowd. They serve the generally unserved or underserved immigrant and descendant population. They often serve as anchors for new Asian shopping centers and Chinatowns. Asian supermarkets may re-occupy older buildings formerly anchored by mainstream regional or national supermarket chains. Some Chinese shopping centers and supermarkets have been constructed using traditional Chinese architecture and provide a wide range of goods and services geared towards immigrant customers, such as Asian restaurants, beauty salons, bakeries, video rental stores, travel agencies, book stores, and other businesses. Some Asian supermarket chains with large supercenters have become successful enterprises with great sales, such as 99 Ranch Market in the western United States and Wing Yip in the United Kingdom. Additionally, Paris-based Tang Freres is a prominent Asian supermarket chain in France and rest of Europe. In recent years, some mainstream markets have attempted to compete with Asian supermarkets for the minority customer base by stocking certain "Asian" goods as well as directing marketing towards various Asian ethnic immigrant populations. Conversely, some Asian supermarkets are attempted to appealing to potential customers in the general population. Asian markets are reputed to have lower prices than the mainstream chains.

Asian supermarkets represent a new trend in which Asian immigrants no longer settle in old enclaves such as Chinatown, San Francisco (undoubtedly still the largest in the U.S.), but in suburbs where shopping centers provide services. In some cases, some redevelopment agencies of several cities have turned to Asian supermarket chains to fill vacated stores largely abandoned by mainstream supermarkets. One of the major redevelopments highlighted in the press has been Buford Highway in the Atlanta suburb of Doraville, Georgia, where Asian supermarkets have done brisk business in a once-blighted neighborhood. Such supermarkets have also revitalized the once-rundown sections of Bellaire Boulevard in Houston, Texas, and turned it into a thriving new Asian shopping district.

Some typical brands found in Asian supermarkets are:

Calbee (snacks - Japan)
Calpis (beverages - Japan)
Haw Flakes (candy - Mainland China)
Julies (cookies, Britisher: bisquit - Malaysia)
Kikkoman (sauces - Japan)
Lee Kum Kee (cooking sauces - Hong Kong)
Meiji (confectionaries - Japan)
Vitasoy (packaged beverages - Hong Kong)

1 Asian supermarket chains
2 See also
3 External links

[edit] Asian supermarket chains

[edit] North American

99 Ranch Market - Pan-Asian, mostly ethnic Chinese
Ai Hoa Supermarket - Formerly a large Chinese Vietnamese supermarket chain in southern California, now operates one store in Los Angeles Chinatown.
Assi Market - a major Korean supermarket chain
California Market - Korean supermarket in Koreatown of Los Angeles.
De Guzman Oriental - is the largest Filipino store chain in Orlando, Florida, with four successful branches.
Diho Supermarket - was a growing a Chinese supermarket chain, with first store in Monterey Park, California. Now operates one store on Bellaire Boulevard in Houston.
Galleria Supermarket - Korean supermarket in Markham, Ontario
Grand Mart - Mostly Korean, also carrying a small amount of Latin American goods, depending on the demographics of the neighborhood of each location; mainly in the Washington, D.C. area.
Great Wall - Mostly ethnic Chinese supermarket, with locations in Queens, New York, Boston, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Fairfax, Virginia.
Han Ah Reum/H-Mart - major Korean supermarket chain mainly in the Philadelphia, New York City, Atlanta, and Washington D.C. areas.
H.K. Super Market - Korean supermarket chain with stores located in Los Angeles' Koreatown, Garden Grove, and Cerritos.
Hannam Chain - Korean supermarket chain with stores mainly in Southern California.
Hong Kong Supermarket - ethnic Chinese, East Coast and Southern California
Kam Man Foods - chain in New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, West Virginia. First store in Manhattan's Chinatown.
Koreatown Galleria - Korean supermarket/mall in Koreatown of Los Angeles.
Koreatown Plaza - Korean supermarket located in Koreatown of Los Angeles.
Lotte - Pan-asian, mostly Korean.
Mitsuwa Marketplace - Mostly in Southern California with one store near Chicago, Illinois and one in Edgewater, New Jersey
Mitsuwa Marketplace (Chicago Store) - The Chicago location of Mitsuwa.
Nijiya Market - Japanese supermarket chain with 9 stores in California.
Pacific Supermarket - Pan-Asian and Western supermarket chain with three locations; in Daly City (California), San Francisco (California), and Waipahu (Hawaii).
Seafood City - Filipino chain in California
Shun Fat Supermarket - ethnic Chinese
Super 88 - small chain in the Boston area, with the first store located in Boston's Chinatown
T & T Supermarket - ethnic Chinese
Uwajimaya - Pan-Asian and Western, mostly Japanese. Based in Seattle, Washington, with stores in Bellevue, Washington, and Beaverton, Oregon
Viet Hoa - Asian market in Houston, Texas
Yaohan - Pan-Asian, mostly ethnic Japanese, bought out by Mitsuwa
Asia Supermarket - Philadelphia and Atlantic City, New Jersey