Race/Related: Asian grocery stores are reshaping America

Asian grocery stores are no longer niche businesses: They are a cultural phenomenon.

View in browser|nytimes.com June 14, 2024 Asian stores have helped popularize products like Shin Ramyun in the United States. Tommy Kha for The New York Times Don't call it an 'ethnic' grocery store By Priya Krishna Last year, Americans bought half a billion packets of Shin Ramyun, the spicy, beefy Korean instant noodle. The bold red-and-black packaging feels inescapable: It's a staple of college dorm rooms, bodegas, middle-of-the-country Walmarts and viral TikTok videos. But 30 years ago, the noodles were largely unknown in the United States. No grocery store would stock them, said Kevin Chang, the director of marketing for Nongshim, Shin Ramyun's parent company. Except, that is, for a few small Korean grocers, including a fledgling shop in Woodside, Queens, called H Mart. In the 1970s and '80s, as Asian immigration to the United States soared, grocers like H Mart; Patel Brothers, an Indian grocery founded in Chicago; and 99 Ranch Market, originally focused on foods from China and Taiwan, opened to meet the demand for ingredients that tasted like home. These were tiny mom-and-pop shops in suburban strip malls or outer boroughs with large Asian immigrant populations. They weren't fancy, but they were vital to their communities. H Mart, started in Woodside, Queens, has become a part of American popular culture, known for its wide aisles of kimchi and tofu. Tommy Kha for The New York Times Now, those same shops have transformed into sleekly designed chains with in-store roti machines, mobile ordering apps and locations across the country — all aiming to serve the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States and the millions of others who now crave flavors like Shin Ramyun, chili crisp, chaat masala and chai. The H Mart of today is a $2 billion company with 96 stores and a namesake book (the best-selling memoir "Crying in H Mart," by the musician Michelle Zauner). Last month, the chain purchased an entire shopping center in San Francisco for $37 million. Patel Brothers has 52 locations in 20 states, with six more stores planned in the next two years. 99 Ranch opened four new branches just last year, bringing its reach to 62 stores in 11 states. Weee!, an online Asian food store, is valued at $4.1 billion. Asian grocery stores are no longer niche businesses: They are a cultural phenomenon. Turning specialties into staples Despite their recent growth, Asian American grocers still represent less than one percent of the total U.S. grocery business, which is dominated by retailers such as Kroger and Walmart, said Dymfke Kuijpers, a senior partner at the consulting firm McKinsey who specializes in retail. But these stores exercise an outsize impact, she said, as they dictate which products the big-box chains stock. Americans have become deeply enamored with Asian flavors: From April 2023 to April 2024, sales of items in the "Asian/ethnic aisle" in U.S. grocery stores grew nearly four times more than overall sales, according to the data analytics company Circana. And more than any restaurant, cookbook or online video, Asian grocers are driving this shift. "They are the vanguard of mainstreaming," said Errol Schweizer, who was the vice president of grocery at Whole Foods Market from 2009 to 2016. Miso, ghee, turmeric, soy sauce — their journeys to becoming widely available pantry staples all began with an Asian grocer. "Without Asian grocery stores, it is extremely hard to get into the mainstream market," said Mr. Chang, from Nongshim. They make accessible those ingredients that people grew up with, ate in a restaurant or saw online, he said. Brian Kwon, the president of H Mart, said he's used to seeing employees from major grocers show up at one of his stores and note down which brands are available. New locations of Patel Brothers are designed to look more like a Whole Foods, with glass windows and expansive aisles. Tommy Kha for The New York Times But H Mart is attracting the clientele of the big grocers, too. Thirty percent of its shoppers today are non Asian, Mr. Kwon said, and he's made changes to continue drawing them as the company expands into areas with smaller Asian populations — placing more emphasis on in-store tastings, explaining how ingredients are used and posting signs in both Korean and English. Similarly, at 99 Ranch, the announcements ring out in Mandarin and English, and Western music has been added to the store playlists. Swetal Patel, a partner at Patel Brothers, said that as the chain has expanded its audience — he estimates that 20 to 25 percent of shoppers are now non South Asian — stores now look more like a Whole Foods, with wide aisles and glass windows. "It is not your mom and dad's Indian grocery store anymore." This evolution has not been welcomed by everyone. Toral Dalal, a retired financial planner in Fulton, Md., said she used to frequent a small Indian store run by a husband-and-wife team she befriended — until a Patel Brothers opened nearby in 2019, and the shop closed in part because it couldn't compete on price. While she does shop at Patel Brothers, she said, "it feels like a chore." She very rarely buys anything new, and she doesn't know any of the store employees. "It is impersonal." She lamented: When did the Indian grocery store get so corporate? Read the rest of the story here. EDITORS' PICKS We publish many articles that touch on race. Here are several you shouldn't miss. 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