How familiar are you with Asian grocery stores? We’re not asking about the ‘ethnic’ food aisles at the neighborhood supermarket, but an entirely different mix of culture, foods, and services that can be found at grocery stores focused on Asian foods and meals.
Growing from tiny mom-and-pop shops in the 1980s, large scale grocery stores such as H Mart, Patel Brothers, and 99 Ranch Market have emerged across the U.S. According to IBISWorld, in the past five years, revenue at ‘ethnic’ supermarkets has grown to $57.6 billion.
They’ve gotten so popular that H Mart, at 96 stores and $2 billion revenue, bought an entire shopping center in San Francisco. Patel Brothers operates in 20 states and 50+ stores, and 99 Ranch has 60+ stores in 11 states. This is not trend behavior, it’s an illustration of the changing demographics and culture across the U.S. as more non-Asian consumers shop at these markets.
Some of the stores also serve as community hubs, food halls, and tea shops. Many now mirror U.S. grocery stores with aisles, signage, and services. But of course, there are foods at these stores that can’t be found at the usual grocery store, including kimchi, frozen dumplings, mochi, different fruits and veggies, meats cut for Korean barbeque, and Chinese cabbages, spices and ingredients. It’s not just Asian foods either. Many stores carry foods for Japanese, Indian and Korean dishes as well. It’s exciting to see and try so many new foods.
Shall we go shopping?
Group Activities and Discussion Questions:
- Discuss the evolution of grocery stores and shopping.
- Show video about shopping at H Mart: https://youtu.be/W9CVzAl0qN8?si=TV687w5ToIAlCWjn
- Show H Mart website: https://www.hmart.com/
- Show 99 Ranch Market website: https://www.99ranch.com/
- Show Patel Brothers website: https://www.patelbros.com/
- For a longer exercise, divide students into teams and have them visit a local American supermarket. They can diagram aisles and take photos of shelves and foods.
- If your university has one of these stores in your geography, assign students to go there and do a comparison of these stores versus grocery stores.
- What are their observations and conclusions?
- Alternatively, have teams develop a marketing plan for the Asian food supermarkets to reach additional shoppers.
Source: Krishna, P. (11 June 2024). Don’t call it an ‘ethnic’ grocery store. New York Times; Norfleet, N. (16 June 2024). Asian grocers fill void in Twin Cities. Minneapolis Star Tribune.
