The new answer to empty Twin Cities stores? Asian Grocers and Market Destinations
As a child, Bona Ku spent her weekends helping her family at the Dragon Star Oriental Foods store in St. Paul, doing whatever odd jobs were needed in the grocery store.
Decades later, there is even more work to handle. His family now owns a half-dozen stores in the metro area and a wholesale business, an example of the Twin Cities’ booming Asian markets in recent years.
Perhaps the best example is the family’s newest store, Empire Foods, which opened in March in the nearly 200,000-square-foot former Walmart in Brooklyn Center. It’s one of several large Asian food stores that have popped up in vacant retail spaces, including shuttered department stores in area malls.
Asian grocery stores aren’t new to the Twin Cities, but it’s clear they’ve grown beyond small, mom-and-pop shops dedicated to one or two specific communities.
For some, that means larger stores offering more products from diverse Asian and other immigrant cultures, like cuts of meat for Korean barbecue or soup bases for hot pot. Others have incorporated more prepared foods, from Instagram-friendly boba and Korean corn dog stands to full-on food halls.
Establishments like this have existed since the 1980s on the coasts — particularly Korean grocery chain H-Mart and Taiwanese market 99 Ranch Market — where there are larger populations of Asian Americans. Minnesota’s Asian population is only a fraction of California’s, but the fact that local stores are using a similar model shows how the recent rise of Asian pop culture — from K-dramas to mochi ice cream — has made Asian markets largely attractive. efforts.
“Larger boxes allow consumers to present a wider variety of items,” said Ku, 37, who works as a general manager at several of his family’s stores. “It creates a better shopping experience.”
Asia all
Last month, developers announced a concept called Asia Village in Northtown for the former Herberger’s in Blaine Mall, which would have groceries and restaurants. The partners behind the effort also launched the upscale Asia Mall food hall and marketplace in a former Gander Outdoors store in Eden Prairie. The bazaar-like Hmongtown Marketplace in St. Paul will have a second location in the empty Sears store at Maplewood Mall, and shoppers are also eagerly awaiting the opening of Enson Market grocery store and Ate Ate Ate food hall in the former Gordman’s in Burnsville Center.
“The way that some of these Asian supermarkets have evolved over the years to incorporate more experiential components of sit-down restaurants, desserts or bubble tea is a way that has made them more accessible to Americans and helped increase their popularity.” , said Amanda. Lai, a food industry director at Chicago retail consultancy McMillanDoolittle.
Connie Li was still in college and didn’t know much about running a business when she helped her brother open a small Asian grocery store on the corner of Como and Snelling avenues in St. Paul in the 1990s They continued to move into larger spaces until Li and his family eventually moved into the wholesale and restaurant sales business. Nearly 20 years later, Li and her husband are remodeling a cavernous 100,000-square-foot warehouse in St. Paul that they opened last year as a residential Asian grocery store and home supplies distributor. wholesale and catering.
“I always wanted to have a space like this, like Costco,” Li said.
Customers at the Shanghai Wholesale Market, near Prior Avenue in St. Paul, can buy beef as small as a 10-ounce bag of meatballs for pho or as large as a 90-pound box of tenderloin cute. There are plans to open a showroom for kitchen equipment as well as a cafe and noodle bar.
Li said she wanted to elevate the quality of a typical Asian grocery store with better equipment, easy organization and superior selection. She also intended to make the store welcoming to diverse cultures, including pre-sliced ​​and rolled beef for fondue as well as halal meat processed according to Islamic beliefs.
“I think it’s more diverse,” she said. “I think it’s a good thing.”
In the United States, ethnic supermarkets have seen strong growth since the pandemic. According to international market research firm IBISWorld, revenue for U.S. ethnic supermarkets reached $57.6 billion over the past five years.
The growing immigrant population, particularly among Hispanic and Asian communities, has increased the demand for ethnic ingredients. For many, these stores are not just places to buy hard-to-find produce or whole fish, but they represent a home away from home with familiar sights, smells and tastes.
The average American consumer is also turning more to ethnic supermarkets, thanks in part to the popularity of a wave of Asian culture exports like K-pop and the rise of more adventurous home cooking.
“During the pandemic, you had a captive audience that was experimenting more with various cuisines,” said Lai, who grew up in Maple Grove at a time when there weren’t as many Asian grocery stores.
Bigger and better
The increase in the number of Asian grocery stores in Minnesota also reflects the growth of the Asian Pacific population, which recently numbered just over 310,000, according to 2022 census data compiled by the Minnesota Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans.
Another contributor to the growing popularity of Asian markets: TikTok. Many shoppers share new foods or unique stores through reviews which can gain traction on video apps, including Instagram.
Kathia Vang, 29, of Brooklyn Center posted on TikTok about her first trip to Empire Foods when it opened. She was impressed by the lower meat prices and the number of items available in bulk. This is necessary when she participates in large traditional Hmong events for her husband’s family.
Many local Asian stores, including Empire Foods, have also focused on store layout and item labeling so that those familiar with American grocery stores and English product descriptions can find what they need. That includes Vang, who is Hispanic.
“When I became a nyab (a Hmong daughter-in-law), I don’t think I could have gone to the store and easily bought everything we needed,” Vang said. “Everything is much more organized (now) and friendly for those who don’t necessarily know how to shop there or don’t speak the language.”
Arnab Chakladar — an English professor at Carleton College who regularly reviews local restaurants and grocery stores on his personal blog — said that when he and his wife, who is Korean, moved from Denver to the Twin Cities there is almost 20 years old, they haven’t been able to find many options for ethnic ingredients. However, not only are there now more options for its Indian and Korean ingredients, but many times they can also find them in the same store.
“Department stores like Dragon Star and Ha Tien now all carry respectable Hispanic, Indian and East African products,” he said.
In 2004, Toua Xiong opened Hmongtown Market in St. Paul, selling everything from pots and papaya salad to clothing and herbal products. Its hundreds of booths quickly reached capacity, and the new secondary location at Maplewood Mall has ample parking and more space.
“The Maplewood Mall Sears is something I’ve been looking for for several years,” Xiong said.
Although there will be some more modern elements, shoppers should still expect the mall’s market to be “authentic” and serve as a place for “those who miss their homeland,” he said .
Related Posts
-
Easy Asian Dessert Recipes You Wish You Tried Sooner
No Comments | Jun 9, 2024 -
New books to enjoy: Asian cuisine and a history of Italy through wine
No Comments | Jun 20, 2024 -
2024 New York Asian Film Festival Hosts Premieres of ‘Twilight of the Warriors’ and ‘Fly Me to the Moon’
No Comments | Jun 13, 2024 -
Bhagyashrees New Snack Recipe Is Low In Calories And High In Flavor!
No Comments | Jul 2, 2024