Why are oriental owned urban produce markets so much cheaper than supermarkets?!
Why are oriental owned urban produce markets so much cheaper than supermarkets?
Superior quality fruits and vegetables cost about half what grocery stores, that are large enough to buy direct from growers, charge. City markets must buy from middlemen. I know the orientals have the whole family working in the market but smaller labor costs can't be the whole story. Additional Details
1 day ago
David H - Interesting. I was at the Kensington Market, Greek & China Towns in Toronto last week. This inspired my question. Toronto is one great place.
Great answers. Thanks to all.
Answers: 1 day ago
David H - Interesting. I was at the Kensington Market, Greek & China Towns in Toronto last week. This inspired my question. Toronto is one great place.
Great answers. Thanks to all. First off, most of these places aren't Unionized. Secondly, one thing you're paying high dollar for at a regular chain grocery store is uniformity. I asked a friend this same question recently about my favorite ethnic (not Asian) market near here. She said that the produce I got at the ethnic market wasn't perfectly uniform like the stuff at the chain grocery. I started looking, and found she was right. When you need all your apples to be identical for a fancy basket or display, shop the chain stores. When you would rather have better taste and better prices, and don't care if they all look like twins or triplets, shop ethnic! i bet they just bring them from new jersey over to the city and up the price up a little instead of paying for expensive city produce I am a former chef and did work retailer for awhile, it is all the things the first things the first two respondant have said, plus they stock only produce, no or little meat, dairy or other foodstuffs, the labour issues is part of the thing, but grocery stores are also required by there buyers to stock things that do not nessessarily sell.
I am from Canada, and worked with anumber of grocery chains and we got things like guava and other fruits, we sell in almost every store a variety of West Indian vegetables like callalo, eddoes, yams and hot pepper, 80% is unsold but is there to draw in the ethnic customers.
Here in Toronto, we have 6 Asian areas, a greek area, eastern european and many others and they stock many of there cuisines specialty foods. No Unions!
No huge marketing/advertising costs
The smaller stores are usually family run and most of the time the entire family works there and split the profits. They don't have to keep paying people more and more as they continue to work there.
Generally there are no insurance/health care costs involved.
No lost leaders. The bigger stores try and get you in by advertising a 2 litre of Pepsi for .99 cents and then of course are "forced" to raise the prices on things such as produce.
More customer loyalty. Most Asians shop for produce daily. Thus making for a steady flow of customers.
Less competition. The customers go to the same store ever day and do not buy into the lost leaders (see above).