Mainstream grocers and Asian supermarkets

[pseudo3d]

Most every major grocery retailer in the South (from SoCal to SoFlo) has experimented with a Hispanic-themed spin-off of their main store with varying degrees of success at some point in time. What I haven't seen in the South (or anywhere else in the U.S.) is a mainstream grocery store trying to make an Asian supermarket. Most of the Asian supermarkets I've been to usually are attached to a mini-mall (or have integrated stores) that sell things like clothing, gifts, or a salon of some sort, AND they all have a large food court area. Have any mainstream supermarkets tried to do an Asian supermarket, or is it just too far a bridge to cross for the mainstream stores?

[klkla]

or is it just too far a bridge to cross for the mainstream stores?

I think that is probably the answer. To pull it off properly would be too complicated. Most operators in areas of the United States that have a large Hispanic population are already somewhat familiar with the products and practices that will appeal to those shoppers. The same cannot be said of Asian consumers, which generally have not assimilated to the same degree as Hispanics. It would also be complicated by the fact that different Asian countries have very different food tastes and customs. I've never seen a generic 'Asian' store. They're usually somewhat specific to a country. Here in L.A. I see a lot of Chinese and Korean stores.

[pseudo3d]

or is it just too far a bridge to cross for the mainstream stores?

I think that is probably the answer. To pull it off properly would be too complicated. Most operators in areas of the United States that have a large Hispanic population are already somewhat familiar with the products and practices that will appeal to those shoppers. The same cannot be said of Asian consumers, which generally have not assimilated to the same degree as Hispanics. It would also be complicated by the fact that different Asian countries have very different food tastes and customs. I've never seen a generic 'Asian' store. They're usually somewhat specific to a country. Here in L.A. I see a lot of Chinese and Korean stores.

The three I'm thinking of (99 Ranch, H Mart, and a non-chain) all are different (Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese based specifically), but all three follow the same pattern. Asian cuisine do have different customs, but Hispanic consumers do have different tastes too (Cuban, Mexican, Guatemalan).

I can't imagine any attempt by the mainstream to achieve real success, but I'm not sure if anyone's even tried it, which is mildly surprising.

[lake]

I think the closest thing to this (or at least that I can think of) is Savemart's "Lucky California" which is more of an international market than an asian market. It carries a little bit of everything ranging from Asian, Hispanic, and Conventional markets. Not what you're looking for, but it's probably the closest example of what you're looking for and has been relatively successful as far as I can tell.

[architect]

or is it just too far a bridge to cross for the mainstream stores?

I think that is probably the answer. To pull it off properly would be too complicated. Most operators in areas of the United States that have a large Hispanic population are already somewhat familiar with the products and practices that will appeal to those shoppers. The same cannot be said of Asian consumers, which generally have not assimilated to the same degree as Hispanics. It would also be complicated by the fact that different Asian countries have very different food tastes and customs. I've never seen a generic 'Asian' store. They're usually somewhat specific to a country. Here in L.A. I see a lot of Chinese and Korean stores.

I would definitely agree with this too. To truly be able to capture the Asian shopping dollar, traditional grocers would have to set up extensive sourcing for products which might only sell in a decent quantity at a few selected locations, due to the fragmentation of Asian cuisine. On the other hand, while Hispanic cuisine is also quite diverse, many Hispanic-dominated areas of the US are dominated by certain ethnic groups, such as Mexicans in many parts of Texas and Cubans in South Florida. As a result, grocers can more closely target specific demographics withing this Hispanic base with products tailored towards their particular cuisine.

[storewanderer]

The Asian stores are just too different from a conventional supermarket. The massive amount of seafood, the lack of dairy products, the lack of a deli with the usual lunchmeats... I also think the standards are different; while some of us here complain that seafood departments smell in stores we visit from time to time, going into an Asian store where the seafood department smells is perfectly normal and acceptable; the Hispanic stores are a lot more similar to a conventional supermarket.

The Asian stores also typically vacuum pack their bakery items rather than display in the ways we are used to (nothing is bulk), some of them also seem to like to do a lot of packaging up produce in a meat-like fashion in a foam container with the plastic wrap (not all do this and even the ones that do only do it to some of their produce).

Why are the Asian stores so different is perhaps a better question. One I do not know the answer to. I do know the largest supermarket I went to in Hong Kong which had a name of Wellcome was more similar to a US Conventional Supermarket (reminded me more of a not so nice Kroger or of an old ASC Lucky) than the Ranch 99s do. Wellcome even had some Essential Everyday items for sale in certain categories; snack foods/peanuts come to mind. Another interesting store I went to in Hong Kong was something called a "Great Food Hall" which was extremely upscale (and had the prices to match) and was full of imported items.

[Brian Lutz]

In general, I think the Asian markets are just too varied in format to really make a compromise between them. Around here we have fairly large Japanese markets (Uwajimaya), Chinese markets (99 Ranch, Asian Food Center), Korean (H Mart) and even Filipino (Seafood City) places and a number of various smaller Vietnamese (Viet-Wah) and Indian markets as well, but in spite of all that, I have never seen Asian foods get more than around 1/4 of an aisle (typically even less space than hispanic foods) in any of the mainstream supermarkets around here, and even that is mostly limited to brands with mainstream US distribution.

[storewanderer]

The hispanic format is interesting because there are so many perimeter departments which get heavily shopped in that format (produce, meat, bakery, dairy). The purchases are different from a usual US Supermarket but the chains don't see it as a giant stretch to throw in some sweet breads, more rolls, add in more limes, tomatoes, cilantro, etc., and that is why their half baked hispanic formats have generally just been treading water at best. My general observation of Hispanic formats is the customers tend to buy a lot more raw materials which are also commonly found in US Conventionals (fresh produce, fresh meats, dairy, etc.) and cook food from scratch, but then there are some items they tend to buy prepared (bakery items). So the US Conventionals also figure they can get dairy items to the Hispanic formats and sell those well as those are very hot selling items in this format.

The Asian format is just so different. In the Asian Supermarket the produce area is pretty popular but it is more popular with very specific fruit and vegetable types, and other than that the seafood area is the star. I think a problem is in general US Supermarkets have struggled with the seafood category. What is one of the first things that these US chains (all are guilty of this) did back in the 90's and 00's when a store volume started to fall off? They would close up the service seafood department. I think the industry has really struggled with seafood departments. But those are the bread and butter to these Asian chains, it doesn't matter which one.

Dairy is a very weak category in Asian stores; you see little refrigerated milk, cheese, etc. there but you do see eggs. So this is another category that US Conventional supermarkets are comfortable on but is not very relevant in the Asian format.

Deli does not even exist in the Asian stores. But hot food does.

There is a lot of "cross" between what is on the shelf in center store in a Hispanic format store and what is on the shelf in center store in a US Conventional Supermarket. Many of the same items but in different packaging. But the stuff on center store in the Asian stores is generally quite different; different brands, different items, different presentation.